Associate Data Scientist

 

We are the Metropolitan Council, the regional government for the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area.  We plan 30 years ahead for the future of the metropolitan area and provide regional transportation, wastewater, and housing services.  More information about us on our website.

The Community Development Division has a vacancy for a long term temporary Associate Data Scientist or Data Scientist.  This position is eligible for benefits.

We are committed to supporting a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve.

The Community Development Division is responsible for the Council’s regional long-range planning efforts; planning and technical assistance to local governments; planning for and funding the regional parks and open space system; delivering rent assistance through the Metropolitan Housing and Redevelopment Authority; collecting, analyzing, and providing data about the region, and delivering the Livable Communities Act grant programs.

In Community Development, we have set the following goals to guide our work:

• Our Division builds competency, takes meaningful actions, and creates the necessary infrastructure to advance racial equity.
• Our Division’s workplace culture is diverse, equitable and inclusive.

The Community Development Research team is a unit of sociologists, economists, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialists, data scientists, and qualitative researchers who provide information to support equitable policy, planning, service, and investment decisions at the regional and local level that result in tangible benefits and opportunities for all residents of our region. More information about Research is on our website. What you would do in this job

• Perform technical, statistical, and analytic tasks that help illustrate visitation patterns to parks across the state using location-based services data.
• Develop mapping applications and data visualizations of travel data and visitor characteristics
• Process, clean, and code transportation data.
• Analyze, examine and visualize spatial information in static and interactive maps.
• Perform geocoding, spatial data manipulation, and spatial data analysis.
• Collaborate with planners, researchers, and policy makers across all project jurisdictions (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Greater Minnesota Regional Parks, and the Metropolitan Council).
• Serve as the key data scientist working on an interdisciplinary joint project team with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Metropolitan Council, and Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission.
• Develop public-facing reports and web-based, interactive data visualization, analysis, and dissemination tools in partnership with internal and external partners.
• Explore accuracy and equity implications of using location-based data to analyze visitation patterns by race and ethnicity. Communicate these findings to assist in prioritizing racial and ethnic equity in park and trail visitation throughout Minnesota.
• Make presentations to the Community Development Committee, Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Commission and other Council and statewide committees and boards as needed.
• Review scholarly articles and technical papers in academic and industry databases/journals or other relevant publications.
• Promote a culture of creativity, life-long learning, and continuous improvement.
• Promote a culturally diverse and inclusive work environment that advances racial equity.

What education and experience are required for this job (minimum qualifications)

Associate Data Scientist
Full Salary Range: Annual $62,608/Hourly $30.10 up to $94,474/Hourly $45.42
Union/Grade: AFSCME/Grade F
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt
Safety Sensitive:  No

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics, Analytics, Data Science or related quantitative field, OR
• Associate’s degree AND two years of related research experience with statistical and/or machine modeling and/or developing web-based interactive data visualization tools, OR
• High School Diploma/GED AND four years of related research experience with statistical and/or machine learning modeling and/or developing web-based interactive data visualization tools.

Data Scientist 
Full Salary Range: Annual $67,683 /Hourly $32.54 up to Annual $102,128 /Hourly $49.10
Union/Salary Grade: AFSCME/Grade G
FLSA Status: Exempt
Safety Sensitive: No

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, Analytics, Data Science or related quantitative field AND three years of experience with statistical and/or machine modeling and/or developing web-based interactive data visualization tools, OR
• Associate’s degree AND five years of related research experience.
• High School Diploma/GED and seven years of related research experience with statistical and/or machine learning modeling and/or developing web-based interactive data visualization tools.

Highly desired Qualifications at both levels:

• Experience with spatial data manipulation, analysis, and mapping
• Experience working with transportation data, particularly location-based services data
• Experience in programming and modeling languages (R is strongly preferred)
• Experience in data mining, passive and or ‘big’ data, structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data

Knowledge Skills and Abilities:

• Knowledge of statistical analysis techniques (regression analysis, survival analysis, time-series modeling, etc.)
• Knowledge of database systems design and maintenance
• Knowledge of web-based interactive tool development
• Knowledge of computer programming (i.e. R, Python)
• Knowledge of passive transportation (i.e. Streetlight Data) and transportation survey data
• Skills in applied mathematics and statistics
• Skills in Data visualization (e.g. ‘ggplot2’ package in R, Shiny, Leaflet, Tableau, Dash/Plotly in Python)
• Skills in version control and collaboration in Git
• Skills in data mining with structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data
• Skills in GIS/Spatial analysis (e.g. ArcGIS, QGIS, ArcPy, Geopandas, Sp)
• Ability to read and understand complex academic and technical papers.
• Ability to write summary reports, technical papers and literature reviews for broad audiences.
• Ability to synthesize technical information in a useable way that facilitates good policy and planning decisions.
• Ability to plan workflow and prioritize work tasks.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to exercise sound professional judgment and to promote an equitable, positive, and respectful professional environment.

What you can expect from us:

• We offer the opportunity to make a difference and positively influence the Twin Cities metropolitan area
• We provide a competitive salary, excellent benefits including free Metro Transit bus and light-rail transportation, and good work/life balance
• We encourage and support staff in bringing the full range of experiences and identities that define them to the workplace
• We encourage and support staff in contributing to a dynamic work culture that improves the Council’s ability to serve the region and strives to effectively support all employees
• We offer the ability to set a flexible work schedule and work remotely when workload and work scope allows

Additional information

What your work environment would be:
You would perform your work in a standard office setting. Work may sometimes require travel between your primary work site and other sites.

What steps the recruitment process involves:
1.    We review your minimum qualifications.
2.    We rate your education and experience.
3.    We conduct a structured panel interview.
4.    We conduct a selection interview.