Project Specialist

The Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) at the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is seeking a Project Specialist to join its team. The project specialist will work in a multidisciplinary environment in support of policy research on a wide range of issues. In the near term, this position will focus on researching policies aimed at supporting aging individuals. Particular policies areas will include either retirement policies (e.g., pensions), long-term care policies, or country-specific responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Job responsibilities include:

• Acquiring a strong understanding of country-specific differences in social and economic policy
• Collecting, interpreting, and documenting complex information on country-specific policy related to the COVID-19 pandemic, long-term care and/or public pensions. Countries will include those in the European Union and United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Costa Rica, Japan, South Korea, China, India, Malaysia, Brazil, and Chile.
• Work with a team to manage information and data collection, conduct descriptive analysis, and create reports
• Assists with organizing and scheduling activities to meet research objectives and study protocol compliance
• Develop approaches for concisely communicating country-specific differences in social and economic policy
• Participates in writing of reports, research papers, articles and other documentation of project status and/or administrative activities or project results
• Although this is not primarily a computer programming position, a strong applicant should be able to develop STATA or SAS programs for data cleaning, analysis, and producing data visualizations, such as graphs or tables

Qualifications:

• Ability to produce careful and detail-oriented work
• Ability to collect and interpret information from a variety of languages leveraging tools such as Google Translate
• Excellent communication and writing skills
• Exceptional problem-solving abilities
• Minimum education: Bachelor’s Degree (Master’s Degree strongly preferred)
• Minimum Experience: 2+ years
• Major in economics, political science, sociology, psychology, quantitative social sciences, or related field required.

Minimum Field of Expertise: Economics or other quantitative social science.

This is a grant-funded position.

Compensation:

Pay range is $27 – $32 per hour

Required Documents and Additional Information:

• Resume and cover letter required (may be uploaded as one file). Please do not submit your application without these documents.
• Job openings are posted for a minimum of (5) five business days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended, so please apply on the same business day if interested.
• USC has excellent benefits, including health benefits for staff and their family with access to the renowned university medical network; eligibility for retirement plans with employer contributions after six months of employment; tuition benefits for staff and their family; free Professional Development classes; central Los Angeles location with easy access to commuter trains, buses and free tram pick up services; discounts to sporting and other campus events.

The University of Southern California is an Equal Opportunity Employer that Values Diversity.

Minimum Education: Bachelor’s degree
Minimum Experience: 2 years
Minimum Field of Expertise: Directly related education and experience to be able to advise on project procedures and analysis techniques