Research Analyst (Income and Benefits Policy Center)

The Urban Institute
Washington DC - United States
S: Competitive

Overview

The nonprofit Urban Institute is dedicated to elevating the debate on social and economic policy. For nearly five decades, Urban scholars have conducted research and delivered evidence-based solutions that improve lives and strengthen communities across a rapidly urbanizing world. Our objective research helps expand opportunities for all, reduce hardship among the most vulnerable, and strengthen the effectiveness of the public sector.
The Program on Retirement Policy in the Income and Benefits Policy Center is seeking a Research Analyst who can work collaboratively to develop and maintain a dynamic microsimulation model and employ it to evaluate reforms of the nation's various retirement programs.

Responsibilities

Build sophisticated econometric models and use household survey data to estimate economic, demographic, and social outcomes over the lifespan. Implement newly estimated relationships into DYNASIM, the Urban Institute's customized dynamic microsimulation model, update equations as new data becomes available, and evaluate model output.
Employ DYNASIM to evaluate the potential impact of various policy reforms and address other research questions as they arise.
Conceive ideas for new research projects and manage and develop proposals for external funding.
Manage a broad variety of research projects from conception to fruition, which necessitates working collaboratively with senior staff, overseeing and mentoring junior staff, handling budgetary and project management, communicating with funders, and troubleshooting ad hoc issues.
Write reports, policy briefs, and other publications to disseminate findings from research projects.
Present findings to funders and at academic conferences.

Qualifications

Experience working with longitudinal data and estimating econometric models.
Proficiency in SAS, Stata, R or another statistical software package.
Experience programming in Fortran, C/C++, or another general-purpose programming language.
High-level quantitative analytical and problem-solving skills are a must.
Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and meet tight deadlines.

A combination of the analytical and writing skills, relevant substantive knowledge, and social policy experience needed to perform the duties described above, or the academic knowledge of and experience in a discipline that is generally associated with the attainment of a master's degree in Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field.

Job summary