The Stanford Center on Early Childhood, an initiative of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, seeks a full time Data Scientist to join the RAPID Survey Project team. The Data Scientist will manage and oversee analyses of all data collected by the RAPID Survey Project, designing innovative methodologies and identifying opportunities for timely analyses to maximize the use and impact of the RAPID datasets. The person in this role will provide mentorship and guidance to the RAPID Data Analysts.
Note: This position is a 1-year fixed term appointment that may be renewed based on performance and funding. This position is eligible for a remote work agreement and travel is required for convenings and events. Interested applicants should submit a resume and a cover letter describing why they are interested in this position at this stage of their career. Candidates must be eligible to work in the US. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

ABOUT US

Housed at Stanford Graduate School of Education, the Stanford Accelerator for Learning is the first university-wide initiative connecting scholars across disciplines and with external partners to bridge research, innovation, practice, and policy, and bring quality scalable and equitable learning experiences to all learners, throughout the lifespan. The Stanford Accelerator for Learning focuses on learning challenges most in need of new discoveries, evidence, and solutions and where we believe Stanford can make the most difference. Those include: adult & workforce learning, digital learning, early childhood education and development, equity in learning, learning differences, and policy & systems change.The Stanford Center on Early Childhood (SCEC) is an initiative of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning. The SCEC leverages the current moment of revolutionary science and fosters deep omnidirectional collaboration across sectors, seeking to change the way that research in early childhood is conducted, communicated, and utilized, with the overarching goal that each and every child thrives from the start.

POSITION SUMMARY

RAPID began as a program of two national surveys of households with children under age 6 and the child care workforce. Led by Philip Fisher, Stanford Center on Early Childhood Director, the RAPID National Survey administers monthly surveys on a rapid-cycle schedule, and has collected data from more than 20,000 households and 12,000 child care providers in all 50 states. The survey and data inform policy, advocacy, academic, parent and practitioner audiences on the experiences, challenges, and strengths of parents of young children and child care providers. The goal is to support parent- and provider-driven policies and programs that equitably and effectively serve families, providers, and young children.
RAPID is now implemented in community, state, and national contexts, working in partnership with local organizations and launching oversampling efforts in several states. The RAPID datasets are extensive and quickly growing, and include both quantitative and qualitative data.The person in this role will have responsibility for overseeing and optimizing the analysis and use of RAPID data. The Data Scientist will propose analyses of RAPID survey data, including to identify and pursue relevant and timely findings that may not have been previously explored, and will be a resource in the production of data dissemination products, such as visualizations, fact sheets, and data briefs. The successful candidate will bring extensive methodological experience, technical skill with analysis tools and software, and content knowledge in early childhood development, education, policy, and/or advocacy. The person in this role must be an enthusiastic and communicative collaborator, as this role will interface directly with team members across RAPID and the SCEC, as well as with external collaborators, partners, and advisors. This team member will provide oversight of work product but will not directly supervise staff. This team member will work under the direction of the Director of the RAPID Survey Project and in collaboration with RAPID Program Managers.
Independently and with minimal supervision, the Data Scientist will bring creativity and flexible thinking to analyses of RAPID data. The successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to tailor analyses, visualizations, and tools to meet the needs of different contexts.The Data Scientist will provide mentorship and guidance to the RAPID team of data analysts, who are supervised by RAPID Program Managers, and will regularly review the work product of those analysts. This role will be supervised by the Director of the RAPID Survey Project.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree and five years of relevant experience or combination of education and relevant experience.
• Experience in a quantitative discipline such as economics, finance, statistics or engineering.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Content expertise in early childhood, education, policy, and/or advocacy
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to coach and mentor analysts
• Ability to work in a matrixed team environment, collaborating both with peers with leadership responsibilities, senior leadership and junior team members

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Doctoral degree or equivalent in relevant field
• Advanced methodological, statistical, and analytic skills
• Flexible and creative thinking about data analysis
• Experience working with large data sets to identify new topics and approaches for analysis
• Experience working with a geographically distributed team
• Experience with survey research
  Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Sitting in place at computer for long periods of time with extensive keyboarding/dexterity.
• Occasionally use a telephone.
• Rarely writing by hand.

• Lead and own RAPID-wide data initiatives (e.g. models, frameworks, platforms, dashboards).
• Guide, coach and mentor a high performing team of analysts.
• Identify, leverage and partner with external stakeholders.
• Prioritize and extract data from a variety of sources such as notes, survey results, medical reports, and laboratory data, and maintain its accuracy and completeness.
• Determine additional data collection and reporting requirements. Design and customize reports based upon data in the database. Oversee and monitor compliance with processes that ensure high-quality data.
• Use system reports and analyses to identify potentially problematic data, make corrections, and eliminate root cause for data problems or justify solutions to be implemented by others.
• Create complex charts and databases, perform statistical analyses, and develop graphs and tables for publication and presentation.
• Serve as a resource for non-routine inquiries such as requests for statistics or surveys.
• Provide documentation based on audit and reporting criteria to investigators and research staff.