Senior Labor Market Data Scientist - Lead Research

UKG; Lincoln (NE); On-site; USD 151,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

UKG is seeking a Principal Labor Market Data Scientist to lead hands-on research and analysis focusing on labor and workforce insights. You will own the process from question definition to validated findings and present them to business leaders.

As a senior individual contributor, you will combine UKG workforce data with external sources, develop timely insights, and work with economists to inform executive discussions and external communications.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in statistics, data science, economics, computer science, mathematics, or a related quantitative field.
• 8+ years of relevant experience in data science, applied statistics, quantitative research, or a related field, with demonstrated ownership of complex analytical work and influence at a senior level.
• Substantial hands-on experience analyzing labor market or workforce data in recent professional roles, including producing research, indicators, or insights from employment, payroll, wage, hours, job posting, or worker-level datasets.
• Deep applied statistical expertise, including time-series analysis, sampling and weighting, hypothesis testing, and uncertainty estimation.
• Strong SQL and Python skills, including the ability to work independently with large, complex datasets and build maintainable, reproducible analytical workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to assess data quality and representativeness, reconcile inconsistent sources, and explain how methodological choices affect conclusions.
• Ability to explain analytical findings, methods, and limitations clearly to technical and nontechnical colleagues and collaborate on materials for business audiences.
• Ability to lead ambiguous research assignments independently, collaborate with economists and technical partners, and deliver sound analysis under time-sensitive conditions.

Responsibilities

• Partner with labor economists and Communications to define research questions and produce validated analyses, charts, and supporting materials for executive briefings, customer discussions, and media preparation.
• Lead original research on hiring, separations, hours worked, wages, labor supply, and other workforce trends. Identify questions that matter to employers and workers, and investigate changes across industries, geographies, and workforce segments.
• Deliver executive briefings, charts, talking points, and supporting analysis for customer discussions and media engagements.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with experience translating quantitative findings into concise, accurate materials for leaders, business audiences, or public use.
• Own the analytical response to urgent executive and media questions. Clarify the question, assess feasibility, and deliver findings with the context and limitations needed to use them accurately.
• Combine large-scale UKG workforce data with public and commercial labor data. Evaluate source definitions, coverage, reporting lags, and comparability before drawing conclusions.
• Develop and validate statistical methods for workforce indicators, trends, and comparisons. Address seasonality, changing employer populations, missing data, revisions, and sampling bias; distinguish workforce changes from data artifacts and association from causation.
• Build reproducible analysis and recurring reporting workflows using SQL and Python. Maintain documented methods, versioned code, and automated checks so results can be reproduced, reviewed, and updated efficiently.
• Review the numerical accuracy and interpretation of findings, charts, and proposed public claims. Explain uncertainty, challenge unsupported conclusions, and recommend when findings need further analysis before use.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and data owners to resolve source issues and improve the datasets supporting workforce insights. Apply appropriate privacy protections and aggregation standards in collaboration with Legal and privacy teams.
• Provide technical leadership and mentor data scientists through research design, code review, and stakeholder discussions. Lead substantial workstreams independently and communicate priorities, tradeoffs, and delivery risks clearly.

Skills

SQL

Python

Data analysis

Statistical methods

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in statistics, data science, economics, computer science, mathematics

Master’s or PhD in a relevant quantitative discipline

Tools

Google Cloud Platform

BigQuery

Job description

UKG is seeking a Principal Labor Market Data Scientist to lead hands-on research and analysis focusing on labor and workforce insights. You will own the process from question definition to validated findings and present them to business leaders.

As a senior individual contributor, you will combine UKG workforce data with external sources, develop timely insights, and work with economists to inform executive discussions and external communications.