Senior Data Scientist

The Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) is a non-partisan, non-profit dedicated to equipping the next generation of Americans with the skills to communicate and collaborate across lines of difference. We work with U.S. colleges and universities by providing co-curricular programming for students, professional development for faculty and staff, and strategic guidance to leadership. Our goal is to foster constructive dialogue at every level of the institution and to create the conditions for lasting organizational change. CDI was co-founded by psychologist Jonathan Haidt, the bestselling author of The Righteous Mind and The Anxious Generation.

CDI is looking for a Senior Data Scientist to own the data foundations that power our analytics, reporting, and research workflows. This is a high-leverage role for someone who wants to do meaningful, systems-level work — building the infrastructure, pipelines, and reporting tools that CDI's team and partners rely on every day.
This is not primarily a machine learning, product analytics, or pure research-design role. It sits at the intersection of data infrastructure, reporting systems, and applied evaluation. The right person is a strong hands-on practitioner who takes pride in clean, reproducible, reliable work — and who is excited to grow into new territory alongside the organization.

Two major near-term priorities will shape this role from day one: rebuilding and modernizing CDI's analytics and reporting ecosystem, and co-leading evaluation work for our AI dialogue coach.

If you're energized by building things that last, working across research, product, and implementation teams, and doing data work that genuinely connects to mission, this role is for you!

• Own CDI’s research and analytics data infrastructure, including core data models, schemas, documentation, data quality checks, and analysis-ready datasets.

• Build and maintain data pipelines using reproducible ETL/ELT practices, producing standardized, analysis-ready datasets from key sources.

• Lead the rebuild and modernization of CDI’s analytics and reporting layer as part of a platform and data transition.

• Design, build, and maintain dashboards, recurring reporting, and self-serve tools for both internal teams and partner-facing deliverables.

• Establish and steward trusted metric definitions, documentation, and governance practices across reporting and research workflows.

• Co-lead the data and evaluation work for our AI dialogue coach, including building the measurement, reporting, and analysis workflows needed to assess learner experience, safety and appropriateness, reliability, and outcomes.

• Support quantitative data preparation, analysis, and reproducible code workflows for efficacy and impact studies.

• Partner cross-functionally with colleagues on the Research & Evaluation team, as well as those from Implementation, Operations, and Product/Technical teams.

• 6+ years of relevant professional experience in data science, analytics engineering, data engineering, or a similarly hybrid role. 

  • Strong hands-on experience with SQL, Python, and R. Experience building and maintaining data pipelines and reproducible workflows that other people rely on.

• Experience working in cloud-based data environments, including AWS.
  Experience designing and maintaining dashboards, recurring reporting, and BI tools for nontechnical users.

• Experience using Git and documentation/testing practices to make data work maintainable and reproducible.

• Strong judgment about data quality, metric definition, and governance.

• Prior experience using AI tools in data science workstreams

• Comfort working with messy, ambiguous data problems and translating them into clear deliverables.

• Ability to develop practical measurement approaches for new or evolving features, tools, or interventions.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially with nontechnical internal collaborators.

• Experience working cross-functionally with stakeholders from multiple teams.

We also value (but do not require) the following:

• Advanced degree in data science, statistics, social science, computer science, or a related field; familiarity with survey data and/or higher education data is a plus.

• Experience supporting impact, efficacy, or evaluation work through data preparation and analysis.

• Experience in a nonprofit, EdTech, or mission-driven setting; familiarity with bridgebuilding, dialogue, or civic learning is a bonus.

• Compensation — $135,000-$145,000

• A Mission-Driven Culture — we practice what we preach, so our work culture is characterized by intellectual humility, continuous improvement, and open-mindedness

• Remote-First — CDI was founded as a remote-first organization, and we work hard to maintain a strong team culture across vast distances 

• Unlimited PTO — as well as 13 company holidays

• Remote Work Support — up to $500 reimbursed for home office equipment (like desks, chairs, or webcams) and up to $50/month reimbursed for home internet or cell phone expenses

• Other Benefits — employer-supported health, vision and dental plans, subsidized parental leave, 3% 401k match, short- and long-term disability insurance, life and AD&D insurance, $1,000 annual professional development budget

• Reports to: Senior Director of Research and Evaluation

• Schedule: Full-time, flexible within U.S. time zones

• Target start date: ASAP

• Location: Remote, must be based in the U.S.