Lead Data Scientist, Justice Processes & Policy Impact

City of New York; New York (NY); On-site; USD 68,213 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

The City of New York seeks a Lead Data Scientist for Justice Processes reporting to the Executive Director of Research Innovation in the Policy Unit. The role designs and tests data-driven policy solutions to improve justice-process efficiency, reduce jail populations, and develop a data-driven research agenda.

You will build descriptive and predictive models, deploy ML in production, and create dashboards and briefs for decision-makers.

Qualifications

• Requires postgraduate degree in a quantitative field (stats/data science).
• 5+ years in applied data science or research, preferably in policy or civic tech.
• Strong portfolio of self-directed analytic work; justice-system experience is a plus.
• Proficiency with Python or R for data manipulation, analysis, and modeling.
• Experience with modern ML methods for predictive modeling to drive decisions and resource allocation.
• Experience with relational databases and writing complex SQL queries.

Responsibilities

• Conduct exploratory data analysis and build descriptive/predictive models to inform policy.
• Design, build, and deploy ML models in production with monitoring for drift and performance.
• Create reproducible workflows in Python, R, and SQL with well-documented processes.
• Deliver policy briefs, presentations, and dashboards translating findings into action.
• Partner with city agencies and stakeholders to scope projects and align research with needs.
• Present results at conferences and policy forums to engage stakeholders.
• Prepare insights for publication or internal use.

Skills

Python

R

SQL

Data storytelling

Communication skills

Project management

Machine learning

Statistics

Data visualization

Notebooks (Jupyter, etc.)

Education

Master's or PhD in statistics/data science/computational social science

Tools

SQL databases (MS SQL, PostgreSQL)

APIs & data formats (JSON, CSV, Parquet)

Job description

The City of New York seeks a Lead Data Scientist for Justice Processes reporting to the Executive Director of Research Innovation in the Policy Unit. The role designs and tests data-driven policy solutions to improve justice-process efficiency, reduce jail populations, and develop a data-driven research agenda.

You will build descriptive and predictive models, deploy ML in production, and create dashboards and briefs for decision-makers.