IRP Data Scientist I (3 Positions)

The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) seeks a Data Scientist to join our growing Data Science team. IRP’s mission is to advance the understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and inequality by producing rigorous research, training scholars, engaging with policymakers and practitioners, and widely disseminating evidence. To support this mission, IRP develops and maintains a unique, world-class collection of complex administrative data in the Wisconsin Administrative Data Core (WADC).

The Data Science team maintains and grows this collection, supporting the research mission of IRP in several ways. We extract, clean, restructure, merge, and harmonize large administrative data sets to construct longitudinal analytic datasets to fulfill project teams’ data needs. We are subject matter experts that provide data expertise, liaise between external and internal collaborators, automate project workflows, compose reproducible reports, and document methodologies to ensure transparency and replicability. In addition, we may support or perform analytic tasks to uncover data patterns or answer research questions.

In this role as a Data Scientist at IRP, you will serve as the data expert for our health policy research in the Medicaid Evaluation Research (MER) unit at IRP, working with teams evaluating several important state programs, which serve hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents: BadgerCare 1115 waiver evaluation, SeniorCare 1115 waiver evaluation, FoodShare Employment and Training program completer, and Dental Reimbursement Pilot. Two positions will work directly with these project teams, and one position will be a collaboration with Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) that will be jointly supervised by DHS and IRP to prepare DHS data for broader use at IRP, including the WADC.

We aim to hire Data Scientists with expertise in SAS programming and experience with Medicaid claims data. When you join our team, you’re not just bringing your expertise; we are committed to fostering your professional development goals and supporting your career advancement through continued learning opportunities.

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Composes and assembles reproducible workflows and reports to clearly articulate patterns to researchers and/or administrators
• Implements appropriate data science techniques under the guidance of other data scientists, statisticians, and/or other researchers to find data patterns and answer research questions chosen by the lead researcher including data visualization, statistical analysis, machine learning, and data mining
• Organizes and automates project steps for data preparation and analysis
• Develop expertise in the content, structure, and idiosyncrasies of project-specific data by understanding the origin and interpretation of variables, as well as learning about policy issues related to the data.
• Documents approaches to address research questions
• Prepares data sets for analysis including cleaning/quality assurance, transformations, restructuring, and integration of multiple data sources

Department:

Letters & Science/Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)

Compensation:

The typical starting salary for this position will be between $60,000 - $85,000 for experienced candidates. Actual pay will depend on experience and qualifications. Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays and paid time off; competitive insurance and saving accounts; and retirement benefits.

Required Qualifications:

• Data science experience including: ETL pipeline processes of data extraction, transformation (wrangling, cleaning, and merging), and loading; and/or data visualization and analysis using SAS, R, Python, or SQL
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail

Preferred Qualifications:

• At least one year of experience manipulating and merging large, complex administrative datasets for research purposes
• At least one year of data life cycle management (DLM) experience including: data acquisition or collection, use, and long-term storage
• At least one year of experience programming in SAS
• Experience working with administrative medical claims and enrollment data, with preference for Medicaid claims experience and/or Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO) data
• Experience working in a public health, social science, policy, or health policy research environment
• Working knowledge of LINUX operating system
• Ability to set priorities, exercise initiative, solve problems, adapt to changes quickly, make independent judgments, work on multiple projects simultaneously, meet dynamic deadlines, and work independently and collaboratively as a team
• Demonstrated strong work ethic and professionalism, including responsibility and reliability
• A track record of positive impact in your local working environment and/or direct contributions to projects with a positive social impact

Education:

Bachelor's Degree required in social science, public/population health, data science/engineering/analytics, or related field. Master's Degree preferred in social science, public/population health, data science/engineering/analytics, or related field.

How to Apply:

We are eager to learn more about how your experience and passion may align with this position. You will be asked to upload a resume and cover letter as a part of the application process. Your cover letter and resume should address how your skills, knowledge, and abilities are transferable to this role. Additional materials submitted other than your cover letter and resume will not be considered. Selected applicants will receive an invitation to participate in interviews following the application deadline. Once final applicants are identified, they will be asked to provide names and contact information for at least three professional references, including a current/former supervisor. References will not be contacted without advanced notice.

Additional Information: University sponsorship is not available for this position. The selected applicant will be responsible for ensuring their continuous eligibility to work in the United States. Applicants that elect to work remotely must work within the contiguous USA. For questions on the position, contact: Krista Bryz-Gornia, bryzgornia@wisc.edu. Institutional Statement on Diversity: Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison.