A consortium of researchers dedicated to improving the understanding of the human causes and consequences of terrorism

Job Posting: Data Collection Manager

Position Announcement:

Global Terrorism Database (GTD) Collection Manager

The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is now hiring a faculty research assistant to work at START's headquarters at the University of Maryland, College Park. This is a full-time position, with an initial term of 12 months (starting in August/September 2012), contingent on funding.

Responsibilities:

The Collection Manager is responsible for coordinating resources and efforts related to the ongoing collection of terrorism event data for the GTD. The GTD consists of unclassified data on nearly 100,000 terrorist attacks that have occurred worldwide since 1970. It supports a wide range of users, including government, academia, media, and the general public. Tasks for this position include:

  • Managing a team of research assistants, graduate students, and interns tasked with data collection and coding
  • Establishing expertise on GTD data collection practices and serving as a resource to support data collection staff as well as end-users of the database
  • Routine quality control assessments of collected data
  • Development/revision of data collection strategies as needed
  • Training new team members as needed

Required Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's degree in discipline related to terrorism and political violence
  • 2+ years systematic data collection experience
  • 2+ years project/team management experience
  • Training in statistics and research methods
  • Strong proficiency with MS Excel and statistical software (e.g. SAS, Stata, SPSS, etc.)

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Master's degree in discipline related to terrorism and political violence
  • Research experience related to terrorism and political violence

The annual salary for this position will be in the range of $45,000 to $50,000 (depending on education and experience), plus full University of Maryland benefits (as explained here). The person selected for this position will work on site at START's headquarters on campus at the University of Maryland, College Park, and will report directly to the GTD Project Manager.

Qualified applicants should submit a cover letter and resum? via email (with subject line "GTD Collection Manager") to gtd@start.umd.edu. Please include contact information for two professional references.

Applicants will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Candidates are encouraged to apply by June 1, 2012 for best consideration.

Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. The University of Maryland is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer.