Statistician Researcher

Summary

NORC at the University of Chicago is an objective, non-partisan research institution that delivers reliable data and rigorous analysis to guide programmatic, business, and policy decisions. The Statistician III supports cross-functional research projects by applying mathematical statistics, survey methodology, data engineering, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and visualization techniques. The role also includes presenting findings, mentoring staff, contributing to proposals, and supporting high-quality technical products.

Responsibilities

• Provide statistical expertise across projects, including study design and advanced methods; contribute to technical planning and help manage quality of work products from other staff
• Lead survey statistics tasks, including sample selection, weighting, nonresponse analyses, variance estimation; contribute to sample design and analysis sections of reports
• Develop robust data engineering and analytics pipelines to support reproducible, scalable analysis and ML/AI applications
• Develop AI-enabled analytic workflows, build data products using Python and R, and contribute to innovative research at the intersection of survey methodology, data science, and artificial intelligence
• Uphold data disclosure limitation and data privacy best practices; apply statistical disclosure limitation for public releases and restricted-use data
• Create dashboards and data visualizations; design effective, stakeholder-ready visual products and set data visualization standards for projects
• Design and develop programs/scripts for data cleaning, integration, transformation, harmonization, and validation; create and maintain data documentation and dictionaries
• Write and implement SAS, R, and Python programs to extract/manipulate data, link complex datasets, and execute statistical and machine learning analyses
• Establish reproducible, quality‑assured analytic workflows; implement version control (Git), environment management, peer code review, automated testing, and validation checks
• Present results to clients and professional audiences; interact with clients to clarify needs, report progress, and provide recommendations
• Mentor early career staff on technical tasks and career development; contribute to proposals and business development activities
• Perform other duties as assigned

Skills

• Qualified applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S
• • Master's degree in statistics, mathematics, data science, computer science, computational social science, or a related field required
• • 4 years of experience in positions of increasing responsibility in statistics, analytics, survey research, or related field
• • Experience in at least one of the following areas: demonstrated leadership in data visualization design, including expertise with tools such as R, Tableau, and Power BI for static and interactive visualizations; experience with data disclosure limitation and data privacy methods, including risk assessment and mitigation for public data releases; sampling, weighting, and variance estimation; and developing analytical pipelines and data workflows to support statistical analysis, data visualization, and AI/ML applications
• • Strong foundation in mathematical statistics, including probability theory, statistical estimation, inference, modeling, and study design
• • Proficiency in R and Python
• • Experience applying reproducible research and statistical programming best practices, including version control, code review, testing, documentation, and quality assurance
• • Ability to organize and prioritize work to meet project needs
• • Strong interpersonal and critical reasoning skills
• • Proficiency with MS Office
• This is a hybrid role based in either our Chicago Loop or downtown Washington, DC office, with a minimum of six days per month in the office
• • Master's degree in statistics, mathematics, data science, computer science, computational social science, or a related field required; Ph.D. preferred
• • Proficiency in R and Python. SAS proficiency is a plus

Qualifications

Must Haves

• Qualified applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S
• • Master's degree in statistics, mathematics, data science, computer science, computational social science, or a related field required
• • 4 years of experience in positions of increasing responsibility in statistics, analytics, survey research, or related field
• • Experience in at least one of the following areas: demonstrated leadership in data visualization design, including expertise with tools such as R, Tableau, and Power BI for static and interactive visualizations; experience with data disclosure limitation and data privacy methods, including risk assessment and mitigation for public data releases; sampling, weighting, and variance estimation; and developing analytical pipelines and data workflows to support statistical analysis, data visualization, and AI/ML applications
• • Strong foundation in mathematical statistics, including probability theory, statistical estimation, inference, modeling, and study design
• • Proficiency in R and Python
• • Experience applying reproducible research and statistical programming best practices, including version control, code review, testing, documentation, and quality assurance
• • Ability to organize and prioritize work to meet project needs
• • Strong interpersonal and critical reasoning skills
• • Proficiency with MS Office
• This is a hybrid role based in either our Chicago Loop or downtown Washington, DC office, with a minimum of six days per month in the office

Nice to Haves

• • Master's degree in statistics, mathematics, data science, computer science, computational social science, or a related field required; Ph.D. preferred
• • Proficiency in R and Python. SAS proficiency is a plus

Benefits

• For regular staff: generously subsidized health insurance, effective on the first day of employment
• For regular staff: dental and vision insurance
• For regular staff: a defined contribution retirement program, along with a separate voluntary 403(b) retirement program
• For regular staff: group life insurance, long-term and short-term disability insurance
• For regular staff: generous paid time off and holidays
• For regular staff: paid parental leave
• For regular staff: bereavement leave
• For regular staff: tuition assistance
• For regular staff: an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Hybrid work arrangement based in either the Chicago Loop or downtown Washington, DC office, with a minimum of six days per month in the office
• Remote work status may be considered for outstanding candidates
• Business casual environment
• Emphasis on continuous learning