Data Analyst Intern, Alternative Data (Rolling)

Did you know that lobbyists in the United States successfully influenced the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to label all imported catfish from Vietnam as “Swi,” effectively creating a new species of fish identical to catfish.

In 2020, the camera company Kodak lobbied the White House for a government loan to produce COVID emergency supplies, and actually got a loan two weeks later of $700 million (the news of the loan also sent their stock price from $2 to $32). General Motors also teased the new crab-walking electric hummer in a lobbying report weeks before they made a public announcement.

On a daily basis, hundreds of companies are lobbying the government to secure massive loans, to persuade the government to rewrite laws to benefit their company plans, and to fight for government contracts. However, info on lobbying activity is incredibly difficult to access and understand.

LobbyingData.com is a startup data provider in the alternative data industry, offering the first and only intuitive data source from American lobbying. With more than 1.6 million lobbying contracts in our database, LobbyingData.com has captured and tracked the entire history of recorded American lobbying from 1999 - present, adding transparency to an industry that has been deliberately shrouded in convolution and secrecy making access to the information nearly impossible for the public, until now.

We are looking for a fully remote summer 2023 data analyst to join our team starting June 2023 and focus on exploring our lobbying database, shedding a light on corporate lobbying activities, linking lobbying activity to market movements and news, and design models, metrics, reports and dashboards that will be used to help our customers better understand the lobbying industry, and how they along with the general public could gain valuable insight from American lobbying.

Specific Responsibilities Include:

• Work with business owners and stakeholders to formulate hypotheses and help drive smarter decisions to deliver better products and features.
• Based on customer feedback on products, generate interesting research questions and answer them with data.
• Design and develop models, metrics, reports, and data visualizations to help our customers better understand the lobbying industry.
• Merge in external data sources like Stock Market data to create public-facing research reports on different companies that have lobbied the government.
• Build automated Social Media Bots to autonomously post about interesting lobbying contracts.

Required Qualifications

• Currently pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree with technical exposure to data analysis
• Python (Pandas, Numpy, Requests)
• SQL (Working knowledge required)
• Some Familiarity with APIs
• A passion for exposing money in American politics

LobbyingData.com is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

NOTE: This is an unpaid internship, but we offer college credit. Please check with your academic advisor to ensure this internship meets your college/university's guidelines for credit.

Interested candidates should send their resume, and a very brief cover letter detailing their interest in joining the team, and availability to [email protected]. We look forward to reviewing your application.