Must have five years of recent experience in applied economics and building and deploying econometric models
Title: Senior Economic Research Analyst
Employment Type: Contract
Compensation Range: $55.56 to $86.12 per hour
Location: San Diego, CA
Work Schedule: Monday–Friday, hybrid with onsite Tuesdays and Fridays, 9/80 schedule
Industry: Government / Public Sector
Company Overview
This public sector transportation and regional planning organization supports data-driven decision-making across infrastructure, mobility, financial planning, and socioeconomic forecasting. The organization operates in a cross-functional environment where economic analysis, forecasting, and modeling inform long-range planning, investment strategy, and public policy outcomes.
Position Summary
The Senior Economic Research Analyst will analyze financial, transportation, and socioeconomic data to identify trends, build predictive models, and provide strategic insight that guides decision-making. This role serves as both project manager and technical expert for research initiatives, econometric model development, forecasting, and benefit-cost analysis.
Key Responsibilities
- Build and deploy econometric models to support transportation programs, activity-based travel model inputs, traffic and revenue studies, and regional forecasting of jobs, income, price elasticities, and infrastructure usage
- Apply quantitative and econometric methodologies to evaluate economic, population, transportation, and financial trends
- Leverage economic reasoning to understand regional economic and population dynamics
- Conduct benefit-cost analyses that capture private and public benefits and costs of transportation projects in alignment with federal and state guidance
- Interpret current and historical data to forecast future economic conditions
- Maintain forecasting models and develop tools that support ad-hoc forecast updates and inputs from other models
- Visualize data through tables, charts, graphs, and other formats that reveal actionable insights
- Prepare technical reports, presentations, and analytical materials for technical and nontechnical audiences
- Document methodologies, assumptions, data sources, and results to support transparency and replicability
- Collaborate with finance, travel modeling, planning, data science, and other cross-functional teams
Required Qualifications
- Advanced degree in economics, econometrics, public policy, or a related field
- Minimum five years of recent experience in applied economics or a related field
- Demonstrated knowledge of economic principles, modeling, and forecasting
- Experience performing analytical work grounded in mathematical and statistical calculations
- Experience with descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and econometric modeling
- Strong programming skills using R, SQL, Python, or comparable analytical tools
- Ability to document analytical work, assumptions, and results for transparency and replicability
- Solid working knowledge of data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, California Employment Development Department, U.S. Census, and IPUMS
- Strong written communication, presentation, and data visualization skills
- Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional technical and nontechnical teams
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with choice modeling and panel data regressions
- Familiarity with GIS
- Familiarity with GitHub
- Proficiency using IMPLAN
- Proficiency using REMI
- Experience supporting transportation economics, regional forecasting, infrastructure analysis, or public sector planning environments
