Senior Public Health Research/Epidemiologist

The Neighborhood Safety Department oversees the City's violence prevention/intervention initiatives and other prevention, response, and restoration services needed for community safety delivery in the City. This position would support data driven initiatives around community safety matters that relate to violence prevention/intervention and response options that are not provided by Police and Fire. This position will work to reduce violence and increase neighborhood safety by analyzing and visualizing data. This position will work to expand Minneapolis' community safety ecosystem, encouraging collaboration and new solutions to the root causes of safety challenges.

This position may be eligible for flexible work arrangements, including hybrid work with some days working remotely and some days working in the office.

Research, Planning, and Program Development

• Initiate, develop, design, and coordinate sophisticated epidemiologic studies on locally relevant violence prevention and community safety , including defining the research questions, reviewing appropriate literature, selecting appropriate design methodology, identifying or developing tools, monitoring and evaluating the project, and reporting on results.
• Lead all aspects of program and community impact evaluations including community engagement, defining the evaluation questions, evaluation design and identifying or developing tools; data gathering, site support, analysis, reporting of results.
• Participate in the development of department priorities for research projects, studies, grant proposals, and program development to address specific community safety topics
• Develop and implement community safety monitoring systems to identify trends , behaviors, and risk factors that influence the safety of individuals and families at city, community, and neighborhood levels.
• Collaborate with policy and program staff and community partners on innovative projects.

• Investigate the success of community safety  improvement policies and pilots locally and in other parts of the country and, based on these findings, make recommendations on  initiatives to the Department and other city, state, and federal officials.
• Evaluate the effects of policies related to community safety.

• Manage grant related activities including budget, program development, implementation, evaluation, related contract management, reporting to funding agencies.
• Support the negotiation of contractual services and budgets, monitor performance measures, conduct site visits when appropriate, provide technical assistance to contractors, and ensure compliance with statistical, programmatic, and financial reporting requirements.

• Design data collection systems. Manage and manipulate a variety of data sets including relational databases. Move databases from one software to another for purposes of entry and analysis. Write syntax to import data, label data, create reports, and conduct descriptive and inferential analyses appropriate to the study design methodology being used.
• Assure data integrity through use of appropriate principles, standards and techniques for measurement, analysis, and reporting.

• Use advanced statistical analysis software to analyze qualitative and quantitative data including, survey, surveillance, and secondary data.
• Conduct data analyses as required to evaluate projects.

• Author reports for various audiences including: research briefs, major public health reports, program evaluation findings, grant activity performance reports, articles for publication in scientific peer-reviewed journals.
• Present resent findings from epidemiologic, research, and evaluation studies to a wide variety of audiences including: City Council, community agencies, general public, media, local public health departments, professional associations.
• Work with media, professionals, and the public as needed on projects and results.

• Provide technical expertise on epidemiological, research, and evaluation issues to department heads, division directors, program managers, community agencies, and other health professionals.
• Research and analyze community safety issues of great interest for Mayor, City Council, Public Health Advisory Committee, or community organizations and the general public.
• Facilitate community safety planning at the community level.  Provide advisory and technical assistance to the community.  Ensure health data is available and easy to interpret and use for community planning purposes.
• Develop, analyze, and distribute data for use in designing and developing programs to address problems identified city-wide, in specific areas, or among specific population groups related to community safety improvement.
• Provide technical consultation to partners on control and prevention of violence.

MINUMUM EDUCATION : 
Masters Degree in Epidemiology, Public Health, a closely related Research Field, or equivalent.

MINIMUM EXPERIENCE: 
Two years experience performing duties similar to those listed above.

Selection Process

The selection process will consist of one or more of the following steps: a rating of relevant education and experience and/or an oral examination (100%). It is important that your application show all the relevant education and experience you possess. This information will be used to determine which candidates will proceed in the selection process. A submitted application is also used to verify the answers to any supplemental questions.  Only those candidates who attain a passing score (70%) on each step in the selection process will be placed on the eligible list. The City of Minneapolis Human Resources Department reserves the right to limit the number in any phase of the selection process. 

Background Check

The City has determined that a criminal background check and/or qualifications check may be necessary for certain positions with this job title. Applicants may be required to sign an informed consent form allowing the City to obtain their criminal history and/or verify their qualifications in connection with the position sought. Applicants who do not sign the informed consent form will not be further considered for the position.

Union Representation

This position is represented by a collective bargaining agreement between the City of Minneapolis and the [MPEA (CPE)] . For more information on the terms and conditions of this agreement please visit our website.

Eligible List Statement

The names of applicants who meet minimum qualification and who pass the screening process shall be placed on the eligible list for employment consideration.  This list will be certified to the hiring manager who may use the list to fill a vacancy of the same job title.  his eligible list will expire one month after it has been established.

Interview Selection

The hiring authority reserves the right to determine the maximum number of candidates to interview from the established eligible list.  If the hiring authority decides to interview other than by exam score order, they may select additional people to interview based on a candidate’s education or experience related to the field, work history, or skills uniquely related to the operational needs of the position.

• Extensive knowledge of core public health functions; local, state, and national health problems and programs; health systems; and issues related to diverse urban and special needs communities.
• Various combinations of training and experience may qualify for this position.
• Advanced knowledge of epidemiology, state-of-the-art research designs and methodologies; evaluation methodologies, quantitative and qualitative analyses and reporting; determinants of health of populations; evaluation; and community health indicators, information dissemination.
• Significant experience using statistical analysis software such as R, SAS, SPSS, STATA. Experience designing and working with data in relational databases such as Access, Paradox, or others. Experience with spreadsheets such as Excel. Ability to use word processing software and to create graphs and presentations.
• Significant breadth of understanding of theories related to public health  and violence prevention research
• Extensive knowledge in the principles of measuring behavior and risk factors.
• Extensive demonstrated skill in quantitative and qualitative analyses including descriptive and inferential techniques.
• Ability to communicate effectively on complex social and scientific issues, orally and in writing, and excellent presentation skills; experience working with the media desirable.
• Grant-writing ability, including preparation of a statement of need, research hypotheses, and description of study methods.
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative environment with multiple agencies, multidisciplinary teams, the public, diverse communities, health professionals, and elected officials.
• Ability to provide expert guidance, technical assistance, and training to staff in development of epidemiological principles, public health research; needs assessments; and health indicators systems.
• Ability to interpret statistical data and other information to a wide variety of audiences accurately, effectively, and concisely.
• Demonstrated ability to work with diverse and special need populations.
• Knowledge of federal and state data privacy laws and protections for human research subjects.
• A track record of obtaining grant funding and publishing in peer-reviewed journals is highly desirable.

As the largest and most vibrant city in the state, Minneapolis depends on purposeful, dedicated and innovative employees. Minneapolis has a large variety of careers for people of all experiences and backgrounds who come together for a singular purpose—serving the residents, businesses and visitors of Minneapolis.

The City of Minneapolis is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer.