Research Data Consultant

Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,484 full-time undergraduates and 5,250 graduate and professional students.  Ranked 35 among national universities, Boston College has 888 full-time and 1,281 FTE faculty, 2,711 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and an endowment in excess of $3.5 billion.

Job Description

The primary focus of the Research Data Consultant is working with the Manager, Research Data Consultation & Acquisition to assist in administering and supporting Boston College's instance of Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap)  and its users.  The person in this position will also support and help administer Qualtrics at Boston College.

REDCap is a secure web application for building and managing online surveys and databases. While REDCap can be used to collect virtually any type of data, it is specifically geared to support online or offline data capture for research studies and operations. REDCap User community spans a wide array of different disciplines and support requests range from simple “how to” requests to complex problems like database design, compliance issues, coding errors, or survey design. The administrator will be seen as the “face” of the REDCap installation at the University.

Additionally, under the guidance of the  Data Consultation and Acquisition Manager, the person in this position will perform the role of Survey Research Consultant for researchers needing help with  their REDCap projects. This includes intake, problem definition, solution design, execution, and delivery of desired deliverables.

The Research Data Consultant will communicate with investigators to determine scope, requirements, deliverables, and timing for consultation. They should be able to work independently and be good at managing multiple priorities and deadlines. The Research Data Consultant will analyze, design, document and test REDCap projects to support the successful capture of data for social science, clinical, and other research projects while adhering to coding standards and development/validation practices to ensure high-quality, maintainable technical deliverables.

This individual answers end-user questions about REDCap functionality. Continues to develop knowledge of other survey tools that are used at Boston College. Will also act as a backup academic Qualtrics administrator and will provide training, support, and consultation on the use of Qualtrics for academic research.  Participate in the REDCap administrative consortium and  in all aspects of improving the team, including education/training of other team members and contributing to process/communication improvement initiatives. Act as back-up for other team members and functions, as needed.

This position offers a hybrid work schedule.

Title and salary commensurate with relevant experience based on the following titles and hiring ranges:
Sr. Research Data Consultant & Acquisitions Analyst (5+ yrs of exp): $100,950 - $126,200
Research Data Consultant & Acquisitions Analyst (2-5 yrs of exp): $86,400 - $108,000

Requirements

• Minimum Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Biomedical Informatics, Public Health or a quantitative related field or other academic equivalent combination of education/experience.
• 2+ years’ experience must include the following: Experience with end-user support in an IT domain OR research experience, preferably in the area of clinical or social science research.
• Direct data collection consulting experience with researchers.
• Experience developing, maintaining, and managing IT applications and systems in a university or other research setting.
• Ability to pick up on architectural and technical issues quickly.
• Skills in troubleshooting systems as well as defining and translating users’ requests into  specifications and documentation.

Preferred Experience:

• Previous experience in and knowledge of academic research projects. 
• Proficiency with desktop computers.
• Familiarity with statistical applications such as R, SPSS, Stata, and SAS.
• Experience with the design of analysis-ready datasets.
• Advanced degree in a quantitative field or computer science.
• Experience with REDCap; specifically, building REDCap projects, developing REDCap data dictionaries, implementing branching logic and calculations, creating reports and running REDCap projects. Experience writing API scripts would be a plus.
• Knowledge and experience with PHP and Java.
• Understanding of HIPAA regulations and/or Human Subjects regulations for clinical research.
• Knowledge and experience with SQL, HTML, and CSS.

Closing Statement

Boston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility:

• Tuition remission for Employees
• Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements
• Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Low-Cost Life Insurance
• Eligibility for both University-Funded 401k and Employer-Sponsored 403b Retirement Plans
• Paid Holidays Annually
• Generous Sick and Vacation Pay
• Additional benefits can be found on https://www.bc.edu/employeehandbook

Boston College conducts pre-employment background checks as part of the hiring process.

Boston College is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. In concert with our Jesuit, Catholic mission, Boston College is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty and staff committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications for women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans. To learn more about how BC supports diversity and inclusion throughout the university please visit the Office for Institutional Diversity at https://www.bc.edu/diversity .

Boston College's Notice of Nondiscrimination can be viewed at https://www.bc.edu/nondiscrimination .