Research Associate, Data Scientist, Economics

Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
This is not a remote position.

VP Area

VP Area Academic Affairs

Department

Department 01599 - The Policy Institute

Location

Location Campus

City

City Salt Lake City, UT

Type of Recruitment

Type of Recruitment External Posting

Pay Rate Range

Pay Rate Range $65,000 - $88,000

Close Date

Close Date 08/28/2026

Priority Review Date (Note - Posting may close at any time)

The University of Utah’s Kem

C. Gardner Policy Institute seeks a research economist to work with the economic research team researching and analyzing Utah’s economy and related public policy topics. The research economist will collaborate with professional staff to help business and community leaders, and the public at large, make informed decisions.

The Kem

C. Gardner Policy Institute subscribes to five commit table core values. We call them commit table values because we make serious personnel and project decisions based on these values. We call them core because we integrate them into everything we do. They are internal values, but are reflected externally in the products and services we provide to the community. Taken together, our commit table core values define who we are, how we conduct ourselves, and what comprises our work culture.

Responsibility to the community The Kem

C. Gardner Policy Institute exists to serve Utah and help our state prosper. While we make a contribution to regional, national and international public policy issues, we focus on assisting communities of interest within our state make informed decisions.

Research integrity and relevance The Kem

C. Gardner Policy Institute adheres to ethical principles and professional standards essential for responsible research. We value independent, relevant, meaningful, and understandable work.

Accountability The Kem

C. Gardner Policy Institute holds employees responsible for being continually productive in the work setting, being fiscally responsible, and delivering high quality products and services to the community, university, Eccles School, donors, and clients.

Collaboration The Kem

C. Gardner Policy Institute actively partners with people and organizations on campus and in the community to achieve our vision and mission. We believe teamwork among our staff will provide the best research and foster success.

Positive and passionate The Kem

C. Gardner Policy Institute employs people who are deeply committed to their craft and contribute to a positive and respectful work environment. We seek a congenial workplace where individual differences are both respected and celebrated, and we have fun along the way.

• Conduct research on Utah’s economy and other public policy topics. This includes preparing scopes of work, cleaning and analyzing data for trends and insights, and authoring reports.
• Build and maintain economic and public finance forecasting models using AI tools and various programming languages.
• Create and maintain data visualizations and dashboards using Excel, R Shiny, Tableau, and other software tools.
• Present research highlights, data, and analysis to clients, business and community leaders, and the public.
• Facilitate cooperative and collaborative relationships with clients, community, campus partners, and other institutions.

• Bachelor’s degree in economics, statistics, information systems, computer science, or a related area
• Two years’ work experience; programming experience with R or Python
• Familiarity with model development
• Experience with Microsoft Excel
• Experience with data analysis and visualization
• Effective human relations and communication skills.
• Knowledge of the Utah economy and public sector
• Familiarity with AI tools such as Codex and Claude
• Familiarity with R Shiny and Tableau.

• Master’s degree in economics, statistics, information systems, computer science, or a related area
• Four years’ work experience (met through combination of work and post‑graduate education)

Type

The University is a participating employer with Utah Retirement Systems (“URS”). Eligible new hires with prior URS service, may elect to enroll in URS if they make the…