Senior Director of Data Science

Rewiring America is growing rapidly. With a clear and inspiring vision, smart strategies, and significant and sustained financial support, we are building a diverse and dynamic research team with the aim of investigating, documenting, and sharing the full breadth of knowledge required to electrify more than one billion machines across the U.S. economy. Our research mission is to convince and empower people to take deliberate action towards market transformation.

We are seeking an entrepreneurial Senior Director of Data Science to guide, develop, and sustain Rewiring America’s capacity for counting the machines to be replaced, tracking progress towards the goal, and evaluating the myriad benefits of economy-wide electrification. This position reports to the Head of Research.

What You’ll Do

The Senior Director of Data Science is a strategic, self-motivated, and hands-on professional with a passion for details and an appreciation that data, while important to the larger mission, is only as useful as the action it inspires in the market.

To that end this position will lead in the delivery of two key results within the broader Research agenda: First, to develop our ability to quantify the full extent of the electrification challenge and opportunity in communities and households across the country, and second, to support the development of tools and resources to assist communities and households in taking decisive action and tracking progress towards the our goals.

This position will hold the following responsibilities:

• Lead the organization’s data and analytical modeling efforts
  • Work with the Head of Research and senior management to develop a strategy and roadmap for development of Rewiring America’s analytical models, then deliver against those plans.
  • Build the data infrastructure necessary to support rapid scaling, configurability and extension of our models.
  • Interface with engineers, product managers, research analysts and other team members to define the necessary inputs, methods, outputs for our models.
  • Stay abreast of the latest scientific research, data sources, and analytical methods.
  • Cultivate partnerships with peer organizations to obtain high value data and leverage existing tools and resources. We mustn’t build everything from scratch.
  • Build, test, peer review, validate, and evolve our methods and results. Strive for excellence, but don’t get hung up on false precision.
  • Hire and mentor a team of junior analysts - up to 3 in the first year - to deliver on the analytical strategy and roadmap.
  • Develop processes to prioritize and respond to data and analysis requests from across the organization, but stay limber to respond to the occasional fire drill.
  • Document the limitations of the evidence you collect and the models you build.
• Put our efforts to work in the market
  • Be in service of the team and the broader mission. Partner closely with Rewiring America’s Product, Communications, Policy, and Partnerships teams to convey data into our evolving suite of tools and resources.
  • Deliver data with the right context, from big picture down to individual impacts. Be brutally honest about the knowns and unknowns. Paint pictures with our data, warts and all.
  • Write at least one technical paper per year and present Rewiring’s methods and findings at industry events and academic conferences.
• Develop broad understanding of electrification benefits and costs
  • Seek a working knowledge of the full scope of opportunities and market barriers to electrification.
  • Aspire to build a practical - not just theoretical - understanding of quantitative and qualitative costs and benefits to electrification such as community and household economics, product performance, building and electric grid integration, consumer behavior, and greenhouse gas emissions, to name a few.
  • Build relationships with colleagues, peers, and subject matter experts around the country to validate and enhance your knowledge of key topics.
  • Continuously challenge your understanding and be prepared to absorb and integrate new perspectives.

Requirements

The incoming Senior Director of Data Science will be driven by a belief in and commitment to Rewiring America’s mission. Through their experience and professional expertise, the successful candidate will be integral to building Rewiring’s reputation as a source for creative, thorough, and reliable analysis of the most important aspects of the electrification transition.

We are looking for someone with a track record demonstrating humility, curiosity, energy, collaboration, leadership and a learner’s mindset, with experience studying both the forest and the trees. You must be able to navigate within and across teams in a matrixed organization, while leading and growing your own crew of top-notch analysts. We are looking for a highly organized and driven individual who recognizes that the stakes of what we are trying to accomplish depend on a high-functioning, passionate, and trusting team.

We believe that research and analysis are only as good as the changes they inspire, so you must be able to write clearly and persuasively and be willing to inspire and engage in conversations about your work, as evidenced by a public portfolio, paper trail, or thoughtful tweets. Despite the enormity of the challenges that lie ahead, Rewiring America’s leadership believes in celebrating success and seeks a Director who leads with positivity and a belief in what is possible. The successful candidate demonstrates a zeal for practical climate solutions and strives for excellence and integrity in all they do.

The selected candidate will also possess most of the following Core and Preferred qualifications:

• Core
  • Commitment to the mission, policies, and goals of Rewiring America.
  • 5+ years of increasing responsibility in designing, building, documenting, and maintaining analytical models related to electrification, climate change, buildings, transportation, utilities, economics, environmental justice, and/or public health.
  • Ability to synthesize and distill important research findings and analysis results to identify meaningful connections to the broader electrification context.
  • Excellent communication ability across multiple formats with an ability to understand the needs of your audience and deliver information in a concise and compelling manner.
  • Excellent quantitative and analytical skills, including expertise with relevant tools (e.g., Python, Pandas, Numpy/Scipy, R, etc.).
  • Experience architecting data warehouses and data pipelines with modern web technologies.
  • Experience writing software in one or more languages (Java, Python, Go, and/or JavaScript)
  • Experience with analyzing data, database query (e.g. Advanced SQL, Python, R)
  • Experience with data visualization tools and design principles, with a compelling portfolio of examples.
• Preferred
  • Ability to manage a growing team and prioritize among competing demands; not easily flustered nor overwhelmed by a high volume of activity and projects.
  • Proven leadership and mentorship skills with clarity of vision and a commitment to the highest levels of integrity, quality, and collaboration.
  • Experience with machine learning (PyTorch, TensorFlow) and big data infrastructure (Hadoop, Hive, Hbase, Spark)
  • Experience with cloud technologies such as Google Cloud Platform, BigQuery, Pub/Sub, or Cloud Functions (or AWS equivalents)
  • Experience developing with heterogeneous external data sources.
  • Experience working with institutional partners to share data, methods, and analytical results in a structured manner.
  • Master’s or Ph.D. degree in science, mathematics, computer science, engineering, economics, or social science.

Benefits

The salary range for this position is $150,000-$190,000 commensurate with experience. Rewiring America also offers a very generous and competitive benefits package, including includes 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance, 6% employer match on 401k contributions, pre-tax transportation benefits, and paid holidays, vacation, sick, and volunteer time off.

Commitment to Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Rewiring America values diversity in all its forms and is committed to inclusive and transparent recruitment, hiring and promotion processes. Candidates of diverse backgrounds and lived experience are strongly encouraged to apply.

Hiring Statement

Rewiring America is a project of Windward Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. Windward Fund is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. Windward Fund ‘s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working.

COVID-19 Statement

To center the safety and well-being of its employees, Windward Fund requires that any employee who is required to conduct in-person activities for their job must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within four weeks of their start date. This position may require candidates to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Accommodations may be sought and approved in accordance with the law by contacting human resources at HR@windwardfund.org.