Senior Planner; Data Analysis

Working as part of a collaborative, multi-disciplinary team, this role conducts exploratory and evaluative data analysis, designs and implements program evaluations, and builds dashboards and reports that support decision makers to improve services and systems in the criminal justice system. This role is part of the Data, Research, and Planning (DRP) division in the Innovative Justice and Program Analysis (IJPA) department in Travis County and is funded through September 2026 with the potential to be extended.

As a Senior Planner, you will be part of the Data Research and Planning division (DRP) within the Innovative Justice and Program Analysis (IJPA) department, and report to the Senior Program Manager for DRP. Part of a larger, collaborative team, you will be involved in a variety of different data and research related tasks that are designed to inform the Commissioners Court and other justice system stakeholders to make data informed decisions.

A typical day in this role varies considerably and may include querying and analyzing data, creating data visuals, building dashboards, or providing technical assistance on data governance and quality improvements. You will work with a variety of stakeholders in the justice system, including the County and District Attorney’s Offices, Sheriff’s Office, Pretrial Services, local mental health authority, Commissioners Court, Clerk’s Office, Court Administration, community advocacy groups, and many more.

This position is currently hybrid, requiring a flexible schedule to meet department needs. In-person vs remote schedule balance varies weekly based on project needs but generally averages one to two in-person days per week. IJPA’s offices are in downtown Austin, but in-person activities may be required at different county and community locations to accommodate specific data collection or reporting requirements.

Special Project Worker position funded through 9/30/26 with the potential for further funding.

• Advanced research methodology and statistics knowledge, being able to independently develop, design, and implement appropriate methodological approaches for data acquisition, modeling, and analysis to address specific learning, evaluation, and research questions.
• Strong skills and experience using a variety of tools and languages for querying and analyzing data (e.g. R, Python, SQL), as well as Excel.
• Experience working with large administrative datasets.
• Experience working with sensitive data (e.g. HIPAA, CJIS) and knowledge of ethics in research.

• Assist with data governance and quality initiatives, and support continuous improvement of data processes and reporting.
• Catalog existing data sources and contribute to metadata documentation.
• Provide feedback to team and collaborator data products and outputs.
• Perform initial data cleaning and compilation.
• Leverage strong understanding of full data product and data management lifecycle.
• Collaborate on contextual and primary insights gathering to support end-users of data products.
• Identify opportunities to increase data quality and data use, including automation and data entry procedural training.
• Ability to quickly adapt and learn new domain areas and datasets to support analysis and reporting.

• Ability to synthesize and translate analytical findings into clear, actionable reports and communication tools (e.g. slide presentations, long and short form reporting).
• Demonstrable experience with Power BI and similar data visualization tools.
• Experience developing and maintaining dashboards that are accessible to multiple audiences.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand data and reporting needs.

Bachelor's degree in Planning, Engineering, Landscape Architecture, Geography, Public Policy/Administration, Government, Criminal Justice, Sociology, Business Administration or a directly related field AND six (6) years increasingly responsible experience with strategic planning, planning, research, project management, policy research and program development, including one (1) year of supervisory experience.

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