CV
Contact Information
| Name | Jay Ballesteros |
| Professional Title | MPP Candidate, University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy |
| jballesteros@uchicago.edu | |
| Location | Chicago, IL |
Professional Summary
Data analyst and policy researcher working at the intersection of causal inference, technology governance, and development policy.
Experience
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2026 - 2026 Chicago, IL
Data Scientist Intern
Exalt Data
- Validated the platform’s soft-tag classification system across 3.2M voter records against independent ground-truth data, correcting false positives to improve accuracy of a core analytical product layer
- Ran hypothesis testing and variance analysis to measure classification performance and surface miscalibrations
- Documented methodology, findings, and recommendations for the leadership team
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2025 - 2025 Mexico City, Mexico
Senior Operations Analyst
DiDi Global Inc.
- Directed marketplace operations across three Mexican cities, overseeing a combined annual GMV of MXN 3.7B and a weekly incentives portfolio averaging MXN 4M
- Created and executed randomized and quasi-experimental tests (A/B testing) to evaluate supply-demand balancing tactics on trips, fulfillment rates, user satisfaction, and other KPIs
- Built performance dashboards and automated reporting pipelines using Python, SQL, and Looker Studio; produced weekly analytical briefs for senior leadership with experiment results and action plans
- Partnered with regional and central teams (pricing, marketing, strategy, CX) to scale successful pilots and adapt evidence-based practices across markets
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2025 - 2025 Mexico City, Mexico
Strategy Analyst
Soy+ (soymas.la)
- Aligned technology, commercial, and communications teams by translating requirements into actionable data-collection and analysis tools
- Built automated Looker Studio dashboards connected via APIs to real-time databases to track conversion rates and weekly performance
- Unified Mailchimp, Meta API, Supabase, and Vercel data into structured datasets for campaign evaluation, user segmentation, and behavior analysis
- Collaborated in the development of the backend of internal tools to ensure interoperability between systems and traceability of data used in strategic reports
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2021 - 2025 Mexico City, Mexico
Senior Analyst
C230 Consulting and Fundación IDEA
- Delivered eight projects across security and justice reform, monitoring and evaluation, interinstitutional coordination, process optimization, and market analysis for clients including the U.S. Department of State, SANOFI, and USAID–Chemonics
- Developed institutional-strengthening toolkits for State Attorney General Offices, leading process mapping and stakeholder engagement to improve investigative outcomes
- Created data-collection instruments for more than 80 private-sector stakeholders in Honduras and El Salvador to inform the AMEXCID Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro project
- Designed continuous improvement tools for investigative police training programs, integrating quantitative and qualitative methods to strengthen law enforcement capacity and ensure data-driven decision-making
- Authored comprehensive analyses of the Impulso Nuevo León 2022 Loan Guarantee Program, measuring pre- and post-treatment data to evaluate changes in beneficiaries’ sales and employment levels
- Conducted an in-depth study on the quality of life of individuals with Atopic Dermatitis (AD) for SANOFI, utilizing interviews, surveys, and advanced data analytics to produce evidence-based recommendations for national health institutions
- Advised on best practices in agriculture, youth workforce development, and migration across El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, identifying enabling conditions and essential criteria for replicable initiatives
- Built measurement frameworks to systematically monitor recidivism in civic and criminal justice systems, empowering municipalities to track progress and improve outcomes in alternative dispute resolution mechanisms
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2020 - 2021 Colima, Mexico
Founder and Data Analyst
DataCol
- Led a government-funded analytics initiative for real-time COVID-19 monitoring in Colima, building time-series visuals for infection and testing
- Analyzed Google mobility datasets to inform public health strategies; delivered Python tools to the State Secretary of Health for cabinet briefings
- Assessed Facebook political advertising during the 2021 state elections, providing insights on reach, audience, and engagement
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2018 - 2021 Mexico City, Mexico
Consultant
International Republican Institute
- Coordinated the Security with Justice Program in five states with government, civil society, academia, and the private sector to promote ADR mechanisms
- Facilitated 30+ workshops on Restorative Justice and ADR, training 1,100+ participants at awareness and technical levels
- Collected, analyzed, and reported open data on alternative justice across 15 states, identifying best practices and improvement areas
- Managed Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) indicators in DevResults and Tableau, integrating real-time insights into program planning and stakeholder reporting
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2016 - 2018 Colima, Mexico
Competitiveness Manager
Coparmex
- Directed capacity-building programs on business administration, productivity, tax reforms, and labor rights for affiliated companies
- Produced research on security, justice, and economic trends to guide strategic decision-making for members and stakeholders
Education
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2025 - 2027 Chicago, IL
Master of Public Policy (MPP)
University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy
Data Analytics, Finance, and International Policy and Development
- Fellow, Existential Risk Laboratory (XLab)
- Felow, Mercatus Center (George Mason University)
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2012 - 2016 Colima, Mexico
International Relations
Universidad de Colima, Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales
Data Analytics, Finance, and International Policy and Development
Publications
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2026 Slowing the Race Toward AGI: International Coordination and Domestic Measures to Reduce Catastrophic Risk
Existential Risk Laboratory (XLab), University of Chicago
Policy brief framing AI safety as a collective-action problem, and proposing international coordination and domestic measures to reduce catastrophic risk.
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2024 Atopic Dermatitis: Beyond the Skin. Impact on Quality of Life in México
Fundación IDEA
Co-authored report examining the physical, psychological, social, and economic impact of atopic dermatitis in Mexico.