"Research Support Associate 2"

SENIOR RESEARCH SUPPORT ASSOCIATE, Political Science - MIT Election Data and Science Lab (MEDSL)

to support the data processing and research assistance needs of the lab. Responsibilities will include assisting with the lab’s data and research pipeline by collecting and cleaning data, performing data management and analysis, creating graphs and figures, visualizing data, assisting with academic publications, and performing general administrative duties including file organization, participating in meetings, and other miscellaneous tasks; perform exploratory data analysis and create high-quality, programmatic visualizations (static and interactive) for academic papers and public reports; assist with the ingestion, cleaning, and documentation of large, complex election datasets; develop reproducible workflows and maintain data pipelines to ensure data integrity; assist with data structuring, and the technical preparation of results for publication and presentation of findings to academic audiences; and contribute to general lab administration. This is an ideal position for someone interested in gaining research experience in the application of data science to political topics.

The full job description is here: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/careers/senior-evidence-scale-manager-j-pal-global-job-105478

Job Requirements

• REQUIRED: High school diploma and a portfolio demonstrating strong data science capabilities.
• PREFERRED: A degree in a quantitative field (e.g., Data Science, Political Science, Economics, or Computer Science); advanced skills in general purpose or statistical programming languages like R and Python; experience with STATA; Experience with SQL and/or Google Cloud platforms for compute and storage; and familiarity with version control systems (Git/GitHub) and data visualization libraries (e.g.,ggplot2, matplotlib, Plotly, seaborn).

This is an in-person position.

A writing sample, code sample, and letters of recommendation will be needed at the time of interview.

This is a one-year position with the possibility of extension to two years. Appointment will begin in the summer of 2026.