Policy analyst Jobs in Boston, MA

Salary : $74,300.00 - $89,301.00 Annually

Location : Transportation Building (10 Park Plaza, Boston 02116)

Job Type : Full-Time

Job Number : 25-21377

Department : MBTA - Office Perf Mgmt & Innov

Area : 502-OPMI

Opening Date : 11 / 21 / 2025

Closing Date : 12 / 5 / 2025 11 : 59 PM Eastern

Licenses / Certifications : None Required

Union Affiliation : Executive

Safety Sensitive : No; this is not a Safety Sensitive position.

On-Call or 24 / 7 : No; this position is not classified as on-call or 24 / 7.

Essential Classification (Emergency Staff) : No; this position is classified as non-essential (during declared States of Emergency).

At the MBTA, we envision a thriving region enabled by a best-in-class transit system. Our mission is to serve the public by providing safe, reliable, and accessible transportation. MBTA's Core Values are built around safety, service, equity, sustainability, and culture. Each employee that works for the MBTA performs their roles based on our vision, mission, and values. This includes attendance, participation, and contribution in local safety committee meetings as needed.

Job Summary

The Senior Policy Analyst at the Office of Performance Management and Innovation (OPMI) will be responsible for managing and creating OPMI's data products, as well as leading and creating technical solutions for reporting, research, and other processes for both MassDOT and the MBTA.

This role has primary responsibility for managing OPMI's data and technical projects that support a range of policy decisions related to strategic research and performance management and include both those specifically requested within the organization and those self-generated within OPMI. Projects may include maintaining and generating datasets for the MBTA Open Data Portal, writing scripts using R or Python to automate performance measure calculations, and assisting other teams in identifying, preparing, connecting to, or creating data sources to enable their work.

To meet these responsibilities, the Senior Policy Analyst will carry out projects involving data from all areas of transportation, including public transportation, active modes, and car-based modes, to support activities and decision-making by all divisions of MassDOT and the MBTA. Projects will include data assessment, collection, cleaning, and visualization; data management and QA / QC; qualitative and quantitative data analysis; and best practice research.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Manage projects involving data collection, cleaning, qualitative and / or quantitative data analysis.
• Design and implement programmatic solutions to access and visualize data, including retrieving data from APIs, cleaning large data files, and creating visualizations.
• Translate complex data findings into actionable policy recommendations for a variety of technical and non-technical stakeholders and business partners.
• Identify opportunities to enhance data reporting, collection, and analysis across MassDOT and the MBTA.
• Keep up to date and engaged in data and analytics topics in the transportation field as well as the primary transportation challenges in the agency.
• As part of a collaborative team, prioritize and manage data projects, including identifying data needs, conducting data collection, cleaning, and analysis, reporting results within and outside the organization, and using research results to inform practice.
• Work with various audiences (academic, practitioners, decision-makers, etc.) as appropriate to improve data sharing and management within MassDOT and the MBTA.
• Establish and maintain organized, efficient, and standardized processes for work intake, prioritization, resource allocation, quality control, and release of findings.
• Respond to data inquiries from customers, vendors, and internal partners.
• Assist with other duties in OPMI as needed, including providing support to Performance Management and Strategic Research verticals and cross-team projects.
• Perform all other duties and projects that may be assigned.

Supervision

Minimum Requirements & Qualifications

Substitutions Include

Preferred Experience and Skills

Job Conditions :

Disclaimers and Definitions :

Employment Benefits at the MBTA

Full-Time Employees :

The MBTA offers comprehensive benefits packages to full-time employees. Types of benefits offered at the MBTA are subject to the union affiliation / Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of the position to which you apply. Benefits that may apply to your position include the following :

Internships :

Internship positions are not eligible for most MBTA Benefits. However, paid sick time may be incurred. Each intern also receives a complimentary pass for travel on the MBTA transit system (bus, train, ferry, and Commuter Rail) to use throughout the duration of their internship. Please contact the assigned Recruiter directly or email internships@mbta.com for more information.

Disclaimer :

The above information is meant to be a general overview of the benefit programs offered by the MBTA, which may or may not apply to a specific position. This summary is not a contract andis not meant to change the provisions of union contracts or Authority policies and does not establish a binding practice. Please contact the assigned Recruiter directly or email hrstaffing@mbta.com for more information.

The MBTA is an Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer

01

Which of the following best describes your education and experience?

02

Please rate your experience with at least one approach to advance data analysis (e.g. GIS, SQL, Python, R, SPSS, or other).

03

Please rate your experience with MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

04

Are you proficient in data visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau)?

05

Will you now or in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g. H-1B visa status)?

Required Question