Data Analyst

Who We Are

Unruled Masses (UM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public-interest intelligence organization focused on exposing corruption, abuse of power, and systemic exploitation — while helping communities peacefully reclaim agency, accountability, and civic life. We are looking for people who wish to stand up for the cause of democracy.

We combine rigorous intelligence tradecraft with public-facing analysis, community education, and real-world civic action. Our work is published globally through reports, newsletters, social media, and webcasts. But our mission goes beyond exposure: we aim to help people reconnect, organize, and act together — grounded in facts, not fear.

We serve as a support network for those suffering under captured institutions and markets focused on extraction rather than the delivery of public value.

Who You Are

You are a highly motivated and independent volunteer seeking to apply data expertise — qualitative and technical — to real-world corruption intelligence. You understand that behind every data point is a story of systemic abuse, and you are disciplined in ensuring that information is processed with the highest level of accuracy and ethical integrity.

You may come from a background in social and behavioral sciences, human factors engineering, or data science. You are comfortable working with unstructured, large-scale datasets and enjoy the challenge of building standards for qualitative analysis from the ground up — and you're just as interested in how that data gets modeled, stored, and ultimately turned into something people can see and understand as you are in the coding and analysis itself.

Most importantly, you believe that credible, validated data is the essential “fuel” for nonviolent civic pressure and democratic renewal.

What You'll Do

As a Data Analyst (Qualitative, Intelligence & Visualization), you will help build the data backbone of UM's corruption intelligence work — from the models and schemas that structure it, to the database it lives in, to the visualizations that make it usable. Specifically, you will:

• Data Modeling: Help design and refine the data models and schemas that structure our corruption intelligence database — the taxonomy of abuse types and the record structure behind every catalogued incident.
• Data Management & Processing: Engage in data management and processing planning for large multi-source datasets within our corruption research library.
• Data Entry & Quality Control: Perform data entry and execute rigorous quality control measures to ensure intelligence meets global standards of legitimacy.
• Data Ingestion: Help move validated, processed entries into our production database, ensuring records are complete, consistent, and analysis-ready.
• Standards & Protocols: Engage in the development of standards, protocols, and schemas for data processing and thematic mapping.
• Visualization & Insights: Collaborate on the data visualization tools that turn database records into public-facing insights — surfacing patterns, networks, and trends in how corruption occurs.
• Strategic Direction: Shape the future direction of UM datasets by identifying additional data sources and refining analysis methods.
• Geolocation & Categorization: Process data relating to corruption intelligence to help geolocate, categorize, and index real-world abuses of power.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Collaborate with our team of intelligence officers, legal experts, and human rights strategists to ensure data is “narrative-ready” for public consumption.

Exceptional Volunteers May

• Lead the development of Inter-Rater Reliability (IRR) protocols to ensure analytical consistency across the volunteer team
• Help shape UM's long-term data strategy and technical platform architecture, including the public-facing corruption intelligence visualization platform
• Automate data pre-processing workflows using R or Python
• Mentor newer data volunteers on qualitative coding and intelligence standards

Ideal Qualifications

• Experience: Background in social/behavioral sciences, human factors engineering, or data science.
• Methodology: Highly experienced in collection and processing of qualitative data (thematic mapping, discourse analysis) and mixed-methods approaches.
• Data Architecture: Comfortable thinking through relational data models and schemas — structured fields for entities, dates, locations, severity, and sourcing.
• Technical: Experience with Inter-Rater Reliability (IRR) measures.
• Databases: Familiarity with SQL or relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL) for data ingestion and management is a strong plus.
• Visualization: Experience with data visualization tools or libraries (e.g., Tableau, Python/R visualization libraries, D3, Leaflet/Mapbox) is a strong plus.
• Would Be Nice: Proficiency in R (preferred)/RStudio or Python for data management and pre-processing.
• Technical Skills: Familiarity with working with APIs, developing coding protocols, and web scraping.
• Values: Demonstrated interest in accountability, civil rights, and nonviolent civic action.

Compensation & Commitment

This is an unpaid volunteer role. We are flexible on time commitments.

Benefits of Volunteering with Unruled Masses

• Build the Platform: Shape the data models, ingestion pipeline, and visualization tools for a flagship intelligence initiative.
• Skill Advancement: Enhance skills in methods for processing unstructured qualitative data while improving technical skills like data modeling, web scraping, API integration, and visualization.
• Intellectual Community: Engage in group discussions and brainstorming with a diverse team of military, intelligence, and human rights professionals.
• Real-World Impact: See your work directly support public research and the Action Playbook, turning raw data into tools for community mobilization.
• Founding Team: Be a part of building the permanent infrastructure for nonviolent civic strength from the ground up.