Quantitative Research Analyst, Education & Employment (Remote Eligible)

Mathematica Inc•Cambridge, MA

3d•$70,000 - $90,000•Remote

About The Position

Mathematica applies expertise at the intersection of data, methods, policy, and practice to improve well-being around the world. We collaborate closely with public- and private-sector partners to translate big questions into deep insights that improve programs, refine strategies, and enhance understanding using data science and analytics. Our work yields actionable information to guide decisions in wide-ranging policy areas, from health, education, early childhood, and family support to nutrition, employment, disability, and international development. Mathematica offers our employees competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package, as well as the advantages of being 100 percent employee owned. As an employee stock owner, you will experience financial benefits of ESOP holdings that have increased in tandem with the company’s growth and financial strength. You will also be part of an independent, employee-owned firm that is able to define and further our mission, enhance our quality and accountability, and steadily grow our financial strength. Read more about our benefits here: Benefits at a Glance. Primary Duties and Responsibilities: We are seeking a Research Analyst to join our Education and Employment team. Research analysts contribute to quantitative and qualitative research and analysis that examines the effectiveness and implementation of policies and programs. Analysts help assess the strength of study designs, summarize existing research through literature reviews, evidence reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, support the design and implementation of evaluations, and help disseminate findings through accessible reports, briefs, presentations, websites, and other tools. This is a general analyst posting, and analysts may support a range of project activities. We are especially interested in candidates with strong quantitative skills who can work with survey, administrative, or program data; support data cleaning and analytic specification development; conduct descriptive and impact analyses using appropriate statistical methods and communicate quantitative findings clearly to technical and non-technical audiences. Analysts typically work on more than one project at a time and are matched to projects that suit their interests and skills and offer opportunities for professional growth. Analysts work under the guidance of researchers, statisticians, data scientists, and project leaders while building expertise in new methods and topic areas. Our current and recent work includes projects such as: Helping states, school districts, workforce agencies, and other organizations build capacity to use data and strengthen supports for students, educators, job seekers, workers, and families. Working collaboratively with human services, education, and workforce agencies to test implementation strategies and gather information on their success, using approaches such as rapid cycle evaluation and continuous improvement. Conducting systematic reviews, evidence reviews, and meta-analyses to determine what works and assess the effectiveness of interventions, programs, policies, and practices in education, employment, training, family support, and related policy areas. Supporting rigorous evaluations of programs and policies through study design, study recruitment, data collection, data quality assessment, analysis planning, and dissemination of actionable findings. Developing analytic products, technical assistance resources, dashboards, reports, and briefs that help clients and partners interpret evidence and use data for program improvement and policy decisions.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in public policy, education policy, economics, sociology, psychology, statistics, data science, social science, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. A master's degree or progress toward a master's degree is preferred for candidates whose experience is primarily academic.
Coursework, training, or experience in research methods, program evaluation, policy analysis, statistics, economics, quantitative social science, data science, or a related area.
Demonstrated interest in education, employment, workforce development, training, or related social policy research.
Experience working with data, such as cleaning data, assessing data quality, conducting descriptive analyses, preparing tables, producing charts, or documenting analytic decisions.
Familiarity with one or more statistical programming languages or analytic tools, such as R, Python, Stata, SAS, SQL, or similar tools. R or Python experience is preferred.
Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to summarize complex information clearly and translate analytic findings for non-technical audiences.
Strong attention to detail, organizational skills, and ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines in a collaborative environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience conducting statistical analyses of survey, administrative, program, or longitudinal data.
Coursework or experience in one or more advanced methods such as causal inference, experimental or quasi-experimental design, regression analysis, survey methods, sampling, nonresponse weighting, performance measurement, longitudinal data analysis, predictive modeling, or data visualization.
Experience contributing to written research products, such as proposals, client memos, technical reports, issue briefs, literature reviews, academic manuscripts, or presentations.
Experience or interest in technical assistance, training, or capacity building with public agencies, education organizations, workforce agencies, grantees, or community partners.

Responsibilities

Quantitative analysis and programming
Assist with quantitative analyses, including summarizing data quality issues, cleaning and preparing survey or administrative data, defining analysis specifications, and developing output formats.
Write, review, or modify code to conduct data extraction, cleaning, manipulation, descriptive analyses, table production, and data visualization.
Apply or support statistical and quantitative methods appropriate to the project, such as descriptive statistics, regression, weighting, power calculations, performance measurement, longitudinal analysis, or quasi-experimental methods, under the guidance of senior staff.
Develop specifications, user manuals, reproducible documentation, and other materials for reporting systems, dashboards, analytic tools, and programming workflows.
Research and evaluation
Participate in interviews, site visits, focus groups, surveys, or other data collection activities to assess implementation, outcomes, costs, and participant experiences in education, employment, and related social programs.
Conduct literature reviews, environmental scans, evidence reviews, and systematic reviews; apply evidence standards to assess study quality and synthesize findings.
Support the design and implementation of evaluations, including helping to develop evaluation plans, logic models, research questions, study protocols, instruments, and data collection procedures.
Provide technical assistance to grantees, state and local agencies, school districts, workforce organizations, and other partners to support evaluation, evidence building, and program improvement.
Communication and project support
Draft client memos, issue briefs, literature review summaries, technical appendices, chapters of analytic reports, presentations, and proposals for new projects.
Communicate analytic findings, data limitations, and methodological decisions to internal project teams, clients, policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders.
Assist with timeline management, cost tracking, meeting preparation, note taking, budget estimates, quality assurance reviews, and coordination across project teams.