What are the responsibilities and job description for the Data Analyst position at M Powered Strategies?
Based in Falls Church, VA, MPS is a Small Business, dedicated to empowering our clients through innovative change management services, with a focus on organizational effectiveness. Founded by a former Peace Corps volunteer, our consultants have served executives in the federal sector for over a decade, working on several high-profile initiatives. We pride ourselves on being experienced consultants, trusted advisers, and reliable partners. As a designated Employer of National Service, our core value is a commitment to public service.
Data Analyst — Wood Fiber Supply Study
The Data Analyst serves as the technical engine for a statewide Wood Fiber Supply Study, supporting forestry analytics through reproducible data pipelines and transparent reporting. This role focuses on ingesting, engineering, and analyzing forestry datasets (FIA/TPO and approved state/county data), ensuring quality assurance, and generating reproducible, stakeholder-ready outputs. The analyst collaborates closely with the Forestry Analytics Lead and Project Manager to deliver high-quality visualizations, tables, and a static, aggregated map atlas.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop parameterized R/Python ETL pipelines for FIA/FIADB, TPO, and approved state/county data sources.
- Implement QA/QC checks, track assumptions/issues, and reconcile FIA ↔ TPO data.
- Produce descriptive baseline analytics for consumption, growth–removals, and supply envelopes.
- Support operability modeling (terrain, soils, access, ownership/management constraints).
- Generate reproducible visualizations (ggplot2, plotly, matplotlib, seaborn) and static map products (sf, terra, geopandas).
- Maintain transparent documentation (R Markdown/Jupyter notebooks, READMEs, data dictionaries).
- Collaborate via weekly working sessions with the technical lead; all deliverables and requests routed through the PM.
Minimum Requirements
- Must be a U.S. Citizen to apply
- B.S. or M.S. in Data Science, Statistics, or related field (open to graduating M.S. students).
- 3 years of relevant experience.
- Demonstrated experience applying statistical methods for descriptive and trend analysis.
- Proficiency in R or Python for analytics and visualization.
- Strong data wrangling, QA, and documentation skills with version control (Git).
- Excellent written communication for both technical and non-technical audiences.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with geospatial data tools (R: sf, terra; Python: geopandas).
- Familiarity with forestry datasets (FIA/TPO) or strong ability to learn quickly.
- Basic SQL and experience with GDAL/OGR or desktop GIS (ArcGIS/QGIS).
MPS does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status in any of its business activities including recruiting and selection. We are committed to providing a diverse, inclusive and welcoming environment for employees, volunteers, subcontractors, vendors, and clients.