Project Specialist

University of Southern California • Los Angeles, CA

4d • $33 - $37 • Hybrid

About The Position

Dr. Zachary Wagner at the University of Southern California’s Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) is seeking a full-time Project Specialist to support research in development and health economics. The position reports directly to Dr. Wagner and works closely with collaborators at USC, RAND, and partner organizations in Nigeria. This is a one-year, fixed-term, grant-funded position with a hybrid work arrangement, including 2–3 days per week on the University Park campus in Los Angeles, California.

The primary project is a large-scale randomized study examining whether pre-emptive home delivery of oral rehydration salts (ORS) and zinc reduces child mortality in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Building on a large cluster-randomized trial that delivered these treatments directly to households with children under five, the new study will conduct approximately 400,000 household surveys. It will estimate the intervention’s impact on diarrhea-specific child mortality using retrospective birth histories and verbal autopsies.

The role combines research and quantitative analysis with substantial project management. The Project Specialist will contribute across the research process, including coordinating data collection, managing relationships with research and field partners, monitoring study progress and data quality, analyzing datasets, and contributing to academic publications. Depending on interests, performance, and project needs, the specialist may also contribute to related projects in development economics and global health.

The specialist will work closely with Dr. Wagner and receive mentorship in research design, econometric analysis, project management, and academic writing. They will participate in the research community at CESR and USC and gain experience collaborating with researchers and field partners across institutions, while developing their own research agenda and skills for large-scale empirical research.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree; combined experience and education may substitute for the minimum education requirement.
• At least 2 years of minimum experience; directly related education and experience to advise on project procedures and analysis techniques.
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills.
• Coursework in economics, econometrics, statistics, or related quantitative methods.
• Experience working with statistical software such as Stata, R, or Python.
• Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams, meet deadlines, and proactively identify tasks that need attention.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to coordinate effectively with collaborators across institutions and countries.
• Prior research assistant or project manager experience working with primary data collection.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree preferred.
• Preferred experience: 3 years.
• An interest in pursuing a PhD in economics, public policy, public health, epidemiology, or a related quantitative social science field.
• Experience with randomized controlled trials, survey research, field research, primary data collection in low-income settings, and project management.
• Experience working with mortality datasets and/or direct experience collecting mortality data, including familiarity with VASA instruments.
• A Ph.D., bachelor’s, or master’s degree in economics, public policy, statistics, mathematics, or another quantitatively oriented field is welcomed.

Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day implementation of the research project, coordinating researchers, field teams, and partner organizations; tracking timelines and deliverables; organizing research meetings; and following up on action items.
• Travel to Nigeria to help oversee training of the data collection team.
• Coordinate with the study team in Nigeria during survey piloting and large-scale data collection, and help identify and resolve implementation and data-quality issues.
• Support the development, programming, testing, and refinement of survey instruments.
• Assist with study protocols, IRB materials, pre-analysis plans, field manuals, and other research documentation.
• Monitor incoming survey data and develop systems for regular data-quality checks and reporting.
• Help clean data and conduct econometric analyses of the intervention’s effects on diarrhea-specific and all-cause child mortality, including robustness and heterogeneity analyses.
• Produce publication-quality tables and figures and contribute to literature reviews, presentations, and academic manuscripts.
• Maintain clear and reproducible project documentation, data workflows, and analysis code.
• Depending on interests, performance, and project needs, contribute to related research projects in development economics and global health.

Benefits

• Mentorship in research design, econometric analysis, project management, and academic writing.
• Participation in the research community at CESR and USC.
• Opportunity to build a research agenda and develop quantitative and project-management skills.

What This Job Offers

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