Senior Policy Data Analyst

Recidiviz•New York City, NY

2d•Remote

About The Position

Recidiviz is hiring a Senior Policy Data Analyst for its policy team, which works with state Department of Corrections leaders to develop evidence- and analytics-based policies that improve outcomes. The team uses administrative data to provide context-responsive insights and model policy options, helping decision-makers understand potential outcomes and tradeoffs. The analyst owns the end-to-end analytical process, from translating project objectives into an analysis strategy and roadmap through producing findings and preparing decision-making materials. The role involves high autonomy, judgment, and adapting analytical approaches as projects and stakeholder needs evolve. It works closely with a Partnerships Lead, who coordinates project objectives with state partners, while the analyst sets the analysis strategy. The position is remote within the United States or based in New York City or Oakland. Travel to state partners within the continental United States is encouraged approximately once every six months and is occasionally required; trips may include visits to prisons and parole offices.

Requirements

At least 5 years of practical experience exploring, analyzing, and processing complex datasets.
Professional experience using SQL with large datasets, including high proficiency writing efficient queries for complex extraction and transformation.
Professional experience with Python, particularly pandas, for statistical analysis and data visualization.
Sufficient statistical background to reason about analysis design, examine results closely, and prepare analyses that withstand scrutiny.
Experience scoping and delivering analytical work, including balancing depth and speed amid short timelines and shifting priorities.
Experience on cross-functional teams with shared ownership, including proactively seeking missing context and flagging risks before they become blockers.

Nice To Haves

Experience adapting quantitative methods to create intuitively meaningful metrics in ambiguous, unconstrained contexts.
Experience working with large public-sector administrative datasets, especially criminal justice data.
Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform, BigQuery, Looker, Jupyter notebooks, and Python/Pandas.

Responsibilities

Use SQL and Python to explore, process, and analyze corrections and parole administrative data, ramping up quickly on new datasets and making defensible simplifying assumptions.
Apply statistical methods such as regression, time-series analysis, stock-and-flow modeling, and distributional analysis to model policy scenarios and quantify tradeoffs.
Assess what conclusions the data can support and develop clear, decision-focused analytical approaches.
Communicate findings to decision-makers by creating presentations and memos, making complex tradeoffs understandable, and tailoring materials to the audience.
Own projects end to end by translating objectives into analysis strategies, setting roadmaps, identifying unknowns and risks, adjusting to changing objectives, and right-sizing analysis for impact.
Collaborate across Recidiviz to gather state context, understand data infrastructure, and support policy implementation.
Identify potential new analytical opportunities in assigned states and conduct early exploration to assess their value.
Develop reusable analytical approaches, models, or frameworks that can be applied by teammates to other states.

Benefits

90% medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage for the employee and dependents.
Flexible time off, including 20 days of PTO, 3 days of paid volunteering time, and 13 paid holidays.
12 weeks of paid parental leave.
401(k) retirement plan with a 5% company match and no vesting period.
Complimentary One Medical membership, depending on location.
Carrot partnership providing fertility and family-forming benefits, plus some hormonal health and gender-affirming care benefits.
Monthly ClassPass credit for personal wellness.
Free mental health support via Talkspace.
Flexibility to work remotely or from the Oakland or Manhattan office.
Annual company offsite and other ad-hoc gatherings.
Effective, thoughtful colleagues and mission-driven work with startup challenges and stretch opportunities.