Category: 
Job


Location: Boston, MA

Equity Researcher and Urban Planning Consultant

Salary: up to $75,000

Overview of Role and Responsibilities
Rivera Consulting seeks an Equity Researcher and Urban Planning Consultant, an Associate level role, who is passionate about community-informed data analysis, visualization, and inclusive planning and engagement. The Research Consultant will support research-driven client work across Rivera Consulting’s urban planning and qualitative research portfolios.

This individual will have the opportunity to engage with a variety of urban planning projects in and around Massachusetts, with a particular focus on housing and transportation planning, community engagement, and spatial analysis to support planning an equitable public realm. This position is designed for recent Master's-level graduates in city, urban or transit planning or those that hold comparable professional experience and skill sets. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

  • A passion for and commitment to social justice and equity as well as an inclusive and deeply democratic society.
  • A bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 2 years relevant professional experience required; a master’s degree may be substituted for relevant or similar work experience
  • Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research, including people centered data collection and analysis
  • The utilization of GIS, Tableau, or other spatial analysis tools in service of urban planning research, equity, and mobility
  • Stakeholder management and interviews
  • Editing, writing, and final deliverable creation for varied clients across the municipal and nonprofit sectors
  • Support the firm in visualization and data analysis of primary clients and department prospecting

As a member of the Research Team, the Equity Researcher and Urban Planning Consultant is supervised by the Senior Research Consultant for direct supervision and works closely with the President overall as well as other assigned staff and/or subcontracts on shared client projects.

Core Responsibilities: Research, Project and Client Management, Firm Culture and Capacity, and Prospecting

  • Work closely with Senior Research Consultant, other assigned staff, and/or subcontractors to plan, conduct, and execute qualitative and quantitative research projects, including through the use of GIS, Tableau, Dedoose, and Excel
  • Support strong team and client communication, and collaboration through communication of research findings clearly and effectively to non-specialist audiences, including in writing, using data visualization tools such as Tableau, and using layout and design tools such as Venngage
  • Support the management and execution of project plans for research and urban planning client engagements using Wrike, the firm’s internal project management tool
  • Lead or support department clients and represent Rivera Consulting in regular client check-ins
  • Design client agendas and collateral production to support project deliverables
  • Support drafting, editing, and visualization of prospecting documents and scopes within research and urban planning
  • Actively contribute to firm culture and business development of the firm’s future
    • Lead staff meetings on research and associated tools and topics as part of firm culture
    • Support the development of templates, tools, and procedures to support internal and client work
    • Provide thought partnership and supervision to urban planning fellows in their execution of assigned projects
    • Working closely with Strategic Engagement Director to support external communications as assigned on a task-specific basis

Essential Qualifications

  • Familiarity with Massachusetts, its planning system, and its cities and towns
  • Educational background in city, transit and/or urban planning, sustainability, geography, social determinants of health, economics, statistics, or another discipline that emphasizes research skills, specifically for interpreting quantitative information for policy or decision-making purposes on a neighborhood or municipal level
  • Background in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research techniques, especially equity oriented research
  • Excellent writing skills and the ability to self-edit and write collaboratively
  • A deep knowledge and understanding of urban planning spatial analysis tools, including experience in analyzing, summarizing, and visualizing municipal zoning regulations and parcel information for the purpose of existing conditions analyses and policy recommendations
  • Experience with data analysis of publicly accessible data
  • Mastery Experience In GIS—please include a brief description from a project on which you worked in your cover letter
  • Experience with data visualization techniques and approaches, including using infographic tools like Venngage
  • A foundational understanding and background in the policy areas of housing, transit, environmental justice, and economic opportunity
  • Strong project management skills, including time management
  • Availability within the standard weekday work day hours and with some evening weekday client meeting, including ability to attend some in-person meetings and events related to client engagement

How to Apply
If Interested, please email resume and cover letter to gina@RiveraConsult.com with the subject line “Equity Researcher & Urban Planning Consultant”