Research Analyst – Remote

The project:

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) is a disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping project. The ACLED team conducts analysis to describe, explore, and test conflict scenarios, and makes both data and analysis open for free use by the public. ACLED material is regularly used to inform journalism, academic research, and public discourse on conflict, and to support the work of practitioners and policymakers. ACLED is the highest quality and most widely used real-time data and analysis source on political violence and protest around the world.

The role

ACLED is recruiting a full-time Research Analyst to assist with ACLED’s analysis production. The Research Analyst will work in conjunction with the analysis team and relevant research desks to ensure data quality for reliable analysis and support the development of new analysis products as well as larger thematic reports. The position is full-time and reports to the Analysis Coordinator. The position is fully remote and can be done from any location with reliable internet service.

Please submit your salary range for consideration. Applications without an explicitly stated salary range (including applications stating “negotiable”) will not be considered. The start date for the position is June 1.

The Research Analyst will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Provide research assistance to Research Director, Executive Director, Analysis Coordinator, and others by preparing and conducting quantitative analysis (including data cleaning, prepping for analysis, etc.), conducting literature reviews/desk research, etc.
• Contribute to the writing and editing of ACLED analysis outputs around conflict trends and thematic reports, including work on creating engaging data visualizations using Tableau, through working closely with other team members including relevant Research Managers, Regional Specialists, (Senior) Researchers, and other Research Analysts.
• Support ways for ACLED staff to conduct better analysis. This includes holding internal analysis trainings on software and best practices, creating guides/videos etc.
• Support analysis by ACLED users and partners, as requested. This can include training or output products for local partners, strategic users, or media requests. This includes responding to requests for quick-turnaround data pulls, such as for media users, as well as more in-depth support, such as providing data analysis and visualization training for local or strategic partners.
• Other ad hoc research and analysis support tasks and occasional administrative and coordination tasks.

Skills and competencies

ACLED is seeking applicants who are willing to be engaged in several simultaneous projects.

The following experience and abilities are mandatory:

• Fluency in English;
• Reliable with strong problem-solving skills;
• Graduate degree in conflict, political violence, or related field;
• 3-5 years of experience manipulating large datasets (e.g. wrangling messy data, data cleaning, prepping data for analysis, etc.);
• Strong writing and editing skills;
• Strong critical thinking and analysis skills;
• An extremely high level of attention to detail;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for engaging with third-parties on behalf of the organization;
• Ability to work remotely and meet deadlines with limited supervision (experience working in a remote environment preferred);
• Flexible team player, especially across a remote, global team.

The following skills are necessary to succeed in the position:

• Familiarity with the academic literature around conflict and political violence;
• Experience conducting desk-based research and literature reviews;
• Solid experience with Tableau software, creating engaging data visualizations;
• Experience with spatial software and applications (e.g. Esri GIS suite, QGIS, Mapbox, etc.)

The following skills are preferred:

• Knowledge of statistical packages for conducting quantitative analysis;
• Experience polishing visuals in Adobe Illustrator;
• Familiarity and experience working with ACLED data;
• Fluency in other language(s) in addition to English.