Data Scientist (Experienced) – Energy, Natural Resources and Sustainability – Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP)

Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP)

The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) conducts independent, in-depth, and policy-relevant research, and provides evidence-based recommendations to the challenges facing India and the world. It draws on the expertise of its researchers, extensive interactions with policy makers as well as convening power to enhance the impact of research. Our researchers work across the domains of Economic Growth and Development including Health, Urbanization; Energy, Natural Resources, Climate change and Sustainability; and Foreign Policy and Security. All our research and policy recommendations are freely available to the public.

CSEP is based in New Delhi and registered as a company limited by shares and not for profit, under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 1956 (now Section 8 of Companies Act, 2013).

Energy systems are key to India’s development, and they are simultaneously facing an energy transition focused on decarbonisation. This means a greater push towards renewable energy and smarter grids, all of which inevitably result in the greater need for data, not just for improved operations, but improved policy-making.

CSEP is looking to hire a Data Scientist (at the rank equivalent of an Associate Fellow) to undertake and support studies across Energy and Sustainability group, especially focused on the electricity sector. The roles would span a range of data gathering, synthesis, analytics, and visualisation. There would also be the need to build models (sometimes using existing platforms, other times using Python or alternatives), and also handle what could be viewed as “big data”. CSEP already runs (http://carbontracker.in), a portal that offers data, visualisation, and analytics of electricity across India by fuel at a 5-minute resolution. We aim to enhance this tool, and also build other similar tools and databases for both internal use and as public-facing solutions.

About the role:

An ideal candidate will have strong data science and data handling skills and also familiarity with energy systems and/or policy analysis. In case they lack specific energy analytics experience, a motivated skilled data analyst/scientist can learn energy details.

Some of our existing tools are Python based, but alternative platforms can also be used.

Key functions:

Position responsibilities span several major threads of effort:
• Designing and building (or leading the building, in a small team) a range of tools, databases, and platforms for energy systems.
• Creation and maintenance of internal and public facing datasets and databases, including data gathering as required and data cleaning/processing
• Analysis of diverse, disaggregated, and disparate data (econometric/statistical/model-based analysis)
• Specific research and analysis for studies using statistical or econometric or other methods
• Creating visualizations and visualization tools that also be public tools

Key requisites:

A base list of desired skills and background includes:
• A strong Master’s degree in a relevant field (computer science/data science or engineering/economics/statistics with data training) with experience, or a relevant Ph.D.
• Familiarity or motivation for energy-related and policy-oriented studies.
• Range of technical skills: Python skills preferred, can also use R but existing systems are on Python; AWS and data storage a plus; need to also learn new environments as required.
• Experience in scraping data from public and governmental sources preferreed, and subsequently converting/cleaning the data up for further analysis.
• Ability to work independently and communicate effectively.
• Good communication (conveying) skills are essential.
• Ability to coordinate, work across domains and deliver quality products on-time.
• Interested candidates should see https://carbontracker.in as a sample of a tool built in-house.

To apply, please email your resume, a cover letter, and a writing sample (in single file as a .pdf) to hr@csep.org with the subject line: Data Scientist – Energy, Natural Resources and Sustainability.