Data Coordinator, Research & Evaluation

About the Agency:

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) promotes quality and affordability in the city's housing, and diversity and strength in the city’s neighborhoods because every New Yorker deserves a safe, affordable place to live in a neighborhood they love.

- We maintain building and resident safety and health
- We create opportunities for New Yorkers through housing affordability
- We engage New Yorkers to build and sustain neighborhood strength and diversity.
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The Office of Policy and Strategy (OPS) leverages its expertise to guide and support HPD and its many Offices in their efforts to deepen their impact, optimize their efficiency, and become more data-driven, compliance-attentive, climate-adaptive, and mission-focused. OPS’ Division of Research & Evaluation (R&E) conducts rigorous statistical analyses, large scale surveys, and evaluations of agency programming to support new knowledge and help refine practices related to the housing stock, population, and communities we serve. R&E leverages resources within and across the traditional divides of government and academia to facilitate the collection of high-quality data and promote multi-disciplinary approaches to housing policy research. Its research produces methodologically sound findings to shape effective policy and programming and promote data-driven policymaking in New York City and beyond.
R&E recently launched the Center for Research on Housing Opportunity, Mobility, and Equity (HOME), which conducts independent analysis of policy-relevant topics related to these key topics. This research center includes partnerships with other academic and government researchers with the aim of creating sound, relevant research evidence on housing as both a source of disparities and a means for achieving greater equity for all New Yorkers.

Your Role:

The Data Coordinator will work closely with other R&E staff on a continual and as-needed basis to compile and maintain datasets relevant to the team’s work, included relating to the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS), a longitudinal survey of the NYC housing stock and population conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau under contract from HPD. The Data Coordinator will be responsible for managing current administrative and survey data assets as well as acquiring and ingesting new data to advance R&E’s mission.
The Data Coordinator will be required to undergo a background check with the U.S. Census Bureau to acquire Special Sworn Status in order to work with protected Title 13 data in the NYCHVS Survey Sponsor Data Center (SSDC). The Data Coordinator will be responsible for working with confidential and sensitive data and must adhere to strict data privacy procedures, including working with other team members to reduce the risk of re-identification and disclosure.

Your Responsibilities:

- Coordinating with researchers, including R&E and partners, to identify potential datasets and scope data-sharing agreements;
- Guiding decision-making regarding the use of administrative records for research purposes and future approaches for improved use;
- Maintaining schedules and systems for updating data warehouse as new versions of current data become available;
- Harmonizing and linking current datasets to increase their usefulness, including geocoding and restructuring of large, complex data sets;
- Working with data in the SSDC environment to improve linkages and matches between NYC-specific data and protected Census data, including NYCHVS survey responses;
- Developing new techniques to improve match rates among data sets with missing or inconsistent identifiers;
- Engaging with data owners to improve understanding of data sources, coding, and potential threats to validity;
- Producing documentation of data processing and analytic data sets to support R&E's use;
- Supporting analytic projects by providing relevant cleaned and prepared datasets.


Preferred skills

- Experience managing and manipulating administrative data;
- Mastery of statistical software such as SAS, Stata, or R and a willingness to learn additional languages;
- Strong research ethics and a commitment to conducting research with the goal of improving public policy;
- Interest in improving survey data through the use of administrative records;
- Ability to learn independently and think and work collaboratively;
- Exceptional communication, teamwork and relationship-building skills; and
- Dedication to public service.

Authorization to work in the United States is required for this position. The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development does not provide sponsorship for international employees for visa applications, extensions, or status changes, including H-1B visas. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that they meet all qualifying requirements for this position at the time of application.

CITY RESEARCH SCIENTIST - 21744