Job Description

Research Assistant I (Full Time)

Policy Research Associates, Inc. (PRA) is seeking to fill a full-time Research Assistant position to support ongoing projects involving large-scale and complex administrative datasets. The successful candidate will be an integral part of a team and will be responsible for cleaning, structuring, and documenting complex data to support data analysis for research and evaluation projects. The portfolio of projects is focused on mental health diversion programs, assisted outpatient treatment, and outcomes and pathways for adults within the criminal legal system who are found incompetent to stand trial.

The ideal candidate for this position will have experience and interest in behavioral health and the criminal legal system. The candidate will have experience or interest working with real-world data from jails, courts, hospitals, and other behavioral health and criminal legal system services and programs. The successful candidate will gain experience with administrative data and will have the opportunity to contribute to publications and deliverables for policy, practice, and scholarly audiences.

This position is remote, (subject to PRA’s remote employee/telework policy)with occasional project travel (e.g., site visits) and travel to PRA’s offices in the Capital Region of NY (Albany/Troy) required. The normal work week is Monday through Friday, with project meetings held during typical business hours (9am - 5pm ET).

Responsibilities:

• Cleaning, merging, and validating complicated administrative datasets from multiple sources
• Creating and transforming variables to construct datasets ready for analysis
• Developing and documenting data processing workflows
• Identifying and recommending resolutions for data quality issues and inconsistencies
• Maintaining clear and organized code (e.g., in R or SAS)
• Collaborating with project staff to implement data cleaning and construction protocols
• Assisting with creating and maintaining data documentation, data dictionaries, and codebooks
• Providing support with preliminary data analysis and descriptive summary statistics as needed
• Working closely and collaboratively with PRA principal investigators and project staff to carry out project deliverables

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in statistics, data science, psychology, social work, public health, or related field
• Experience or knowledge in behavioral health, the criminal legal system, or cross-systems responses to justice-involved individuals with behavioral health issues
• Experience with at least one statistical programming language (e.g., R, SAS, Stata, or similar)
• Strong organizational and data documentation skills
• Attention to detail and ability to manage multiple tasks within project timelines

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with administrative or longitudinal datasets
• Experience with data cleaning, reshaping, and merging techniques
• Experience managing and creating analysis-ready datasets from raw real-world data

Salary Range:

This remote position is full-time, with a salary range of $55,000 - $65,000 annually, commensurate with experience.

How to Apply:

To be considered for this position, interested candidates must complete a brief required survey here at and send a cover letter (indicating position) and CV via email to jobs@prainc.com.

About PRA

Policy Research Associates (PRA) is a small, women-owned business and national leader in behavioral health, technical assistance, and research. PRA is known for its expertise on behavioral health issues related to juvenile and criminal justice; services for children, adolescents, and their families; recovery supports; service members and veterans; homelessness and housing; and violence.

PRA values a diverse and inclusive workforce where the unique skills of all employees are valued in support of the mission of PRA. Qualified candidates are considered for employment without regard to status or any other characteristic protected by the law.

PRA is an equal opportunity employer that accepts all applications from a wide range of candidates. PRA complies with federal and state laws and makes reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals.

Pay: $55,000.00 - $65,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible schedule
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Tuition reimbursement
• Vision insurance

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Troy, NY 12180

Job Tags

Similar Jobs