Senior Policy Analyst - MBTA, Boston, MA

Salary: $74,300.00 - $85,000.00 Annually

Job Type: Full-Time

Department: MBTA - Office Perf Mgmt & Innov

Opening Date: 10/31/2023

Location: 10 Park Plaza, Boston

Job Number: 23-19820

Closing Date: 11/14/2023 11:59 PM Eastern

Full description and application are available here.

At the MBTA, we envision a thriving region enabled by a best-in-class transit system. Our mission is to serve the public by providing safe, reliable, and accessible transportation. MBTA’s core values are built around safety, service, equity, and sustainability and each employee that works for the MBTA performs their roles based on our vision, mission, and values. This includes attendance, participation, and contribution in local safety committee meetings as needed.

Job Summary

The Senior Policy Analyst at the Office of Performance Management and Innovation (OPMI) will be responsible for managing and creating OPMI’s data products, as well as leading and creating technical solutions for reporting, research, and other processes for both MassDOT and the MBTA. Additionally, the Senior Policy Analyst will oversee the MBTA’s Open Data Portal, ensuring data is regularly updated and accurate. 

Data Manager - MAPSCorps

Who: MAPSCorps

What: MAPSCorps (Meaningful Active Productive Science in Service to Communities) is a nonprofit organization that provides youth with meaningful employment and STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) training opportunities through an innovative technology-based community asset mapping program.

The MAPSCorps mission is to train youth to produce high-quality data about community assets that everyone can use to improve the human condition. MAPSCorps aims to address the gap in reliable data about assets in high poverty communities while providing meaningful employment for youth.

During the summer, MAPSCorps participants (primarily high school and college students) walk their communities, observing, collecting, and analyzing data about public-facing businesses and organizations (“assets”). Throughout the program, youth prepare a public health-focused research project to present at the program’s culminating event. After the summer program, the data collected by youth is processed and published on the MAPSCorps website and the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Chicago Health Atlas. The data are publicly available at no cost for noncommercial purposes.

Data Manager/Analyst, Institute for Housing Studies - Chicago, IL

Institute for Housing Studies – Data Manager/Analyst

General Summary

The Institute for Housing Studies (IHS) is seeking a Data Manager/Analyst who will manage the development, testing, and updating of data sets used for applied research projects, data tools, and technical assistance requests and be an active participant in the applied research process. This position will also serve as IHS's primary point of contact with DePaul University's Department of Information Services on data management issues and as a key point of contact on technical data questions from external researchers working with IHS on projects. 

IHS is a research center situated in the Real Estate Center at DePaul University. IHS’s mission is to provide reliable, impartial, and timely data and research to inform housing policy decisions and discussions about the state of housing in the Chicago region and nationally. IHS’s work in particular focuses on affordable housing issues and understanding the changing dynamics of neighborhood housing markets. The Institute examines a range of housing issues including housing affordability, housing finance, homeownership, sustainable neighborhood redevelopment, and emerging trends. IHS’s research explores and documents often rapidly changing conditions in local housing markets; influences local and national policy decisions; measures the impact of interventions; and raises awareness of emerging housing issues. 

Responsibilities & Duties

·         As part of a project team, manage the development, updating, and testing of data sets. This includes overseeing regular updates of IHS's Data Clearinghouse; building new data sets or updating existing data indicators that use parcel-level data from the IHS Data Clearinghouse and other sources; supporting the delivery of data-focused technical assistance; and testing the integrity of all IHS data updates and new data sets. This also includes contributing to the conceptualization and execution of IHS analyses, research reports, new data tools, and responses to technical assistance requests.

·         Prepare new data sources for research and technical assistance projects.

·         Act as liaison between IHS and DePaul's Department of Information Services to monitor ongoing data warehouse management and coordinate annual data updates.

·         Act as a key point of contact on technical data questions from external researchers working with IHS data and assist in data development for these projects as needed.

·         Manage relationships with IHS data providers.

·         Perform other duties as assigned.

Education & Experience

·         Master's degree in economics, urban planning, public policy, geography, statistics, computer science, or some related field. Relevant experience accepted in place of master's degree.

·         Minimum three years of experience building, updating, and managing large data sets used for research purposes. 

·         Strong existing knowledge of data analysis software such as SAS, Stata, or R.

·         Strong data analysis skills.

·         General understanding of data warehousing preferred. Including understanding ETL workflows, data assurance processes, and producing metadata/documentation.

·         Strong attention to detail and ability to work in a collaborative setting.

·         High level of self-motivation, ability to work independently, and a willingness to learn new skills.

Preferred Requirements

·         Experience working with parcel- or individual record-level administrative data sets.

·         Experience using geographic information systems (GIS) software.

·         Experience with relational database platforms and SQL.

·         Background in housing and/or community development policy.

Here is a link to the position on the DePaul HR site for anyone interested in applying.