Position Summary
The Research Software Developer is focused on software development for modeling tax policy and the economy on Tax Foundation’s federal policy team. With a background in economics and public policy, the role will help drive the development, maintenance, and use of our Taxes and Growth model (TAG), as well as our other technical projects. TAG is a general equilibrium model used to simulate the effects of tax policies on the economy and on government revenues and budgets.
The position will play a central role in strengthening the technical infrastructure behind Tax Foundation’s federal tax policy analysis. This position combines software engineering, economic modeling, and public policy research to support the continued development of the Taxes and Growth model and related analytical tools. The role is ideal for someone who enjoys building reliable, well-tested software while working closely with economists and policy experts on real-world questions about tax policy, economic growth, federal revenues, and government budgets.
The Research Software Developer will also help improve the team’s technical workflows, including Python APIs, data pipelines, performance optimization, version control, continuous integration and deployment, and responsible use of artificial intelligence tools. The position requires strong collaboration with economists and developers, an ability to troubleshoot technical issues, and a commitment to producing high-quality code and documentation that make the team’s modeling work more accurate, efficient, transparent, and scalable.
Reporting
This position reports to the Director of Policy Analysis. Project priorities and assignments may also be guided by the Director of Model Development and the Vice President of Federal Tax Policy.
Essential Functions
· Develop deep expertise in the TAG model and work with economists to add tax-policy modeling functionality.
· Oversee continuous development and usage of Python APIs in TAG: maintain quality of codebase, train economists/developers, review code.
· Assist economists with troubleshooting model runs and addressing related technical needs.
· Design and implement well-tested data pipelines.
· Maintain and improve continuous-integration-continuous-delivery (CICD) pipelines such as GitHub Actions.
· Conduct performance analysis and enact optimizations.
· Prudently use artificial intelligence tools to advance the team’s model development work, including feature generation, debugging, quality assurance, optimization and model simulation.
· Manage other technical projects as needed by the Federal Policy team.
Minimum Education, Experience or Qualifications
· Bachelor’s degree in economics, public policy, data science, or another quantitative discipline.
· At least one year of experience using Python, including solid knowledge of the standard library.
· Experience with data science libraries such as pandas and NumPy.
· Experience using version control, especially Git, and comfort with bash scripting.
· Experience collaborating with data-driven teams.
Additional Qualifications Preferred but Not Required
· Experience researching and writing about public policy.
· Experience working with and analyzing large datasets, including data from sources such as BEA and IRS.
· Experience building large-scale models.
· Experience with tax revenue estimation.
· Experience with software development tools and technologies such as CI/CD, Travis, GitHub Actions, AWS, Docker, Pipenv, Flask, or React.
· Experience effectively applying artificial intelligence tools in software development or modeling work.
Supervisory Responsibility
This position has no immediate supervisory responsibilities but may grow to include supervision of personnel and projects related to model development.
Position Type and Expected Hours of Work
This is a full-time position. Regular work hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Some travel and extended hours may be required.
Travel
This position may involve occasional travel for organizational meetings and events.