Research Assistant

Company Description

J.S. Held is a global consulting firm that combines technical, scientific, financial, and strategic expertise to advise clients seeking to realize value and mitigate risk. Our professionals serve as trusted advisors to organizations facing high stakes matters demanding urgent attention, staunch integrity, proven experience, clear-cut analysis, and an understanding of both tangible and intangible assets.

The firm provides a comprehensive suite of services, products, and data that enable clients to navigate complex, contentious, and often catastrophic situations.

Job Description

This is a unique opportunity for an entrepreneurial, highly driven person with a well-rounded skill set to join the Human Factors team, whose responsibilities extend beyond those of traditional Human Factors professionals.  The ideal person for this role will need to have not only a strong grasp of, and experience with, UX research, but also be flexible and a strategic thinker able to take on a variety of tasks, including project management and client lead development.  You should be able to perform these tasks somewhat autonomously and with little need for guidance. 

The Human Factors team performs a variety of studies related to product use-related health, safety, usability, and user experience, by bringing to bear methodologies from basic science, such as eye tracking, physiological data recording, or motion capture.  You will help in operationalizing client needs as empirical research questions, designing bespoke studies around those research questions, collecting data from participants using a wealth of custom-tailored methodologies, analyzing data in creative ways, and translating the results back into actionable outcomes for our clients.  Because of the centrality of successful human-machine interaction to the safety of users and other stakeholders, your work may also entail working up litigation matters related to alleged product defects and, eventually, testifying as an expert witness.  As a consultant, your experiences will be as varied and diverse as the products and services out there, possibly spanning automotive, medical, pharma, consumer electronics, appliances, heavy machinery, child products, and extended reality products. 

• This role will entail study design, execution, data analysis, and report preparation.
• It will require managing multiple concurrent projects.
• It will entail client-facing activities, such as client management and business development.
• You may also eventually serve as a testifying expert in litigation.
• A successful candidate is one who has tenacity, endurance, perseverance, and determination, as well as creativity, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship, and who exhibits a high degree of autonomy and ownership.

Please submit an academic CV, rather than a resume, unless you are a candidate with industry experience.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Experimental, Developmental, Perceptual, or Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science, or a related basic scientific psychology field preferred.
• A minimum of two to four years of experience in industry and with managing client projects.
• Alternatively, Master’s Degree in Experimental, Developmental, Perceptual, or Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science, or Human Factors, plus minimum of ten years experience in industry.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Entrepreneurial drive and passion to succeed.
• Proven track record of ownership of empirical research, from study inception to study design and execution to data analysis and interpretation.
• Excellent inferential statistics and data analytic skills.
• Possible interest in potential litigation support and/or forensic work.

Physical and Mental Job Qualifications

• Ability to travel as needed, depending on project assignments.
• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.

Additional Information

Some of the Benefits We Have Include

J.S. Held understands all our employees are people and sometimes life needs flexibility.  We work to always provide an environment that best supports and suits our team’s needs.

• Our flexible work environment allows employees to work remotely, when needed
• Flexible Time Off policy
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• 401k Match
• Commuter Benefit

A reasonable estimate of the salary range for this role is $80,000 - $95,000 Any offered salary range is based on a wide array of factors including but not limited to skillset, experience, training, location, scope of role, management responsibility, etc.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities required of the employee for this job.  Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you have read the J.S. Held Online Privacy Notice and hereby freely and unambiguously give informed consent to the collection, processing, use, and storage of your personal information as required and described therein.  California residents can click here to learn more about the personal information we collect and here to learn about additional privacy rights that may be available.

Please explore what we’re all about at www.jsheld.com.

EEO and Job Accommodations

We embrace diversity and our commitment to building a team and environment that fosters professional and personal enrichment is unwavering.  We are greater when we are equal!

J.S. Held is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to hiring a diverse workforce.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request for a reasonable accommodation, please email jobs@jsheld.com and include “Applicant Accommodation” within the subject line with your request and contact information.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

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