Principal Research Scientist, And Homelessness

The Department of Social Services (DSS) is comprised of the administrative units of the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). HRA is dedicated to fighting poverty and income inequality by providing New Yorkers in need with essential benefits such as Food Assistance and Emergency Rental Assistance. DHS is committed to preventing and addressing homelessness in New York City by employing a variety of innovative strategies to help families and individuals successfully exit shelter and return to self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.

As the DSS policy analysis, research, and program evaluation unit, the Office of Evaluation and Research (OER, a unit of the DSS Office of Research and Policy Innovation, ORPI) informs high-level decision-making across DSS-HRA-DHS. Through rigorous research studies and evaluations, OER develops and analyzes the evidence base for HRA and DHS work and provides unbiased recommendations regarding priority issues and initiatives to the NYC Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner, the Human Resources Administration (HRA) and Department of Homeless Services (DHS) Administrations, the DSS Chief Program Planning and Financial Management Officer, and HRA and DHS program leadership.

Staff bring an interdisciplinary lens to their work, drawing on a broad range of quantitative and qualitative social science research methods. ORPI is additionally responsible for providing strategic direction in the development and monitoring of collaborative research and evaluation efforts and grant proposals.

Under the direction of OER’s Executive Research Director, support a broad portfolio of program evaluations and research studies related to homelessness prevention, street outreach, homeless shelter services, and rehousing.

ORPI is recruiting for one (1) City Research Scientist IV-A to serve as the Principal Research Scientist, Housing and Homelessness who will:

• Lead complex mixed-method research studies of agency initiatives related to housing and homelessness, using rigorous qualitative and qualitative methods to evaluate program implementation, outcomes, and impact, including methodological oversight of NYC’s annual effort to estimate unsheltered homelessness (i.e., HOPE).
• Lead complex analyses of large administrative datasets from HRA, DHS, and other city and state agencies as well as large-scale survey datasets (e.g., from the Census Bureau), using sophisticated statistical methods to address questions posed by program area leadership and executive staff.
• Make recommendations to agency leadership for agency decision-making through reports and presentations to the Commissioner, Executive staff, and other program area leadership, describing study questions and methods, detailing evaluation and research findings, and assessing implications for agency operations.
• Serve as an agency expert on sophisticated evaluation and research methods and activities, including instrument development, sampling method design, and complex analyses of quantitative and qualitative data.
• Represent OER in meetings and interagency communications, present findings from OER research and evaluation projects, and provide technical and analytic support to other agencies and city offices on research and evaluation methods and on the content and organization of HRA and DHS administrative data.

Hours/Shift: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

CITY RESEARCH SCIENTIST - 21744

• For Assignment Level I (only physical, biological and environmental sciences and public health) A master's degree from an accredited college or university with a specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological or environmental science or in public health.

To be appointed to Assignment Level II and above, candidates must have:

• A doctorate degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and one year of full-time experience in a responsible supervisory, administrative or research capacity in the appropriate field of specialization; or
• A master's degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and three years of responsible full-time research experience in the appropriate field of specialization; or
• Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least a master's degree in an appropriate field of specialization and at least two years of experience described in "2" above. Two years as a City Research Scientist Level I can be substituted for the experience required in "1" and "2" above.

• Expertise in research and evaluation methods, including at least five years’ experience designing and implementing experimental and/or quasi-experimental program evaluations.
• - Detailed knowledge of applied statistics and data analytics,…