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Financial Inclusion Data Scientist – Center for Effective Global Action

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Position description

The Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), the University of California’s leading development research center, seeks outstanding applicants for the position of Financial Inclusion Data Scientist to support a new research initiative on the impacts of financial inclusion. The position entails work on CEGA’s new Financial Inclusion Lab (FIL), a collaboration with Visa, Inc., under supervision of Paul Gertler (UC Berkeley) and Josh Blumenstock (University of Washington), among other co‐investigators.

The Data Scientist will be tasked with mining high‐resolution transactions data from Visa, Inc., designing a robust data analytics strategy, and using the data to better understand the extent to which the entry of e‐payments into new markets affects consumption, welfare, and firm growth. The incumbent will make important contributions to global development, and join a world‐class team of collaborators working to build a credible framework for measuring the social benefits of financial inclusion. Due to privacy and security constraints, the Data Scientist will need to spend 2‐3 days per week at Visa headquarters (in San Francisco or Foster City), with regular meetings at UC Berkeley.

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with Principal Investigators Paul Gertler, Josh Blumenstock, Fred Finan, and Ulrike Malmendier, along with graduate students and staff from CEGA to develop a robust data analytics research agenda for financial inclusion;
• Liaise with Visa’s Chief Data Architect and Business Intelligence Team, members of the World Bank’s Innovation Group, and other key partners to establish relationships and access data;
• Become familiar with large transactions datasets from banking partners (including fields, data types, and constraints), and the software used to view and analyze them;
• Suggest key hypotheses to test using transactions data and other data sources;
• Identify administrative datasets that can be linked with transactions data, and perform linkages;
• Perform data analytics and report hypotheses, summary statistics, and findings to PIs in a clear, logical, and reproducible manner;
• Understand and adhere to partner policies and protocols regarding data security and confidentiality;
• Collaborate with contacts at Visa and the World Bank to develop a robust Financial Inclusion Tracker using transactions data;
• Participate as co‐author on relevant publications as appropriate.

Basic Qualifications Required at Time of Application:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in computer science, data science, information technology, mathematics, statistics or a related quantitative field.

Additional qualifications required by start date:

• 3‐5 years experience in R, Stata, SAS, and/or Microstrategy, preferably with strong experience using Python and/or other scientific computing languages;
• 3‐5 years experience wrangling large, heterogeneous data sets, including administrative data, transaction logs, time series, and/or geospatial data;

Additional preferred qualifications:

• 3‐5 years experience developing data visualizations (using Tableau or similar platform) that are accessible to non‐academic audiences;
• Demonstrated understanding of data structures, algorithms, and systems used in private sector, such as Hadoop.
• Preference for candidates who have applied tools from machine learning to predict human behavior or decision‐making;
• Professional attitude and ability to shift fluidly between private sector and academic partners;
• Ability to interact with individuals at all levels in a fast‐paced environment, sometimes under pressure, while remaining flexible, proactive, tactful, resourceful and efficient, and with a high level of professionalism and confidentiality.

This is a 75‐100% FTE position. Salary range is commensurate with experience. To apply, upload your most recently updated Curriculum Vitae, a cover letter, and contact information for three professional references to https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/apply/JPF00773

This position is open until filled with an initial review date of July 28, 2015. Please apply by this date to receive full consideration. The anticipated start date of the position is August, 2015. Please address inquiries to Lauren Russell, Senior Operations Manager, Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), University of California Berkeley, laurenrussell@berkeley.edu.

The University of California 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.

Application Requirements

Document requirements
  • Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.

  • Cover Letter

Reference requirements
  • 3 required (contact information only)