Data Scientist

Key Skills

Unix Operating system, Python Programming, SQL, R Programming, R-Shiny, Statistical modeling, Dash framework

Job Description

The New York City Council is looking for motivated and curious Data Scientist(s) to join the Data Team. The Council is the New York City’s legislative body. The Council drafts & votes on proposed laws, negotiates the City’s budget with the Mayor, monitors City agencies to make sure they’re effectively serving New Yorkers and reviews and makes land use policies on the growth and development of our city.

The Data Team is committed to providing a data-driven approach to the Council’s law-making process to improve the lives of New Yorkers. The Data Team assists legislative staff in developing policy ideas that are influenced by data, technology, & science. The Data Team is also responsible for reviewing proposed laws that report data and for leveraging data to create powerful visual narratives used in oversight hearings. The Data Team is in the initial stages of building data products & tools for Council staff. The Data Team’s main data sources are open datasets (NYC Open Data Portal, Census, USGS, etc.). Other sources include data reporting requirements and data requested from agencies.

Visit https://council.nyc.gov/data/ to learn more about their work.

SALARY RANGE:

$75,000 to $85,000

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• The position entails working closely with legislative attorneys and policy analysts to research policy issues, and suggest recommendations.
• In addition to supporting the team in building & deploying data products & tools, the Data Scientist(s) will perform data cleaning & validation, conduct exploratory analysis, provide statistical inferences, develop models, and visualize and present findings and insights.

 QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in a quantitative discipline or 2+ years of quantitative experience
• Strong quantitative and problem-solving skills
• Candidates must have 2+ years of experience with Python or R
• Agility to adjust priorities and ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously while addressing ad hoc data requests
• Ability to work independently, exercise initiative and follow through to accomplish tasks
• Communicate and visualize scientific and technical results to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience with interactive visualizations (Dash, RShiny, etc.)
• Experience building/deploying data products with open source tools (SQL, Unix, etc.)
• Strong desire to improve the community and interest in policy and/or how the city and government works.
• Ability to work collaboratively with other data scientists and lay persons.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS INCLUDE:

• Graduate degree from an accredited university in statistics, a physical science, computer science or other quantitative discipline
• Experience with web scraping
• Experience in government and/or with policy

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

New York City residency required within 90 days of appointment.

As of November 15, 2021, all new hires must be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus to work at City Hall and/or 250 Broadway offices, or at any Council Member district office, unless they have been granted a reasonable accommodation for religion or disability. If you are offered employment with the New York City Council, this requirement must be met by your date of hire, unless a reasonable accommodation for exemption is received and approved by the New York City Council.

The New York City Council makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact EEOOfficer@council.nyc.gov.

HOW TO APPLY:

Qualified candidates should forward their resume and a cover letter to:

E-MAIL: counciljobs@council.nyc.gov
MAIL: New York City Council
Attn: Personnel Services/Recruiting (DS)
250 Broadway, 16th Floor
New York, New York 10007
FAX: 12124014711

While we sincerely appreciate all applications, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

The New York City Council is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual’s sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.