Career Opportunities
Thank you for your interest in career opportunities with the University of Chicago Urban Labs! Urban Labs has a strong commitment to using science in service of cities to improve the quality of urban life. We regularly seek out passionate, data-oriented, public service minded individuals to join our team.
For more information on Urban Labs' career opportunities, culture and recruiting process, please see the frequently asked question section below.
Current Opportunities
Urban Labs
- Job Title: People Operations Manager
- Desired Start Date: TBC
- Reporting to: Poverty Lab Executive Director
- Requisition Number: JR08608
The University of Chicago Poverty Lab is seeking a full-time People Operations Manager to drive our organization-wide talent management and development initiatives. This position will work closely with Poverty and Health Lab staff and leadership teams to coordinate talent-related processes, while serving as a subject matter expert on talent acquisition, retention, diversity and inclusion, and mentorship.
Energy & Environment Lab
- Job Title: Project Associate
- Desired Start Date: TBC
- Requisition Number: JR09131
The University of Chicago Energy & Environment Lab is seeking a Project Associate (PA) with strong research, methodological, and programming skills to support environmental policy research projects. The PA will work on a growing portfolio of projects designed to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of promising energy and environmental interventions. The successful candidate will have experience with data management, econometrics, and statistical modeling. The PA will contribute to all facets of data collection processing, model development, and implementation. This position requires an individual who is able to work as part of small research teams, and on multiple projects concurrently, while also being self-directed and independent. The position offers the opportunity to work directly with leading policy researchers and faculty at the University of Chicago and other universities, and policymakers in state and local environmental agencies.
Health Lab
- Job Title: Research Director
- Desired Start Date: TBC
- Requisition Number: JR06923
The Role:
The University of Chicago Health Lab is seeking a full-time Research Director to contribute to the scientific and intellectual leadership for the Health Lab. The Research Director will partner with Health Lab faculty directors and affiliated faculty within and outside the University of Chicago to provide scientific direction for a portfolio of applied research projects and to ensure the rigor and quality of the Lab's work.
Responsibilities:
• Work with Health Lab faculty to direct a portfolio of applied research projects focused on urban health, including at the interactions of health and criminal justice involvement, and health and homelessness, as well as incorporating tools from predictive analytics and machine learning across the areas in which the Health Lab is doing work
• Manage and mentor research and project staff, providing scientific direction and ensuring the rigor and quality of all work
• Contribute to strategic conversations about which new projects and initiatives should be taken on by the Health Lab
• Work collaboratively with practitioners and policy makers to develop and implement applied research projects
• Contribute to, and be able to lead, development of scientific content and research proposals
• Disseminate research findings to both research and practitioner/policy maker audiences
• Serve as a member of the Health Lab’s senior leadership team, with primary reporting to the Health Lab Faculty Director and reporting to the Faculty Co-Director and Executive Director
Competencies:
• Expertise in all aspects of the research design, methods, and evaluation of research projects in the area of health policy or expertise in machine learning/predictive analytics required. Expertise in both preferred
• Interest in finding and testing innovative solutions to urban problems
• Content expertise in workforce development, healthcare delivery, or financial stability preferred
Education:
• Ph.D. in public policy, economics, statistics, computer science, or other relevant field by fall 2019 required
- Job Title: Research Manager
- Desired Start Date: TBC
- Requisition Number: JR09390
The job participates in scientific research projects. Ensures compliance of research activities with institutional, state, and federal regulatory policies, procedures, directives and mandates. Analyzes possible solutions using standard procedures. Writes articles, reports and manuscripts. Assists in drafting presentations on research findings.
- Job Title: Portfolio Director
- Desired Start Date: TBC
- Requisition Number: JR09387
The job uses best practices and knowledge of non-technical (not information technology or construction related) projects from conception to completion. Assembles teams and develops detailed work plans, schedules, project estimates, resource plans, and status reports while being the point of contact for those projects.
FAQs
For our three most common research roles--Project Associate, Research Manager, and Research Analyst--please refer to the responsibilities outlined below:
- Project Associates support large-scale social policy research projects designed to test the effectiveness of promising interventions by supporting a Research Manager or Research Analyst.
- Research Managers work directly with leading social science researchers, local policymakers, frontline practitioners, and a dedicated team of research analysts, data scientists, and administrative staff to implement ambitious field experiments.
- Research Analysts apply a variety of statistical modeling and data techniques to datasets in real-world settings, and contribute to all facets of data collection & cleaning, model development, analysis, and interpretation of results.
Urban Labs also hires for other positions in research, IT, and operations. We encourage you to view opportunities below.
You may be asked to submit multiple documents, including a Cover Letter, Writing Sample, and Unofficial Transcripts from the highest degree program received. Please see the job description for the exact documents required for that job. All materials should be submitted to the Workday system. Refer to the job requisition number on the job description to apply to the correct position.
All of our positions require a cover letter. In the cover letter, we encourage you to elaborate on your relevant achievements and describe your interest in the position.
We appreciate your interest in Urban Labs and look forward to reviewing your application. Due to the high-volume of applications that we receive, although we try, we may not be able to respond to all individual inquires.
Urban Labs employees are committed to creating a collaborative, high energy office that is open and welcoming to individuals of all backgrounds and life experiences, and prioritize developing a workforce that is as diverse as the city in which we work.
While we are affiliated with the University of Chicago, we are not located in Hyde Park. We have an office in downtown Chicago, which allows us to work more closely with our public sector partners.
In addition, Urban Labs also has an office in New York City that focuses on Crime and Education work. The New York Office works in close collaboration with the Crime and Education Labs in Chicago.
Urban Labs is a set of highly collaborative Labs and as such, we all work together towards a common mission of science in service of cities.
If you have questions about the Workday Application System, click here.
If you have specific questions that were not answered in our above frequently asked questions section, please contact us at urbanlabs@uchicago.edu Thanks!
