COVID 19 Research Analyst (Research Project Specialist-Remote Position)

Job Type:

Job Description

RAND seeks highly motivated individuals across a range of experience levels who have demonstrated excellent academic performance in challenging undergraduate programs for the position of Research Project Specialist (RPS). Successful candidates will work in RAND’s Disaster Management & Resilience Program, which is supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through unprecedented challenges as they respond to COVID-19.

This is a term position with an end date of April 2nd, 2024, with the possibility of renewal through April 2nd, 2025.

Duties

Each RPS will work in multi-disciplinary, geographically distributed teams to provide quantitative research support on tasks, which may include data collection and analysis (e.g., data extraction and merging, summary statistics and analysis), cost analysis, literature reviews, writing, preparation of draft documents and presentations, and coordination of work among project team members.

For more experienced candidates the following duties will apply:

Each RPS is expected to help develop approaches to complex problems, collect and analyze data, and clearly communicate the results of these analyses to project leaders. Under limited supervision, successful candidates will provide an advanced level of research support including execution of key project tasks (e.g., data collection, data analysis, tool design, and other analytic tasks). Successful candidates will be expected to apply a broad range of research tools, methods, and skills to support complex research activities and demonstrate some depth of knowledge in substantive (e.g., disaster management, healthcare accounting, COVID-19 pandemic response) and technical (e.g., data analysis, programming, modeling) areas. 

Qualifications

Applicants should have excellent research and analysis skills demonstrated in coursework and (if applicable) internship/work experience, and must be highly motivated, organized, flexible, and demonstrate a strong commitment to RAND's core values of quality and objectivity. Key qualifications include:

• fluency with Microsoft Office suite, including Microsoft Excel;

• the ability to communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing;

• strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively as a remote member of multi-disciplinary teams.

• content knowledge in healthcare, public health, health services costs, medical billing/insurance, accounting, and/or disaster management is desirable but not required.

• experience and knowledge of programming languages / data analysis packages (e.g., Python, R, STATA) are desirable but not required.

For more experienced candidates, applicants should have excellent research and analysis skills, and must be highly motivated, organized, flexible, and demonstrate a strong commitment to RAND's core values of quality and objectivity. Minimum qualifications include:  

• Demonstrated strong quantitative analysis skills. 

• Fluency in Microsoft Excel (experience of additional programming languages and data analysis packages [e.g., Python, R, MATLAB, STATA, GAMS, SPSS] preferred).  

• The ability to communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing; and 

• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively as a remote member of multi-disciplinary teams. 

Preferred qualifications include: 

• Content knowledge in healthcare, health services costs, public health, medical billing, accounting, and/or disaster management. 

• Expertise related to medical cost, healthcare billing operations, and medical insurance practices. 

• Experience with government grant programs, particularly FEMA’s Public Assistance program. 

Education

BA/BS degree required. Preferred degrees are in fields such as engineering, computer science, public health, economics, physics, math, statistics, operations research, or other technical degrees with interest in policy issues.

Experience

0 - 5 years of relevant professional experience

Security Clearance

U.S. citizenship is required for this project work. Successful candidates will be required to obtain a Security Clearance through the Department of Homeland Security (“Fitness”).

Salary Range

Research Project Specialist I $43,500- $62,900

Research Project Specialist II $54,700- $81,400

RAND considers a variety of factors when formulating an offer, including but not limited to, the specific role and associated responsibilities; a candidate’s work experience, education/training, skills, expertise; and internal equity. This position is overtime eligible. Successful candidates will be offered employment in a specific title, as determined by the candidate's education and experience. In addition, RAND provides strong benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, paid time-off and more. 

Location

This position is a fully remote position.

Positions Open

Five to ten

Equal Opportunity Employer: race/color/religion/sex/sexual orientation/gender identity/national origin/disability/vet