GIS Research Specialist II

County of Riverside • Riverside, CA

18h • Onsite

About The Position

The County of Riverside Housing and Workforce Solutions (HWS) Department’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Division has an opportunity for a GIS Research Analyst II in Riverside, CA. The candidate will be responsible for reviewing and analyzing data sets, policies, and research related to the homeless community. The GIS Research Analyst II will utilize the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), map GIS data, and analyze results from the Homeless Point-in-Time Count to extract, interpret, and assess data for homeless trends that will help guide the delivery of Continuum of Care services and the development of homeless programs aimed at reducing homelessness. The incumbent will also build dashboards displaying homeless data for public review; prepare reports and presentations to be shared with the County Board of Supervisors, City Councils, and other stakeholders; and assist with grant proposals and budget preparation. This position will require the incumbent to travel throughout the county for offsite events as needed. The department is seeking candidates with a passion for and experience supporting CoC, housing, homeless, and other human services, as well as demonstrated experience with geospatial data analysis. Competitive candidates will have experience with Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS), ArcGIS, Tableau, Power BI, Python, and the Microsoft Office Suite; the ability to gather and interpret large data sets, including cleaning data and assessing data quality; and strong community engagement and public speaking skills. A master’s degree and Spanish bilingual skills are preferred but not required. Meet the Team! The Housing and Workforce Solutions (HWS) Department’s CoC Division’s primary purpose is to develop and maintain an effective county-wide Continuum of Care. The Continuum of Care oversees our community's plan to organize and deliver supportive social services, including housing options, which meet the specific needs of homeless individuals and families. Ultimately, the goal of the Continuum is to move homeless people toward stable housing and maximum self-sufficiency. Can you see yourself here?

Requirements

• Graduation from an accredited college with a Master's degree with a major in social science, statistics, mathematics, economics, business/public administration, data processing, or any of the natural sciences, which included graduate level courses in research design, data collection methods, and advanced statistical analysis.
• Two years of progressively responsible experience in administrative, professional, investigative, technical or other responsible work, which included statistical analysis, research or program design and data collection, and electronic data storage and report generation or grant writing.
• Knowledge of: Policies, procedures, practices and legislation governing land use; advanced research methods including data collection, sampling and analysis; Geographic Information Systems and SAS programming; census data and geography; demographic and economic forecasting methods, techniques and models.
• Ability to: Develop and prepare concise and coherent oral and written reports and recommendations; analyze, perform data queries and write executable computer programs; interpret and evaluate statistical data and research findings; use statistical software packages on personal computers; maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work; design and carry out research topics related to demographic estimates and forecasts.
• Possession of a valid California Driver's License.

Nice To Haves

• A master’s degree
• Spanish bilingual skills

Responsibilities

• Initiates research and statistical investigations and plans, designs, and conducts the activities of such investigations; recognizes the need for research and statistical investigations related to the development of demographic estimates and forecasts.
• Coordinates with staff and outside agencies to obtain data; designs, organizes and develops research evaluation plans, develops regulatory waiver requests, prepares budgets, and submits grant proposals.
• Defines sample populations and selection criteria; designs, develops and maintains databases; writes queries to extract data for ongoing and unexpected management reports; creates, tests and administers surveys and questionnaires; conducts focus and personal interviews; develops forms, procedures, schedules and sampling criteria for field data collection; and, performs random assignments.
• Advises research specialists and administrators of research findings and/or procedures; prepares narrative reports of findings with valid conclusions and statistical significance, projects impacts, and provides trend analysis.
• Identifies problems in inter-organizational operations and procedures with implications for plan development and implementation and recommends alternative solutions for use in management decision-making.
• Conducts research to develop population, housing, and employment estimates and forecasts.
• Analyzes and interprets small area socio-economic and land use data using geographic information systems.
• Assists the supervisor in developing and coordinating planning activities and in directing assigned project staff; and preparing annual budgets for research projects.

Benefits

• County of Riverside is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to applicants as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level