Senior Research Analyst

City of New York•New York City, NY

15h•Hybrid

About The Position

This position may be eligible for remote work for up to 2 days per week, pursuant to the Remote Work Pilot Program. The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) protects and enhances the daily economic lives of New Yorkers to create thriving communities. DCWP licenses nearly 45,000 businesses in more than 40 industries and enforces key consumer protection and workplace laws that apply to countless more. By supporting businesses through equitable enforcement and access to resources, DCWP protects the marketplace from predatory practices and strives to create a culture of compliance. DCWP empowers consumers and working families by providing the tools and resources they need to achieve financial health and work-life balance. DCWP also conducts research and advocates for public policy that furthers its work to support New York City’s communities. For more information about DCWP and its work, call 311 or visit DCWP at nyc.gov/dcwp, sign up for its newsletter, or follow on its social media sites, X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Within DCWP, the Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) focuses on initiatives that support New Yorkers and communities with low incomes in building wealth and improving their financial health. OFE is the first local government initiative in the country with the mission to educate, empower, and protect New Yorkers and neighborhoods with low incomes so they can build assets and make the most of their financial resources. OFE uses data and research, policy, partnerships, and convenings to advance its mission. Using this model, OFE is able to develop, offer, and advocate for innovative programs and products for all New Yorkers. Within DCWP, the Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) focuses on initiatives that support New Yorkers and communities with low incomes in building wealth and improving their financial health. OFE is the first local government initiative in the country with the mission to educate, empower, and protect New Yorkers and neighborhoods with low incomes so they can build assets and make the most of their financial resources. OFE uses data and research, policy, partnerships, and convenings to advance its mission. Using this model, OFE is able to develop, offer, and advocate for innovative programs and products for all New Yorkers. The Research team analyzes multiple data sources for reporting and evaluation to help OFE fulfill its mission of improving the financial health of New Yorkers, reach its program goals and demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of its work; identifies patterns and insights that help identify systemic barriers across New York City to financial health; and creates publicly-available research reports and other materials. OFE seeks a dynamic Senior Research Analyst to join OFE’s Policy and Research team to lead the data reporting, quantitative analysis, and research activities with a specific focus on the management of the Customer-Relationship Management (CRM) for public facing financial empowerment programs,administration of data reporting for the NYC Free Tax Prep programs and coalition, and the Neighborhood Financial Health Index. The Senior Research Analyst will also assist the Research and Policy team in conducting research and data analysis to serve the broader mission of the office and work with other programs team to help support data and evaluation as well as periodic reporting mandated by local law or executive orders. The Senior Research Analyst should be deeply committed to financial inclusion, and have strong analytic, research, organizational, writing and communication skills to support the implementation and communication of OFE research projects and initiatives. The ideal candidate should have experience in data analysis, reporting & evaluations, research methodologies in social sciences and data visualization. Candidate should also have experience conducting programmatic and urban policy research, proficient in software packages and programming languages related to data management, analysis, and presentation (e.g., R, Stata, CognosART, SQL, Python, ArcGIS, Git, Atlas.ti, Tableau), comfort with both field research and secondary data analysis methods, excellent writing skills, producing high-quality research and data reports in a wide variety of formats, and expertise in financial empowerment issues.

Requirements

The Senior Research Analyst should be deeply committed to financial inclusion, and have strong analytic, research, organizational, writing and communication skills to support the implementation and communication of OFE research projects and initiatives.
The ideal candidate should have experience in data analysis, reporting & evaluations, research methodologies in social sciences and data visualization.
Candidate should also have experience conducting programmatic and urban policy research, proficient in software packages and programming languages related to data management, analysis, and presentation (e.g., R, Stata, CognosART, SQL, Python, ArcGIS, Git, Atlas.ti, Tableau), comfort with both field research and secondary data analysis methods, excellent writing skills, producing high-quality research and data reports in a wide variety of formats, and expertise in financial empowerment issues.
A master's degree from an accredited college or university with a specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological or environmental science or in public health.
To be appointed to Assignment Level II and above, candidates must have:
A doctorate degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and one year of full-time experience in a responsible supervisory, administrative or research capacity in the appropriate field of specialization; or
A master's degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and three years of responsible full-time research experience in the appropriate field of specialization; or
Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least a master's degree in an appropriate field of specialization and at least two years of experience described in "2" above.
Two years as a City Research Scientist Level I can be substituted for the experience required in "1" and "2" above.

Responsibilities

Lead the data and analytic support for OFE programs and program development;
Oversee research projects on current and emerging topics related to financial empowerment, financial health, financial capability, financial products and services, and predatory business practices impacting New Yorkers;
Supervise directly the Research Analyst;
Serve as project lead for the update of the Neighborhood Financial Health Indicators on the Neighborhood Financial Health Index Map;
Assist OFE’s Director and Assistant Director of Policy and Research to provide support and feedback to OFE staff to ensure program, product, and policy developments incorporate the best and most appropriate research and research practices by conducting exploratory data analysis to detect patterns, trends, and relationships;
Lead the management of the Customer-Relationship Management (CRM) for public facing financial empowerment programs.
Implement OFE’s monitoring and evaluation processes including defining appropriate metrics for OFE initiatives/programs, working with DCWP’s data analysis team to identify and/or design tools for data collection and tracking metrics, defining and analyzing outcomes, and working with the Director and Assistant Director of Policy and Research as well as senior program staff to report on program progress;
Collaborate with OFE’s Assistant Director of Policy and Research to complete timely analysis on the issues, legislation, systems and policies impacting the financial health and stability of New Yorkers with low incomes and of new policy, technologies and research; identify linkages to OFE’s programs and services and provide market and consumer insights to inform OFE’s work;
Draft, proofread and/or edit a range of materials, including but not limited to publications, reports, program documents, policy memos, presentations, and grant proposals;
Cultivate and maintain relationships with external researchers and field experts to inform research design and work;
Stay abreast of the issues, systems, research and policies impacting the financial health and stability of New Yorkers with low incomes; and
Services and provide insights to inform OFE’s work; and
Implement and manage special projects as needed to reduce systemic inequality and build individual and community wealth and assets.