Economic Analyst

The San Diego Regional Policy & Innovation Center is a 501(c)3 launched in September 2021 to serve the San Diego region. Our mission is to develop, test, and implement world-class research and policy-driven solutions to address San Diego’s most pressing challenges. Climate resilience, critical infrastructure, quality jobs, and housing affordability are challenges that require massive collective effort. We build partnerships to create cross-sector, multi-jurisdictional solutions. The San Diego Regional Policy & Innovation Center is a partnership between San Diego Foundation, the County of San Diego, and the world’s leading think tank – The Brookings Institution. Together with a network of national and regional partners, the Policy & Innovation Center engages government, corporations, and philanthropy to equitably enhance the long-term sustainability and prosperity of the San Diego region.

Purpose of Position

The Economic Analyst is a core member of the Research team. As an Economic Analyst, they are responsible for conducting original research and providing data collection and analysis for Research team initiatives.

The Economic Analyst offers strong verbal and written communication skills and creative problem solving, is detail-oriented and self-motivated, and is able to independently work across teams to support the research team and the organization.

Contributions and responsibilities of the Economic Analyst include but are not limited to:

• Collect, maintain, and analyze PIC’s public and proprietary databases.
• Assist with data collection, analysis, and writing for research reports, as well as with sharing the results of research projects that serve the San Diego Regional Policy and Innovation Center’s mission. The Economic Analyst will support the Ideas and Impact pillars of PIC’s core work and collaborate with other research team members to provide research and analysis to support grant applications and impact assessments on an as-needed basis.
• Support internal partners by providing demographic and economic data, synthesizing literature, and writing about trends in the San Diego region’s economy.
• Manage research inquiries from internal and external partners. Includes working with external vendors and partners, providing regular updates to the team, collecting feedback, and assisting with writing and editing final reports and other deliverables.
• Support efforts to attract and attain new grants or business-development opportunities by assisting with identifying new opportunities, grant writing, and other duties as needed.
• Work with the Chief Economist and other research team members to present research findings from reports and other publications through public speaking engagements, briefs, data visualizations, and other events, and through engaging the policy, political, academic, media, and advocacy communities in San Diego to inform the regional and national conversation.
• Collaborate with regional government departments, officials, community leaders, and other agencies to obtain and understand data, handling any confidential information in compliance with data owners’ policies, with respect for data subjects’ privacy, and in line with ethical data practices.

Supervision Received

• Reports to the Economist & Director of Research

Education and Experience

• Bachelors and 1 year of work experience in a relevant social science discipline or at least 5 years of comparable work experience in research and analysis

Skills and Qualifications

• Research:
  • Ability to articulate how your work improves the communities we serve
  • Familiarity with public economic data sources
  • Strong statistical and analytical skills
  • Familiarity with economic principles, research design, and econometric methods
  • Outstanding critical-thinking skills, deep intellectual curiosity, creativity and ingenuity to solve problems
  • Working knowledge of statistical software such as R or Python
  • Passion for learning and relentless improvement
  • Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Spreadsheet-based analysis
• Collaboration
  • Ability to manage multiple tasks under pressure, meet deadlines, and pay attention to detail
  • Ability to work independently and on a team; adaptable and willing to seek help when needed
  • Commitment to centering the voices of individuals in the communities we attempt to serve
  • Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communications skills
  • Cultural competency and emotional intelligence
  • Ability to form collaborations and deliver recommendations and solutions
  • Exceptional communicator with the ability to present concepts and research results in a clear, concise, and actionable manner
  • Comfort engaging directly with community stakeholders

The Policy & Innovation Center believes in pay equity. Salaries are commensurate with experience and responsibilities.

Compensation: $70,000 – $80,000 depending on experience

If you are interested in this opportunity, please submit your PDF resume and PDF cover letter to:
sdrpicjobs@sdfoundation.org and please place Economic Analyst for the San Diego Regional Policy & Innovation Center in the subject line.