ABOUT THE OFFICE: The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) advises the Mayor of the City of New York on criminal justice policy. MOCJ develops and implements strategies, with partners inside and outside government, to reduce crime and incarceration and to promote fairness and legitimacy. MOCJ works with law enforcement, city agencies, non-profits, foundations, and others to implement data-driven strategies that address current crime conditions, prevent offending, and build the strong neighborhoods that ensure enduring safety.
The Research Innovation Policy team drives the development and effective implementation of precision public health and public safety initiatives. Drawing on evidence-based and community-based insights, the Research Innovation operates through four main pillars: data-driven policy development, evaluation, quality assurance, and interagency coordination.
About the Role:
Reporting into the Director of Policy Metrics, and as part of the Policy unit, the Data Insights Specialist is responsible for turning data into clear, actionable insights that shape policy relating to public health and public safety among justice-involved people. The role centers on responding to data requests, building strategic and reusable dashboards, and crafting data stories that make evidence accessible and compelling to a wide range of audiences. It also involves incorporating nuanced, evidence-based insights into trainings, curriculums, external messaging, and other high-impact contexts. The successful candidate must be able to develop and maintain relationships with research, program, agency, community, and justice-involved partners. They must be creative, highly motivated, and able to manage projects from inception through implementation.
The Data Insights Specialist’s responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Respond to a high volume of data requests from internal teams, partners, and leadership, translating varied questions into clear, actionable answers.
- Design and build dashboards strategically — using key leading measures to monitor opportunities and issues across the justice system, while developing reusable, scalable tools that anticipate recurring needs rather than one-off outputs.
- Craft data stories and visualizations that communicate research and findings to a wide audience to inform policy and partners.
- Support interagency coordination and policy delivery on issues including juvenile justice, justice programs, and safe decarceration solutions.
- Develop meaningful indicators that are responsive to nuanced policy issues and that can be embedded into existing integrated data dashboards for ongoing analysis.
- Leverage existing research evidence to further crime reduction and increase wellbeing.
- Partner with program staff, communities, and justice-involved people to weave these strands of wisdom together with research-derived insights to produce effective solutions.
- Work independently or in partnership with other researchers and data scientists to develop compelling impact analyses.
- Incorporate evidence-based insights into trainings, curriculums, and external messaging.
- Prepare insights for publication or for internal use as appropriate.
Please Submit Your Resume and Cover Letter Specific to This
Role
Minimum Qualifications
- Do you have a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university?
- Do you have an associate degree from an accredited college or university along with two (2) years of experience with administrative, analytic, coordinative, supervisory or liaison responsibilities?
- Do you have a four-year high school diploma, or its educational equivalent approved by a state's Department of Education or a recognized accrediting organization along with four (4) years of experience as described in question "2" above?
- Do you have a satisfactory combination of education and/or experience equivalent to that described in questions "1," "2," and/or "3" above?
Preferred Skills
The successful candidate must be curious, flexible thinkers who love learning new things and tackling challenges on a daily basis. In addition, they should possess the following:
- Master's or PhD in data science, criminology, psychology, or a related discipline preferred.
- Experience translating data into clear insights and compelling visual stories for varied audiences required.
- Strong coding skills (R, SQL, Python, or equivalent) with experience querying, cleaning, and analyzing complex, multi-source datasets to support data-driven decision-making.
- Proficiency with data visualization and dashboarding tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, or similar).
- Research experience preferred.
- Detailed knowledge of evidence-based justice programs and policies preferred.
- Ability to translate stakeholder questions into a clear analytic approach, identify relevant data and partners, and deliver actionable answers.
- Ability to balance competing priorities, complex situations, and tight deadlines; ability to think outside of the box and develop novel approaches to analysis; ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment; ability to work comfortably with a wide variety of people at different levels within the organization and with different backgrounds.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present data and research to technical and non-technical audiences alike.
- Attention to detail and the ability to give and receive clear direction/instruction. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present data and research.
Residency Requirement
New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.
The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.