Research Support Director

Research Support Director

Founded in 1881 as the world's first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With campuses in both Philadelphia and San Francisco, Wharton has over 850 staff, a faculty population of more than 235 renowned professors, and 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students.

Each year 13,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education's individual, company-customized, and online programs. More than 104,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. Wharton is home to a dynamic community of staff, bringing a wide range of skills, experiences, and perspectives.

The Research Support Director
-WRDS will work with a team of Ph.D.'s on Finance or Accounting and IT professionals with expertise in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Statistics, and Computer Science to help WRDS Community by providing high quality research programs, analytics, applications, research database evaluations, research replications and related research tools using Python, SAS and Machine Learning in big data environments. Advance on best practices of conducting empirical research with WRDS data.

Act in a leading role in creating and delivering new financial and analytical products to academics and corporate customers that are specialized, complex, and based on academic research. Present analytics in a user-friendly format; assist WRDS users on research and data-related issues; and conduct academic and corporate training sessions for WRDS users around the world, including scholars in finance, accounting, economics, and other business disciplines.

Stay abreast of research at the frontier to help identify new finance research directions and trends. Advise the WRDS, Data, and IT teams on data integrity processes to enhance current products and to contribute to the design of new products and services that facilitate research accuracy and reliability. Conduct research and data-related academic training seminars for WRDS users. Provide content support for research using academic databases, including CRSP, Compustat, and/or IBES.

Responsibilities will include:

• Provide to WRDS Academic Research Community and Corporate Clients high quality Analytics, Research Programs, Applications, Financial engines and related research tools to improve their research productivity.
• Provide support to faculty and PhD users by offering consultative guidance on empirical research best practices, troubleshooting data and tool issues that may affect research results, and conducting site visits and training sessions to promote the effective use of WRDS for academic research.
• Keep track of the evolution of top academic research in finance and accounting to help WRDS both creating their own signature research products and providing new data sources to the research community.
• Construct and enhance existing data-research products by refining analytics, research tools, and applications using WRDS data to improve data usability, research accuracy and efficiency.
• Evaluate and recommend new datasets based on their potential to advance new research and enhance WRDS data offerings.
• Perform additional duties as assigned

Qualifications

• Ph.D. (or foreign equivalent) in Finance or Accounting. The requirement of a Ph.D., usual for faculty recruiting, means that an applicant must have received the degree or be at least "ABD," meaning all requirements for the degree except the dissertation have been completed, with an understanding that the dissertation would be completed in the same academic year.

Must have 1 year of post-bachelor's experience (may be gained pre-Ph.D. degree), in the following:

• Providing high-quality research programs, analytics, applications, research replications, and related research tools.
• Constructing and enhancing data-research products by evaluating research datasets focused on new research and providing new data sources to the research community.
• Performing empirical academic research with CRSP, Compustat, IBES and/or Household-Finance datasets.

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• It could require 15% national and international travel.

Department / School

Wharton School

Pay Range

$80,891.00 - $ Annual Rate

Salary offers are made based on the candidate's qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, and in alignment with salary ranges based on external market data for the job's level. Internal organization and peer data at Penn are also considered.

Equal Opportunity Statement

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin (including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics),…