Senior Research & Data Analyst

Elections Ontario; Toronto; On-site; CAD 75,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

Elections Ontario is seeking a Senior Research & Data Analyst to join the Design & Strategic Innovation division. You will transform data into intuitive reports, dashboards, and decision-support tools for election operations across Ontario.

Reporting to the Manager, Research & Insights, the role emphasizes rigorous analysis, collaborative problem solving, and ethical data handling to support fair and transparent elections delivery. This is a temporary assignment with a November 2027 end date.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated proficiency using Python or R for data preparation, analytical workflows, automation, API integration, and reporting products.
• Demonstrated experience analyzing and interpreting operational, transactional and primary research data in an unstructured environment.
• Familiarity with version control, testing, documentation, and maintainable coding practices.
• Exposure to designing user-centered analytical reporting solutions for non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead discovery sessions with internal and external stakeholders to understand operational or experiential challenges and identify high impact opportunities for analytics solutions.
• Translate complex business requirements into scalable dashboards, applications, and automations that balance efficiency, interpretability and impact.
• Develop intuitive, maintainable, and well documented solutions that enable non-technical users to confidently access and interpret information.

Skills

Python

R

APIs

Data storytelling

Tools

Version control

Job description

Position Title: Senior Research & Data Analyst

Position Status: Temporary Assignment until November 30, 2027

Posting Status: Open

Salary Band: $75,185 to $105,116 per year

Hours of Work: 36.25 per week

Posting Date: November 10, 2026

Closing Date: November 17, 2026

Who we are

Elections Ontario is an independent, non-political office of the Ontario legislature. We run provincial elections, by-elections, and referenda in Ontario. We are committed to making voting easy and accessible, while maintaining the integrity, security, and transparency of the electoral process.

Join our team

The Design & Strategic Innovation division is seeking a strategic researcher with proficiency in critical thinking and analytical problem framing to support Elections Ontario’s research and innovation agenda.

As a Senior Research & Data Analyst you will work at the intersection of research, analytics, technology, and behavioural science to transform data into intuitive reports, tools, and applications that support strategic decision making.

You will collaborate with process and service design, and operational teams to design and implement solutions that enable fair, accessible and high integrity elections delivery to Ontarians.

What to expect in this role

Reporting to the Manager, Research & Insights, you will:

Design Reporting & Operational Solutions

• Lead discovery sessions with internal and external stakeholders to understand operational or experiential challenges and identify high impact opportunities for analytics solutions.
• Translate complex business requirements into scalable dashboards, applications, and automations that balance efficiency, interpretability and impact.
• Develop intuitive, maintainable, and well documented solutions that enable non-technical users to confidently access and interpret information.

Build Analytics & Decision Support Tools

• Analyze operational, transactional, and primary research data using tools such as Python, R, or other business intelligence tools.
• Develop frameworks and workflows that integrate fragmented data from multiple business units to support insights generation, reporting and decision-making.
• Clearly document and define the limitations of analytical solutions to support the balance between implementation complexity and added value.

Collaborate Across Design & Strategic Innovation

• Partner with researchers, analysts, service designers, and operational teams throughout solution discovery, development, testing, and implementation.
• Recommend appropriate technical or research approaches based on business needs, scalability, governance, and user experience.
• Contribute to technical standards, best practices, reusable components and the development of data literacy across the organization.
• Foster a culture of experimentation, continuous learning, and evidence-informed innovation.
• Evaluate emerging technologies including AI assisted development tools to improve solution delivery, operational efficiency and user experience while maintaining accountability for quality and security.
• Identify opportunities to automate processes, simplify workflows, and strengthen data informed decision making across Elections Ontario.

What you need to qualify

Technical Expertise

• Demonstrated proficiency using Python or R for data preparation, analytical workflows, automation, API integration, and reporting products.
• Demonstrated experience analyzing and interpreting operational, transactional and primary research data in an unstructured environment.
• Familiarity with version control, testing, documentation, and maintainable coding practices.
• Exposure to designing user-centered analytical reporting solutions for non-technical audiences.

Professional Skills

• Ability to translate ambiguous business problems into practical, scalable analytical solutions using strong systems thinking and problem-solving skills. Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Ability to lead solution discoveries with clients and recommend appropriate technologies and research approaches.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams with varying levels of data and analytical literacy.
• Demonstrated curiosity and commitment to continuous learning.
• Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools to improve productivity, learning, and solution quality while maintaining professional accountability.
• Demonstrated initiative in identifying opportunities to improve processes through automation, analytics, or digital innovation, working cross-functionally to shape the problem before solving it.
• Ability to rapidly learn new technologies and apply them to solve emerging business challenges.

Must be legally entitled to work in Canada.

This position requires in-office presence of five days per week. There is no hybrid opportunity.

The successful candidate will be required to complete criminal background and social media checks as part of the recruitment process.

How to request an accommodation

Elections Ontario is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable and accessible environment, where all employees feel valued, respected, and supported.

Under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and the Ontario Human Rights Code, we provide accommodations to applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment and selection process. If you require a disability-related accommodation to participate, please call 1-888-668-8683, send a fax to 1-866-714-2809, TTY at 1-888-292-2312 or email [e-mail].

At Elections Ontario, all resumes are screened by the Talent Acquisition team and Hiring Managers, without the use of AI. Criminal record checks also do not use AI. However, AI technology is used when conducting social media checks.

Elections Ontario posts salaries in accordance with ESA pay/transparency legislation. Individual salaries within the anticipated salary range are determined through various factors, including but not limited to internal equity, education, relevant experience, knowledge and applicable skill sets.