Applied Research Methodologist

Description

What is the role?

As an Applied Research Methodologist, you will develop, implement, and refine the methodologies that underpin Zencity’s surveys and other data-driven products. Reporting to the VP of Data Science, you will play a key role in ensuring that the insights we provide to local leaders are actionable and reliable. You will bring a rigorous scientific approach to all of Zencity’s products, so that our resident surveys, social media analytics, and constituent engagement tools offer a representative and inclusive view of community needs and perspectives. You will also be a leading voice in providing all of our stakeholders with the information they need to understand and trust the insights we deliver.

Day to Day

• Develop and refine all aspects of methodology used across Zencity’s products - everything from questionnaire design and distribution to model-based estimation.
• Partner with teams across the company to embed rigorous methodology directly into our products and implement best practices for design and analysis.
• Serve as the primary contact for methodological questions, and prepare white papers, blog posts, and presentations to communicate about our work.
• Work closely with operations staff to optimize data collection standards and tailor them to fit the needs of individual projects and communities.
• Collaborate with product teams, data scientists, and engineers to develop tools for benchmarking, visualization, mapping, and integration with public datasets.
• Serve as an in-house methodology expert, mentoring analysts and other staff and helping clients to interpret and act on our results.
• Work remotely or in-person/hybrid (New York or Boston), with occasional travel (including international) for team events, client meetings, or conferences.  

Requirements

• Expertise in survey research methods, including online / multimodal surveys and non-probability approaches, with at least 3 years of hands‑on experience applying these methods to real‑world programs or products.
• Strong proficiency in quantitative analysis using Python (highly preferred) or R, including data wrangling, statistical models, and visualization, and a willingness to learn more.
• Demonstrated success communicating technical findings to non‑technical audiences through written reports and live presentations.
• Experience working with major public datasets such as those from the US Census Bureau and other federal agencies.

It’s even better if you have:

• An advanced degree or formal training in survey methodology, political science, demography, statistics, or a related field.
• Fluency in SQL, advanced Python skills, and/or machine learning expertise.
• Familiarity with the application of natural language processing and other AI tools in research contexts, particularly with survey or social media data.
• Experience with geospatial analysis, survey experiments, data quality monitoring, multimodal research, consumer or voter datasets, or CRM systems.
• Subject matter expertise in local government operations, public opinion research, social media analytics, or related topics.