Company Description

A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. From our thriving arts scene and rich history to our culture of passion and grit, there are countless reasons to love living and working here. With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact.

As an employer, the City of Philadelphia values inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work above all else. We offer a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. If you’re interested in working with a passionate team of people who care about the future of Philadelphia, start here.

What we offer

• Impact - The work you do here matters to millions. 
• Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it? 
• Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs.
• Benefits - We care about your well-being.

Agency Description

The Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity (CEO) provides leadership on issues of economic justice by advancing racial equity and inclusive growth to ensure that all Philadelphians share in the city’s prosperous future and by alleviating the immediate impact of poverty on individuals, families and communities. CEO is Philadelphia’s Community Action Agency (CAA); CAAs are private or public agencies created by the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act and federally designated to receive Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding.

Guiding Principles (We believe…)

• The people of Philadelphia deserve the opportunity to live happy, healthy, full lives.
• City Government should both recognize its culpability in creating and sustaining inequity and aspire to its responsibility to provide opportunities, represent the best interests, and promote the well-being of all residents.
• People can offer meaningful insights into both personal experiences and how systems around them function.
• Poverty is a deliberately created systemic issue and city government can lead in calling for justice and dismantling the barriers that often prevent opportunities.

Values (How we work)

• Dignity: We actively respect our individual colleagues and people in the community.
• Inclusivity: Our work is more beneficial, valuable, and valid when our full range of experiences, knowledge, and skills can contribute.
• Persistence: We recognize the challenges inherent in this work, and when we get discouraged, we find ways to be resilient, lift each other up, and push forward.
• Accountability: We are transparent and honest about our plans, our actions, and our results.
• Honesty: We create a space to have healthy, honest dialogues about systems, people, and misconceptions and then communicate truthfully.

Job Description

In CEO’s work, client and neighborhood-level data helps us tell the story of what we do. It deepens our perspective on the communities we serve. And it holds our organization accountable for both short- and long-term goals. On a weekly basis, we use geospatial data in support of grant applications, internal and external evaluation initiatives, and to support ongoing programming and reporting efforts. Changing research and changing demographics in Philadelphia neighborhoods mean we need regularly updated pictures of what economic opportunities are available where within our city. We also need maps of where these opportunities are missing.

This position will be responsible for many of these efforts, with a special focus on mapping and describing geospatial data. A successful candidate will quickly be able to accurately contextualize CEO programs within their neighborhoods. Eventually, helping to bring stronger and better targeted programming to the communities in Philadelphia who have most need of empowerment and opportunity. By producing a better, more granular picture, the Geospatial and Statistical Analysis Manager will help better distribute resources and economic opportunity across Philadelphia’s neighborhoods.

Reporting to the Director of Research and Evaluation, the Geospatial and Statistical Analysis Manager will lead the organization’s geospatial data collection and mapping related to all evaluation tasks. Using the full suite of online and desktop Esri products, as well as other data analysis tools for tabular data: the Evaluation Manager will produce maps and analysis that communicate clearly about both the need for and impact of our ongoing work. The Manager will need to be comfortable working with a wide array of spatial and non-spatial administrative data, using both programming tools, visualization platforms, and excel to deliver quantitative findings. Their analysis will support honing CEO’s strategy, promoting our policy advocacy work, contributing to winning grant applications, and improving ongoing program implementation.

The Geospatial and Statistical Analysis Manager will be the office expert on data workflows that feature geocoding and/or spatial joins.  They will also leverage publicly available data sources such as census data.  The manager will advise and support internal and external program evaluation. Often, the Manager will lead research efforts to provide geographic, socioeconomic, and demographic context, thus supporting applications, memos, and reports. The Manager will contribute both analysis and writing to evaluation plans, study design, and outcomes measurement for individual programs.

The Research and Evaluation team has multiple staff, each bringing different methodological and subject area expertise. This position will help lead the team’s geospatial data analysis and support other quantitative research methods with their coding and data analysis skills. All members of the team will be charged with producing rigorous, reproducible insights about CEO programing and Philadelphia as a whole. In this case, this means a mix of coded tabular data workflows and carefully documented map design tasks. Some degree of coding experience is required in addition to a background in Geospatial analysis and mapping. Esri products are preferred, but substitute experience with R packages like ggplot2, Python packages like geopandas, QGIS, and related tools will also be considered. For statistical analysis, the expectation is that the applicant will have extensive data management skills. The manager will take full ownership of a fully programmed and reproducible Extract Transform Load (ETL) process, delivered alongside rigorous descriptive and exploratory data analysis. For this work, open-source tools (like Python or R) are preferred, but users who have experience with other scripted programs (e.g. Stata) will be considered, provided they are willing to learn new programing languages.

In addition to geospatial and statistical analysis, this position will help manage and support external evaluation relationships. This includes cleaning and delivering administrative datasets, giving feedback on consultants’ deliverables, and negotiating and complying with data use agreements. If a candidate can show experience in these areas as well as their geospatial background, that’s a plus. That said, program evaluation skills are less essential to have on day one, compared to the geospatial capabilities described above.

