Data Scientist

Summary

Polco operates local government performance databases that support communities across the United States. The Data Scientist will develop descriptive, predictive, and causal analytics; maintain data processes and models; automate workflows; and communicate insights to internal and external stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and run Polco's recurring data processes, including GPAL and other analytic databases (data ingests, cleaning, dataset refreshes), survey weighting and benchmarking, and periodic model updates
• Build and improve statistical and predictive models using GPAL and our other databases (for example, our customer renewal model), and adapt existing models as our needs change
• With mentorship from Polco leadership, take on advanced client analytics projects—including impact and causal-inference studies—and communicate results clearly to internal and external stakeholders through written, in-person, and virtual presentations
• Partner with our Engineering Team to automate data workflows (ingest, cleaning, analytics, dashboards) and make statistical and AI tooling more accessible across the company
• Collaborate with our Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, and Survey Research Teams on internal analytics like renewal models
• Keep clear, organized, and professional documentation so your work is reproducible and transferable across the team, and contribute to Polco's online reporting tools and internal data apps

Skills

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in a quantitative field grounded in statistics (data science, statistics, economics, or similar)
• 2+ years of applied, non-academic industry experience in data science or quantitative analysis
• Proficiency in Python and SQL (required)
• Working knowledge of R, or willingness to read and learn it as some of our existing tools and internal apps are written in R
• A solid statistics foundation and genuine interest in causal inference and model building
• Deep causal-inference expertise is not required (we'll mentor it), but the aptitude and curiosity to learn it are mandatory
• Experience building with agentic AI tools (e.g., Claude, Codex)—not just using them, but orchestrating them to run analyses, develop reusable workflows and skills, and extend what you can do statistically beyond what you could hand-code alone
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including explaining technical work to non-technical stakeholders
• Experience working in ambiguity and excitement about moving at startup pace—you like bringing structure to messy, open-ended problems and adapt well when priorities shift
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple projects with minimal oversight
• Hybrid work environment if located in the Madison, WI area; 100% remote if elsewhere
• While remote candidates across the US will be considered, our preferred candidate will be based in the Madison, WI area and work a hybrid schedule based out of Polco's headquarters office
• Survey research, public-sector, or civic-data experience
• Strong data-visualization skills and a 'storytelling with data' sensibility
• Experience automating or scaling data workflows in the cloud (Snowflake, etc.)
• A graduate degree will be helpful, but not required
• A strong applied-project or capstone portfolio can offset part of this
• Willingness to read and learn it as some of our existing tools and internal apps are written in R

Qualifications

Must Haves

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in a quantitative field grounded in statistics (data science, statistics, economics, or similar)
• 2+ years of applied, non-academic industry experience in data science or quantitative analysis
• Proficiency in Python and SQL (required)
• Working knowledge of R, or willingness to read and learn it as some of our existing tools and internal apps are written in R
• A solid statistics foundation and genuine interest in causal inference and model building
• Deep causal-inference expertise is not required (we'll mentor it), but the aptitude and curiosity to learn it are mandatory
• Experience building with agentic AI tools (e.g., Claude, Codex)—not just using them, but orchestrating them to run analyses, develop reusable workflows and skills, and extend what you can do statistically beyond what you could hand-code alone
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including explaining technical work to non-technical stakeholders
• Experience working in ambiguity and excitement about moving at startup pace—you like bringing structure to messy, open-ended problems and adapt well when priorities shift
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple projects with minimal oversight
• Hybrid work environment if located in the Madison, WI area; 100% remote if elsewhere

Nice to Haves

• While remote candidates across the US will be considered, our preferred candidate will be based in the Madison, WI area and work a hybrid schedule based out of Polco's headquarters office
• Survey research, public-sector, or civic-data experience
• Strong data-visualization skills and a 'storytelling with data' sensibility
• Experience automating or scaling data workflows in the cloud (Snowflake, etc.)
• A graduate degree will be helpful, but not required
• A strong applied-project or capstone portfolio can offset part of this
• willingness to read and learn it as some of our existing tools and internal apps are written in R

Benefits

• Dental, medical, and vision coverage.
• Hybrid work environment if located in the Madison, WI area; 100% remote if elsewhere.
• Flexible work hours.
• 15 company holidays.
• Generous paid time off.