Research and Data Manager

Company Description

A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. From our thriving arts scene and rich history to our culture of passion and grit, there are countless reasons to love living and working here. With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact.

As an employer, the City of Philadelphia values inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work above all else. We offer a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. If you’re interested in working with a passionate team of people who care about the future of Philadelphia, start here.

What we offer

• Impact - The work you do here matters to millions. 
• Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it? 
• Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs.
• Benefits - We care about your well-being.

Agency Description

The Managing Director’s Office (MDO) works in coordination with individual operating departments to implement the Mayor’s vision and deliver efficient, effective, and responsive public services to every neighborhood in Philadelphia. MDO plans, coordinates, and implements major strategic initiatives that involve multiple departments. The MDO leadership provides strategic oversight and support for the

Philadelphia Police Department (PPD), Philadelphia Fire Department (PFD), Department of Prisons (PDP), Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I), and the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), as well as administrative support to the independent Citizens Police Oversight Commission (CPOC). MDO supports five operational clusters: Community Services, Criminal Justice and Public Safety (CJPS), General Services, Arts & Events (GSAE), Health and Human Services (HHS), Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability (OTIS).

Job Description

The MDO Policy Unit has responsibility for managing high priority initiatives that cut across multiple City agencies and affect the lives of the City’s most vulnerable residents. The Research and Data Manager will work on key high-priority cross-systems projects. Projects may include work on quality of life initiatives, gun violence reduction, PPD priority efforts like civilianization, benefits access, and other projects as needed.

We are looking for a civically-minded leader with a passion for data-driven decision making and improving city government. This individual will lead data analysis for the MDO Policy Unit with a focus on high priority policies and services, to improve City policy and performance and provide visibility into key issues for senior leadership, working in close collaboration with operating departments.

Essential functions

In this role, you will:

• Define, measure, and help to track key quantitative indicators of success for critical City services
  • Work with subject matter experts to identify critical information
  • Develop workflows to collect, process, and visualize this information for City policymakers and leadership
  • Present and interpret the information for a variety of audiences
• Establish and maintain strong relationships across City departments and external partners to support priority project reporting and delivery
• Manage projects that cross City departments and require sustained engagement, follow-up, and relationship-building
• Respond to ad-hoc requests for descriptive data analysis, including producing professional-looking documents or data visualizations 
• Access, manipulate, and combine varied datasets, including administrative City data, US Census data, and data from other publicly available sources
• Quickly develop an understanding of a variety of policy issues and their context
• Support and/or manage external contracts for relevant services, including survey design and implementation; consult on designing survey questions and interpreting results
• Review and assist other team members writing reproducible data analysis code in R or another language
• Proactively provide ideas and critical feedback—as well as being open to such constructive dialogue—as part of constantly improving the Managing Director’s Office and its collective work output.

Competencies, knowledge, skills, and abilities

• Excellent communicator: Ability to explain technical concepts to general audiences, explain the logic behind research decisions, craft compelling narratives about research design, write and speak clearly, and cul