(Senior) Data Analyst, Education Policy Studies

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is hiring a data analyst to create, manage, and analyze datasets that inform education policy decisions. The role supports education policy research through data collection, statistical and computational analysis, and drafting research papers and other materials.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to all stages of the research process, with opportunities to coauthor datasets and research publications
• Collect, assemble, and analyze large datasets
• Conduct empirical and computational analysis using statistical and econometric methods, machine learning, and natural language processing in R, Python, or SQL
• Promote and maintain data and code quality through reproducible extract, transform, and load pipelines and Git or GitHub version control
• Create data visualizations, tabulations, graphs, and figures for studies and reports
• Assist in drafting scholarly papers, policy papers, and articles aimed at multiple audiences
• Apply natural language processing and large language model agent orchestration to analyze unstructured text data
• Oversee quality assurance workflows to validate model outputs against human labeling
• Manage compute and application programming interface costs, balancing performance against price
• Manage analytic projects from scoping through final results, elevating and documenting methodological decisions
• Manage restricted-use data in compliance with data use agreements, secure data environments, and disclosure-avoidance requirements
• Review and replicate analyses for quality control
• Serve as a technical point of contact with state education agencies and external collaborators

Preferred

• A master's degree in data analytics, quantitative methods, or public policy is preferred
• a master's degree in computer science, economics, statistics, or related discipline is preferred
• Preferably a master's degree and two or more years of full-time, applicable experience, or a bachelor's degree and four or more years of full-time, applicable experience
• Interest in education policy research preferred
• Demonstrated experience with natural language processing or automated large language model–based text analysis preferred
• Preferably a master's degree and two or more years of full-time, applicable experience, or a bachelor’s degree and four or more years of full-time, applicable experience
• Data Analytics
• Quantitative Methods
• Public Policy
• Computer Science
• Economics
• Statistics
• Education Policy Research
• Natural Language Processing
• LLM-Based Text Analysis

Benefits

• 18 days of paid leave (15 days of paid annual leave and 3 personal/floating holidays)
• 12 days of paid sick leave
• Paid family leave
• Medical and dental coverage, in addition to a health savings account
• Medical and dependent care FSA
• Tuition assistance program of up to $5,200
• Life and disability insurance at no cost to employees
• 403b retirement plan with a contribution from AEI

Company

• Public policy think tank and research institute
• Washington, District of Columbia, USA
• http://www.aei.org/
• Founded in 1938
• 51-200 employees

Qualifications

• This position requires excellent technical and quantitative skills—and the capacity to develop additional skills—as well as high proficiencies in writing, research, communication, and organization
• Creativity, attention to detail, and the ability to multitask with minimal supervision are essential
• A bachelor's degree in computer science, economics, statistics, or related discipline is required
• Candidates should have at least one year of previous full-time, applicable work experience
• Fluency in data analysis tools and languages such as R, Python, SQL, and Stata
• Strong understanding of statistical methods and data science techniques
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to learn new skills
• Capacity to meticulously document all data processes, methodologies, and analyses
• Ambitious outlook, comfort with working independently, and readiness to learn new skills as projects demand
• Ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines
• A master's degree in data analytics, quantitative methods, or public policy is preferred
• A master's degree in computer science, economics, statistics, or related discipline is preferred
• Preferably a master's degree and two or more years of full-time, applicable experience, or a bachelor's degree and four or more years of full-time, applicable experience
• Interest in education policy research preferred
• Demonstrated experience with natural language processing or automated large language model–based text analysis preferred
• Candidates should have at least one year of previous full-time, applicable work experience.

Required skills

• Data Science, Education Policy Research, Large Language Model–Based Text Analysis, Natural Language Processing, Python, R, SQL, Stata, Statistical Methods

Preferred skills

• Interest in education policy research preferred

Experience

• 1+ years