Skip to main content

VACANCY - Economy Data: Product Manager and R&D Analyst

Come and work with the Open Innovations Team to publish, maintain, and communicate our data, products and analysis about the Economy.

This role is flexible, it could be a permanent role - however we are very flexible and a part time, freelance or retained associate role is also possible.

Who we are

Open Innovations is a not-for-profit, independent, mission-led, radically-open organisation. We work in the open with our sponsors, companies, organisations, governments and individuals to use open, shared, and closed data to innovate and help people make better decisions. In short, we do innovation with data and almost everything you need to know about us and what we do is on our website.

What you will do

You will be working with our multi-specialist team of Civic Entrepreneurs, Innovators, Data Scientists, Web & Software Developers and Digital Product specialists led by Tom Forth. The work will be broadly under the following headings:

Innovation: Understanding and shaping the questions we should answer and the products we should make to solve the current and future challenges of our partners, network and sponsors.

Data Acquisition: Accessing and sourcing useful open data sets, creating web scraping routines to collect data from organisations’ websites and manage API’s to access data held by organisations or presented on data portals.

Data Processing: You will be responsible for working with the OI Data team to, licence, store, process, analyse, classify, present, publish & visualise data to answer the questions we are working on.

Web Development: All of our work is on the web. You will be a contributor to our website for story and technical blog posts and our GitHub Repository for data and code.

Maintenance: We have built, and are building, tools and visualisations that measure the economy - your role will include establishing and managing the update and maintenance of these tools.

What we will provide

  • Salary range of £25-£50,000 per annum subject to experience and capability
  • Flexible working hours and employment contract
  • Relaxed work environment and dress code
  • Equipment to do your job
  • 20 days holiday plus Bank Holidays.
  • Space to work in our open-plan, collaborative workspace in central Leeds
  • Become part of the Open Innovations Data & Projects team with support and guidance from the whole team
  • Involvement in all of our events
  • Access and connections to our sponsors and network
  • A review of our arrangements after successful completion of your probation period and every 12 months

What we expect from you

  • A helpful, friendly and can-do attitude
  • Punctuality, commitment and reliability in your work
  • That you will agree to and abide by the Open Innovations Code of Conduct and Etiquette at all times when you are representing OI in person or on the web. https://open-innovations.org/services/co-working/etiquette
  • Professional approach and attitude in all of your work, strict adherence to the OI Employee Handbook, including our online security, web browsing and drugs and alcohol policies

Your Qualifications & Experience:

  • A demonstrable specialism and background in data and data science and ability to develop software on the web, write code, create websites, prototypes and maintenance of existing tools and products.
  • Qualifications or Experience (1st, 2nd degrees or work or equivalent experience) in data or computer science, marketing, science, engineering, math’s, economics, policy, business, social science or other data and research subjects.
  • Experience of working in a busy environment with the proven ability to work under pressure
  • An interest in civic innovation and the mission-led approach of OI, data and research
  • Excellent project management skills and ability to communicate and manage multiple projects simultaneously
  • Organised and methodical approach to task completion including good planning, prioritisation and time management skills
  • Able to research and work independently with strong attention to detail and commitment to fact checking own work
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with a clear writing style
  • IT literate

What next?

Please send: a cover letter (no more than one page) & a CV (no more than two pages) including examples of your work.

Alternatives to a standard CV are welcomed, but please keep them short.

To Paul Connell (Founder of Open Innovations) paul.connell@open-innovations.org

We are keen to recruit soon and may be interviewing for this position before the deadline. Candidates are therefore encouraged to apply as soon as possible.