Data And Research Analyst

Position Summary

The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law organization. Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice, LDF was launched at a time when the nation’s aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled by widespread state-sponsored racial inequality. From that era to the present, LDF’s mission has been transformative—to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society.

LDF’s litigation, public policy, and public education programs in the substantive areas of political participation, criminal justice, economic justice, and education, seek to ensure the fundamental and basic human rights of all people to the right to vote and fully participate in democracy, a fair and just judicial system, economic opportunity, and quality education.

LDF seeks a full-time Data and Research Analyst to assist LDF attorneys and other staff, including paralegals, fellows, and student interns, to make thoughtful, evidence-based decisions and bring quantitative insights on our issues to the courtroom, legislative halls, and public. The Data and Research Analyst will apply cutting-edge empirical methods from the social sciences to quantitative research questions that inform LDF’s litigation and non-litigation advocacy, and voter engagement work. This includes partnering with LDF attorneys and other staff to shape research questions, conduct analyses, and translate the results of statistical models and hypothesis tests for a non-technical audience. In 2021 and 2022, this role will have a special focus on voting rights and the upcoming congressional, state, and local apportionment and redistricting processes. The Data and Research Analyst will report to a senior member of the litigation or policy team as appropriate.

This position will be remote until June 2021. Beginning June 2021, any candidate selected should be prepared to report to work in the office location assigned to this position.

Responsibilities:

• Conduct quantitative research and analyses related to voting rights litigation, including reviewing U.S. Census data and derivative datasets, including ACS data; reviewing redistricting and reapportionment maps; conducting racially polarized voting (ecological inference or ecological regression) analyses or other demographic analyses; and reviewing election returns and voter files in support of advocacy and litigation related to voting rights, particularly apportionment and redistricting;
• Develop quantitative research and investigative analyses and literature reviews that support LDF litigation and other advocacy initiatives;
• Consult in preparation for and in connection with litigation;
• Be familiar with issues and topics relevant to reapportionment and redistricting, particularly with respect to their impact on Black people and other communities of color;
• Maintain current knowledge of cutting-edge empirical methods in social science, particularly with regards to voting rights and redistricting;
• Evaluate, acquire, and integrate new datasets;
• Develop and engage in public speaking and trainings on data issues related to voting rights;

• Willingness to work flexible hours, including occasional weekends;
• Willingness to travel to LDF’s target states and other jurisdictions, including in the South, pursuant to LDF’s COVID travel guidelines; and
• Other responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Preferred advanced degree in a quantitative social science field (e.g. Economics, Political Science) or equivalent experience;
• Minimum of 2 years of experience using big data, political data analysis, statistical methods, causal identification, and hypothesis testing in an applied setting;
• Demonstrated commitment to LDF’s mission and a record of engagement with racial justice and civil rights;
• Proficiency with diverse datasets from federal, state, and local agencies including the Decennial Census, American Community Survey, and others;
• Fluency in Python or R, or similar analytics and programming languages;
• Experience with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial data, and mapping software (e.g., Maptitude);
• Experience with simulation modeling;
• Experience working with the voter file and voter mobilization tools and tactics;
• Familiarity with a wide range of social science empirical methods, and ability to quickly learn new empirical techniques;
• Excellent analytic, research, and writing skills, and detail-oriented;
• Possess strong communication and data storytelling skills, i.e., clearly translate technical concepts for a non-technical audience;
• Ability to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and/or conflicts; and
• Self-motivated and goal oriented with the ability to work independently and with a team.

This is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills, efforts or requirements or working conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed as assigned. This description does not constitute a contract of employment and LDF may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.

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