About the California Policy Lab
The California Policy Lab (CPL) creates data-driven insights for the public good. Our mission is to improve the lives of Californians by generating evidence that transforms public policy. We do this by forming lasting partnerships between government and California’s flagship public universities to harness the power of research and administrative data. We work on California’s most urgent issues, including homelessness, poverty, criminal justice reform, and education inequality. We facilitate close working partnerships between policymakers and researchers at the University of California to help evaluate and improve public programs through rigorous empirical research and technical assistance. CPL recognizes the value of having a diverse staff at all levels of the organization.
CPL-Berkeley is a center within the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE).
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The Position
This is an exciting open-rank role for a skilled, early or mid-career researcher who wants to design and conduct policy-relevant research in partnership with state and local agencies throughout California. The ideal candidate has expertise in one or more of CPL’s primary issue areas: social safety net, health, homelessness, education, employment, or criminal justice. The Researcher conducts independent quantitative research, including conceptualizing research questions and design; requesting, receiving, and cleaning data files; creating and implementing an analysis plan; conducting quality assurance reviews; summarizing results in documents for both academic and policy audiences; and generating replicability documentation. The Researcher can implement multiple research designs and analysis techniques, including but not limited to randomized control trials, quasi-experimental designs using natural experiments or other such variation, and difference-in-difference and event study analyses. Further, a successful candidate can lead research projects with small teams, write proposals to support research projects, and ensure timely and high quality completion of research tasks. The Researcher will mentor other research staff, and may serve as a supervisor.
The position will report to the Research Director, and will work directly with leading social policy researchers at UC and beyond, state and local government agency staff, and CPL’s leadership team. Researcher/Senior Researcher job title and campus title will be based on experience and qualifications.
Required Qualifications
● Training and experience that clearly demonstrates qualifications.
● Ph.D. in economics, public policy, or related social science field, or equivalent experience.
● Fluency in data-analysis packages from commonly used programming languages like Python, R, Stata, SQL, and/or SAS.
Preferred Qualifications
● Post-Ph.D. experience managing projects as a Principal Investigator and supervising project staff.
● Record of independent research and publication, including leading research design and analysis and writing for both academic and policy audiences.
● Experience writing grant proposals, communicating with funders, and managing grant reporting.
● Expertise in one or more of CPL’s primary policy areas.
● Experience working with large and complex datasets, including administrative datasets.
● Knowledge of data management systems, practices, and standards and ability to work discreetly with sensitive and confidential data.
● Strong interpersonal and communication skills and ability to work both independently and as a team member.
● Strong organizational skills and attention to detail and ability to multi-task with demanding timeframes.
● Experience collaborating with government agency partners.
Salary & Benefits
This position is full-time, and will start as a two-year contract. Salary will be commensurate with experience. The hiring range for this position is $85K to $125k per year.
For information on the comprehensive benefits package offered by the University visit:
http://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html
How to Apply
Go to https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF03535
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Researcher 
This recruitment will remain open until filled. Specific questions regarding the recruitment can be directed to Chris Runde at chris_runde@berkeley.edu.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are core values at UC Berkeley. Our excellence can only be fully realized by faculty, students, and academic and non-academic staff who share our commitment to these values. Successful candidates for our academic positions will demonstrate evidence of a commitment to advancing equity, inclusion, and belonging.
The University of California, Berkeley is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see: http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct
In searches when letters of reference are required all letters will be treated as confidential per University of California policy and California state law. Please refer potential referees, including when letters are provided via a third party (i.e., dossier service or career center), to the UC Berkeley statement of confidentiality (http://apo.berkeley.edu/ucb-confidentiality-policy) prior to submitting their letter.
As a condition of employment, you will be required to comply with the University of California SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Vaccination Program Policy https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/5000695/SARS-CoV-2_Covid-19. All Covered Individuals under the policy must provide proof of Full Vaccination or, if applicable, submit a request for Exception (based on Medical Exemption, Disability, and/or Religious Objection) or Deferral (based on pregnancy) no later than the applicable deadline. For new University of California employees, the applicable deadline is eight weeks after their first date of employment. (Capitalized terms in this paragraph are defined in the policy.)
Positions that are represented by a collective bargaining unit or agent have particular contracts. For more information, please refer to the relevant contract: Lecturer contract, Postdoctoral contract, Research Series contract, and Librarian contract. Questions about represented positions can be directed to the hiring unit.
