Associate Professional Specialist for Princeton Industrial Relations Section-Dobbie Team in Princeton, New Jersey at Princeton University

The Industrial Relations Section (IRS) and the Department of Economics seek a highly motivated and experienced specialist to contribute to the research of Professor Will Dobbie during the 2027-2028 academic year. Dobbie’s research interests focus on causes and consequences of poverty to understand how we can give individuals from all backgrounds a better chance of success. His recent work has examined racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, the changing nature of economic mobility, and how to build more human-centered AI. Appointment will be at the rank of Associate Professional Specialist.

Responsibilities include:

• Constructing and managing administrative datasets in a variety of high-stakes settings, including criminal justice and child protective services

• Building advanced machine learning models using both structured and unstructured data to explore human-AI complementarities

• Maintaining a multi-module codebase; working with Pydantic or similar data models

• Conducting applied econometrics tasks in Stata or R, such as randomization and balance checks, regressions with extensive controls and fixed effects, and generating publication-ready tables and figures.

• Managing and providing quality control of project work completed by third-party contractors, including software engineers

• Producing detailed reports, prepare policy briefs and presentations, and assist with drafting materials for publication

• Coordinate and submit applications for review by Princeton’s Institutional Review Board

The work location for this position is primarily in-person on campus at Princeton University with occasional research trips to Italy. This position is subject to the University's background check policy. This is a one-year term position with the potential for renewal for a second term.

This position is not eligible for sponsorship of an H-1B visa requiring consular processing; other visa sponsorships (including H-1B visas not requiring consular processing) may be available, as appropriate.

• Masters degree in Economics, applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics, or related discipline, or equivalent combination of training, experience, and accomplishments

• Prior research experience in the fields of Economics

• Experience working with real-world data sets, including education or school administrative data

• Graduate-level coding/algorithm skills and proficiency in statistical programming, especially Stata, R, Python, MATLAB, SAS, LaTeX

• Proficiency in quantitative text analysis methods

• Proficiency in, or experience with, large language models in a research context: prompt design, structured output, and evaluating model output

• Strong written and oral communication skills

• Excellent organizational and time management skills

• Proficiency in Italian and knowledge of Italian school system and institutions is a plus

To apply, please provide the following information and documents:

• Cover letter that briefly describes your academic background, research experience, goals for the future

• CV

• Writing sample

• Three references