Research Assistant

States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the rule of law and free, fair, and secure elections, is seeking a Research Assistant to join its Research & Analytics team.

Job Overview:

The Research Assistant principally supports the SVP of Research, with secondary support to the research team. The Research Assistant takes on a wide range of responsibilities depending on the staff's needs.

The Research Assistant works closely with, and in support of, the SVP of Research to provide quantitative and qualitative research support, as well as administrative support including scheduling, and preparation for meetings. Primary duties include research support, coordinating with internal and external stakeholders to schedule meetings; preparing agendas, background materials, and memos for meetings; detailed note taking; formatting, proofreading, and fact checking research, reports, and other materials; drafting emails and correspondence on behalf of the SVP of Research; and ensuring a strong communication flow among team members by playing a liaison role.

Responsibilities:

• Perform all duties in accordance with States United's values of integrity, inclusion, collaboration, innovation, and excellence.
• Obtain datasets, data cleaning and wrangling, and descriptive statistics.
• Find relevant material, compile, and synthesize scholarly literature.
• Support writing and editing reports and presentations.
• Schedule internal team meetings and external meetings with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Prepare agendas, background materials, and memos for meetings.
• Take notes at meetings and keep team members on track to complete any assignments.
• Format, proofread, and fact-check of research reports, and other materials.
• Support and keep team members organized through file organization, document and data sharing, to-do lists, and work stream trackers.
• Ensure a strong communication flow among team members by playing a liaison role.
• Draft emails and correspondence on behalf of the Research Director.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree.
• Minimum of 1 year of experience working in a public office, non-profit, advocacy organization, or similar environment requiring research and administrative skills.
• Experience with RStudio.
• Strong communication skills (written, verbal, and listening).
• Strong organizational and project management skills with the ability to effectively manage multiple priorities and remain flexible as priorities shift.
• Experience working appropriately with confidential and/or sensitive information, demonstrate strong critical thinking, problem solving, research, and decision-making skills, and be extremely detail-oriented and organized.
• Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues in a demanding and fast-paced environment.
• Willingness and ability to work beyond the normal workday, on weekends, and/or more than 40 hours a week as necessary.
• Willingness and ability to commit to a minimum of 10% travel time.
• Display a positive attitude, show concern for people and community, demonstrate presence, self-confidence, common sense, and good listening ability.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with datasets, strong data-wrangling skills, and descriptive statistics.
• Experience working with senior executives.
• Experience working on issues of election protection, voting rights, and/or democracy protection strongly preferred.

We encourage individuals to apply even if they do not meet all preferred qualifications.

Compensation + Benefits:

• Annual salary will be $60,000.
• States United Democracy Center offers generous benefits including 100% employer-paid health, vision, and dental plans plus matching retirement plans.

We have offices located in Boston, MA; Brooklyn, NY; and Washington, DC. This position may also be remote within the United States, with travel to attend organizational and team meetings and conferences, and other travel as needed.

States United values a diverse workforce and a culture of inclusivity and belonging. We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage applications from all individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply.