Computational Social Scientist

Remote-based in the US

Overview

Job Summary

Key Responsibilities

• Data and methodological innovation: Identify novel public and proprietary datasets, data-linkage opportunities, and emerging computational approaches that expand GoodPower’s ability to measure behavior, understand program impact, and study decarbonization at scale.
• Independent research: Develop and lead original research questions that advance GoodPower’s understanding of decarbonization, public opinion, civic participation, and behavior change. Design rigorous studies using appropriate computational, statistical, and other methods, and exercise scientific judgment about study design, inference, limitations, and the conclusions supported by the evidence.
• Large-scale data analysis: Acquire, integrate, and analyze complex datasets to uncover patterns in attitudes, behavior, communication, and political and social dynamics relevant to GoodPower’s work. Data may include behavioral, administrative, geospatial, survey, political, digital, and other sources.
• Method development and validation: Build rigorous and reproducible approaches for computational research, including model evaluation, human validation, error analysis, reliability and bias assessment, and comparison with alternative methods.
• Cross-department collaboration: Partner with research and program teams to connect computational research to program strategy, evaluation, and organizational decision-making.
• Sharing results and learnings: Translate complex analyses into clear findings, visualizations, recommendations, and presentations for technical and nontechnical audiences.

Qualifications

• A graduate degree in computational social science, computer science, political science, sociology, psychology, economics, statistics, data science, communication, or another relevant quantitative or computational field
• Demonstrated ability to think and work as an independent researcher: developing original research questions and hypotheses, selecting appropriate study designs and methods, critically evaluating evidence, and drawing well-supported conclusions.
• Strong programming skills, particularly in Python, and experience developing reproducible analytical workflows.
• Experience working with large, complex, real-world datasets (i.e., administrative, geospatial, voter, consumer, mobility, social media, news, or similar datasets) is preferred.
• Hands-on experience using large language models programmatically, including through APIs or comparable workflows.
• Experience with computational text-analysis methods such as supervised classification, clustering, topic modeling, embeddings, dictionary methods, or related NLP approaches.
• Understanding of how to evaluate machine-learning and LLM outputs, including validation, error analysis, and comparison against appropriate benchmarks.
• Strong statistical reasoning and an understanding of the strengths and limitations of observational, predictive, and causal analyses.
• Ability to translate substantive research questions into appropriate computational approaches and clearly communicate findings to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Entrepreneurial, self-directed approach to research, with curiosity, creativity, and comfort learning new datasets, tools, and methods.
• Experience working with geospatial or remote sensing data, including satellite imagery or other spatial datasets, is preferred.
• Experience in one or more GoodPower issue areas, including renewable energy development and siting, public opinion, political behavior, electoral change, electric vehicles, rural or agricultural communities, misinformation, persuasion, or information ecosystems, is preferred.

This description reflects GoodPower’s assignment of essential functions; it does not restrict the tasks that may be assigned. GoodPower retains the right to change or assign other duties to this position at any time. Employees must be able to perform the essential functions of the position satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job, absent undue hardship. GoodPower has a zero-tolerance standard for abuse and inappropriate behavior by staff members. 

Compensation, Benefits, and Perks

• Annual salary range: $120,000-140,000, commensurate with experience
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with employee and dependent premiums paid at 95-100% by GoodPower.
• 2-4 weeks of paid vacation annually, depending on seniority
• 13 paid holidays and 2 floating holidays
• 2 weeks of US office closure 
• 10 days of paid sick leave annually.
• 403(b) with 3% employer contribution/match.
• Charitable giving: 1:1 match for charitable contributions ($250 per year), plus 2 paid days off for volunteering.
• Education reimbursement up to $1,500 per year.
• Healthcare Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings options
• Stipend of $200/month (for cell phone, wellness expenses, etc.)
• 8 weeks of paid sabbatical after 5 years of employment
• 8 weeks of paid parental leave

GoodPower is an equal-opportunity employer that highly values diversity, equity, and inclusion and views the climate crisis as a social justice crisis. People who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), people who experience gender oppression, people with disabilities, and people who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community are particularly encouraged to apply.