Essential Functions

Quantitative Data Methods

• Design and implement Extract Transform Load (ETL) procedures for geospatial data from both publicly available sources and city administrative data sets
• Organizing, storing, and analyzing organizational data
• Query, analyze and prepare statistics on spatial and non-spatial data using ArcGIS, Excel, and scripted workflows
• Support and implement the application of statistical tests and regression models
• Review literature and identify best practices to inform the development of analytic approaches
• Build automated workflows for high-quality data visualizations
• Complete metadata documentation of datasets and data processes.

Communication To Facilitate Data Sharing

• Facilitate the maintenance and governance of data from all departments
• Make reports and data output available to contracts, fiscal, management, and executive staff members to inform relationship management, policy, and resource allocation.
• Provide support for departments and staff using data and outreach platforms
• Create and maintain web map applications published via ArcGIS Online/Portal.
• Manage external evaluation relationships
• Support integrations with the city’s person-level databases
• Establishing data sharing rules and reporting expectations for partners, including writing and modifying Memorandums of Understanding (MOU)’s that govern that govern these collaborations

Expanding Research Capacity

• Lead group and one-on-one training workshops to introduce data management skills
• Create and facilitate training for other staff on mapping and data visualization best practices
• Establish and maintain strong relationships across City departments and external partners to support program reporting and delivery
• Other duties as assigned

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Driven by thoughtful, quality, and detail-oriented processes, project output, and client/team interactions.
• Demonstrates ability to manage projects, estimate timelines, rework a project approach based on unforeseen challenges, work well under pressure, and set/meet reasonable deadlines.
• Values protecting clients’ private information, understands relevant privacy laws, and has ability to faithfully implement related security policies.
• Ability to explain technical concepts to general audiences, explain the logic behind research decisions, craft compelling narratives about data, write and speak clearly, and cultivate effective communication among team members.
• Ability to work with a variety of people and personalities, listen and ask questions to identify new inquiry opportunities, and cultivate strong relationships to ensure seamless collaboration and continued project support.
• Ability to see opportunities, navigate barriers, be self-directed, and problem-solve solutions that enhance the City’s deliverables, processes, and practices.
• Understands the relationship between data and narrative and acts strategically to ensure that data and evaluation are appropriately informing and being informed by narrative.
• Eagerness to both communicate data-driven insights with diverse audiences, including low-income clients, community-based organizations, elected officials’ staff, faith communities, students, volunteers and the general public.
• Familiarity of research concepts like sample size, measures of variance and uncertainty, and the differences between descriptive and causal analysis.

Qualifications

• Required: Proficiency with at least one statistical programming language.
  • Experience with open source languages like R/Python preferred
• Required: Proficiency with at least one geospatial mapping tool
  • Esri products like ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro preferred
• Experience working in social services, economic mobility, or a related field   preferred
• Understanding and interest in connection between data, evaluation, and public  policy
• Experience managing projects, particularly projects that require collaboration across different groups or teams.
• Ability to perform geospatial visualization and analysis
• Experience developing data visualizations consistent with the principles of inclusive  design
• Experience working with large, relational datasets preferred.
• Experience in data management and cleaning best practices.
• Familiarity with applied research designs including program evaluation
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal
• Ability to demonstrate flexibility and exercise the authority of the position with sound judgment.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• None initially, but as assigned

Other Specialties, Certifications, Physical Requirements, and Work Conditions

• Regular, predictable attendance is required. Our team is currently hybrid with both virtual and in-office days, however the position can opt to come in the office each day if desired. If the city changes policy on this, the new hire will have to comply with the new policy, including up to 5 days a week in-office.
• This position operates in an office setting and routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines
• Exertion of physical strength to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects up to 10 pounds. Work involves sitting most of the time. Walking and standing is often necessary in carrying out job duties
• Successful candidate must be a city of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire

Additional Information

TO APPLY: Interested candidates must submit a cover letter and resume.

Salary Range: $75,000 - $80,000

Discover the Perks of Being a City of Philadelphia Employee:

• Transportation: City employees get unlimited FREE public transportation all year long through SEPTA’s Key Advantage program. Employees can ride on SEPTA buses, subways, trolleys, and regional rail for their daily commute and more.
• Parental Benefits: The City offers its employees 6 weeks of paid parental leave.
• We offer Comprehensive health coverage for employees and their eligible dependents.
• Our wellness program offers eligibility into the discounted medical plan
• Employees receive paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Generous retirement savings options are available
• Pay off your student loans faster - As a qualifying employer, City of Philadelphia employees are eligible to participate in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Join the ranks of hundreds of employees who have already benefited from this program and achieved student loan forgiveness.
• Unlock Tuition Discounts and Scholarships - The City of Philadelphia has forged partnerships with over a dozen esteemed colleges and universities in the area, ensuring that our employees have access to a wide range of tuition discounts and scholarships. Experience savings of 10% to 40% on your educational expenses, extending not only to City employees but in some cases, spouse and dependents too!

Join the City of Philadelphia team today and seize these incredible benefits designed to enhance your financial well-being and personal growth!

*The successful candidate must be a city of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire

Effective May 22, 2023, vaccinations are no longer required for new employees that work in non-medical, non-emergency or patient facing positions with the City of Philadelphia. As a result, only employees in positions providing services that  are patient-facing medical care (ex: Nurses, doctors, emergency medical personnel), must be fully vaccinated.

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670 or send an email to faqpchr@phila.gov.

For more information, go to: Human Relations Website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx