Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) is seeking a Data Visualization Programmer for full-time employment in our Workforce Development and Human Services Division.  We are a growing and dynamic research, evaluation, and technical assistance firm located in Oakland, CA. Currently, we are seeking applications for a qualified, full-time mid-level researcher to join our team and collectively help carry out evaluations of programs focused on improving employment stability and economic self-sufficiency for low-income populations.

The Company: At SPR, we believe in providing rigorous, high quality research, evaluation, training and technical assistance to improve the well-being of diverse groups of individuals, families, organizations, and communities.   SPR’s work spans multiple areas of social policy, often focusing on supporting our clients with workforce development, employment training, education, philanthropy, youth development, health, and other human service issues.  Over the past 25 years, SPR has earned national recognition for our work in evaluating the role of philanthropic and public-sector investments in policies and programs designed to improve outcomes for diverse populations across the country. Our clients consistently share an appreciation of the analytic lens and technical rigor that we bring to our work, and our ability to engage real-time data to inform continuous learning and iterative strategy improvements. For more information about SPR, please visit our website at www.spra.com. 

What We Are Looking For: An Equal Opportunity Employer and federal contractor, SPR is an organization that values a staff with diverse perspectives and backgrounds. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability and veteran status (EEO/AA/M/F/Vets/Disabled).

All candidates must meet the following requirements to be considered for this position:

• Graduate degree in computer science, data science, mathematics, statistics, or social sciences and 5+ years of work experience; or bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, mathematics, statistics, or social sciences and 7+ years of work experience.
• Expertise with programming in R to clean, manage, & analyze data and produce data visualizations.
• Experience working with web technologies (R Shiny, HTML, CSS, SCSS etc.)
• Demonstrated strength in successfully developing and managing large datasets created from multiple sources.
• Demonstrated interests in issue areas relevant to SPR project portfolios.
• Ability to work professionally and productively within a team context, including excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and to manage multiple priorities and deadlines and complete assigned tasks.
• Self-motivated, organized, and detail-oriented work style, as well as ability to multi-task across multiple projects.
• Experience in programming and managing data sets in SAS and/or Stata, is a plus.
• Experience working in GitHub and/or employing quality assurance practices with reproducibility in mind is a plus
• Experience working with geospatial data is a plus.
• Experience accessing data via APIs and web-scraping is a plus.

The Position:  The  Data Visualization Programmer at SPR has key responsibilities for working within multiple project teams to implement research and evaluation studies.  Specific duties will vary by previous experience and research skills, but may include a mix of the following:

• Lead the design and development of data visualization products (including web and application-based products)
• Consult with staff that have ideas and/or questions about how to incorporate data visualizations.
• Production of infographics, tables or preparation of material to support data analyses.
• Helping prepare portions of reports and proposals, including both writing and data displays.
• Developing reproducible programs for data management tasks.
• Provide oversight and guidance to other programmers.
• Leading data-related tasks to support project workplans.
• Following SPR’s data security protocols, procedures, and Quality Assurance requirements within project tasks.
• Maintaining version control programs within SPR’s team of research programmers across divisions.
• Assisting in the collection of quantitative data through data downloads, d data security protocol.
• Assisting in the administration of paper/online surveys through survey set-up in Alchemer and assistance with survey tracking.

The Location: SPR is conveniently located right on top of the City Center BART station in downtown Oakland. The building plaza has great food options for lunch, and we are just a few blocks away from Chinatown restaurants. Our location in Oakland also allows us to be in close contact with many of the communities we support through our work. Please note that SPR is following all current, applicable state and county health and operating orders, and this position may not have immediate access to the physical SPR office. Once we resume regular operations, SPR will continue to flexibly offer hybrid at-home/in-office schedules for staff.

Other Information: In this role, you can expect to work in an office environment; occasional lifting up to 40 lbs; frequent telephone usage; extensive computer use; use of office machines; heavy keyboarding. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. SPR offers excellent benefits, including health, dental, vision, and 401k plan.

How to Apply:  Apply through our website at https://www.spra.com/about-spr/careers/.  This job will remain open until filled.  No phone calls please.