Researcher

Job description

Job Title: Researcher

Bureau: Treasurer

Department: Office of the Cook County Treasurer

General Overview

The Cook County Treasurer’s Office is seeking a researcher who is a rigorous, critical and creative thinker to join the office’s research department. The department, established in early 2021, produces analyses and in-depth studies of Illinois’ property tax system. It is led by a former Chicago Tribune investigative reporter. The department has published several studies that exposed entrenched inequities that have prevented Black and Latino communities from building generational wealth. Two of the studies led to the enactment of Illinois’ biggest property tax reform bill in decades.

Some of the office’s recent work includes:

• An analysis on how few Cook County voters take part in binding referendums that let voters decide whether to increase taxes
• An analysis on how the county’s property tax appeal system works to the disadvantage of lower-income minority homeowners
• Annual analyses on tax bill changes across the county
• Annual analyses of property tax collection rates

Further studies will expand on all of that work and explore other aspects of the Illinois property tax system, with the aim of developing further proposals to make the system more affordable, fair and equitable.

The researcher will help formulate future studies and conduct primary and secondary research, which often involves exhaustive research on property tax policies, initiatives and theory, as well as gathering, cleaning and analyzing data. The researcher also will help prepare the studies for publication.

Key Responsibilities and Duties

Under the direction and guidance of the Director of Research, the researcher is responsible for the following:

• Work with staff to formulate and execute studies of the property tax system
• Conduct primary and secondary research of property tax systems across the globe
• Conduct data analyses
• Help produce clear, straightforward analyses, studies and recommendations that combine narrative and data visualizations

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Accomplished research skills
• Strong writing skills
• Commitment to thoroughness, accuracy, quality and integrity
• Strong interpersonal, communication and collaboration skills
• Experience with complex research, analysis and presentation
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and various data applications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree; two years related experience.
• Prior research experience in the news media, government, think tank, academic, financial or not-for-profit sectors

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree
• Proficiency in English, Spanish or Polish
• A strong, multifaceted body of work in investigative journalism, scholarly research and/or data analysis

Employee Benefits

Note: The duties listed are not set forth for purposes of limiting the assignment of work. They are not to be construed as a complete list of the duties normally to be performed under a job title or those to be performed temporarily outside an employee’s normal line of work.