Data Specialist

Harris County; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

The Harris County Public Defender's Office in Houston seeks a full-time Data Specialist to build and maintain the office's law enforcement accountability database through Techtivist. This data-focused role emphasizes data collection, organization, quality control, and analysis to transform large, inconsistent sources into accurate, structured, and searchable data.

The Data Specialist will identify officer credibility issues, patterns of misconduct, impeachment information, and other data to

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a data-related field as listed.
• Minimum two years of experience with databases or structured data.
• Interest in data to support public defense and accountability.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and update the Techtivist database.
• Collect, clean, structure, and validate data from public records and related sources.
• Work with structured and unstructured data sources (PDFs, scans).
• Extract and parse information using OCR and PDF extraction.
• Identify duplicates and data quality issues; resolve them.
• Link records across datasets and write/import data as needed.
• Assist with data-entry, source tracking, and confidentiality workflows.
• Prepare reports, dashboards, and visualizations for attorneys and staff.

Skills

Attention to detail

Data analysis

Public records research

Confidential information handling

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in data science, computer science, statistics, information science, public policy, sociology, criminology, criminal justice, journalism, public administration, or a related field

Tools

Python

R

SQL

Tableau

Power BI

OCR

PDF extraction

Web scraping

Job description

About the Harris County Public Defender's Office:

The Harris County Public Defender's Office is committed to providing high-quality, client-centered representation to individuals accused of criminal offenses who cannot afford counsel. Our office works collaboratively across legal and support teams to advocate for our clients, protect constitutional rights, and promote fairness within the legal system. We value professionalism, integrity, teamwork, and compassionate public service.

Position Overview:

The Harris County Public Defender's Office seeks a full-time Data Specialist to help build and maintain the office's law enforcement accountability database through Techtivist. This is a data-focused position requiring strong skills in data collection, organization, quality control, and analysis. The Data Specialist will work with complex records and bulk data related to law enforcement accountability. This position is responsible for transforming large, inconsistent, and often fragmented sources of information into accurate, structured, and searchable data. This work is critical to supporting attorneys, investigators, and policy staff in identifying officer credibility issues, patterns of misconduct, impeachment information, and other data that assists in client representation and broader efforts to improve the criminal legal system.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Maintain and update the office's Techtivist database.


• Collect, clean, structure, and validate data from public records, court records, civil lawsuits, agency rosters, disciplinary records, attorney submissions, case materials, and online sources.


• Work with spreadsheets, databases, PDFs, scanned records, and other structured and unstructured data sources.


• Extract and parse information from documents using OCR, PDF extraction, and other data-processing tools.


• Identify and resolve duplicate records, inconsistent officer names, missing identifiers, conflicting information, and other data-quality issues.


• Link records across datasets, including rosters, lawsuits, complaints, disciplinary records, Brady disclosures, and case-related information.


• Write or run scripts, when appropriate, to clean, transform, match, or import data into usable formats.


• Assist with database structure, data-entry protocols, source tracking, confidentiality designations, and quality-control workflows.


• Prepare, track, and organize public information requests for law enforcement rosters, command structures, policies, misconduct records, and related data.


• Query data and prepare reports, spreadsheets, summaries, visualizations, and other work products for attorneys and staff.


• Protect confidential, privileged, sealed, or otherwise sensitive information.


• Assist with user support, troubleshooting, documentation, and other Techtivist-related tasks.


• Perform other tasks as assigned.

Harris County is an Equal Opportunity Employer

https://hrrm.harriscountytx.gov/Pages/EqualEmploymentOpportunityPlan.aspx

If you need special services or accommodations, please call [phone] or email [e-mail].

This position is subject to a criminal history check. Only relevant convictions will be considered and, even when considered, may not automatically disqualify the candidate.

Supporting Documents:

• Applicants should submit a resume and cover letter describing their interest in the position.


• Applicants are also encouraged to submit a data project, code sample, dashboard, spreadsheet, research memo, writing sample, or other work product demonstrating relevant skills.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in data science, computer science, statistics, information science, public policy, sociology, criminology, criminal justice, journalism, public administration, or a related field.


• At least two (2) years of experience working with databases, spreadsheets, public records, research data, or other structured datasets.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Interest in using data to support public defense, law enforcement accountability, racial justice, or criminal legal system reform.


• Strong attention to detail and ability to work with large, complex, and inconsistent datasets.


• Ability to conduct factual research using public records, court records, online databases, and internal records.


• Ability to work carefully with confidential and sensitive information.


• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

NOTE:

Qualifying education, experience, knowledge, and skills must be documented on your job application. You may attach a resume to the application as supporting documentation but ONLY information stated on the application will be used for consideration. \"See Resume\" will not be accepted for qualifications.

Preference may be given to candidates with experience in:

• Python, R, SQL, Stata, Tableau, Power BI, or similar tools.


• Data normalization, records linkage, fuzzy matching, probabilistic matching, or deduplication.


• OCR, PDF extraction, web scraping, text parsing, or document automation.


• Relational databases, data schemas, database imports, or data integrity protocols.


• Creating reports, dashboards, data visualizations, or other tools for non-technical users.


• Public records, criminal defense, civil rights litigation, Brady/Giglio issues, law enforcement data, or court records.


• A public defender office, legal services organization, civil rights organization, policy organization, newsroom, academic research setting, or government accountability project.

Position Type and Typical Hours of Work:

• Regular Full-time | The anticipated start date is October 2026 - Subject to final fiscal year funding. A contingent offer may be extended prior to that date


• Monday - Friday | 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Salary:

• Depends on qualifications


• Based on 26 pay periods

Employment may be contingent on passing a drug screen and meeting other standards. Due to a high volume of applications positions may close prior to the advertised closing date or at the discretion of the Hiring Department.