Are you looking for a new challenge and want to join a successful and growing organisation dedicated to creating social impact? Do you have a passion for public policy and behavioural science? If so, we want to hear from you.

About Us

The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) is a social purpose company that combines two approaches to improve people’s lives and communities. First, we use behavioural science (behavioural economics, social psychology) to design new policy ideas with our partners. Second, we run policy experiments, often using randomised controlled trials (RCTs), to determine the effectiveness of those ideas.

We believe that if you understand how people make decisions in the real world, you can design and deliver better policies and services. We work with government, NGO and private sector partners to design human-centred solutions that are creative, low-cost and scalable — and we robustly evaluate our recommendations to make sure they result in better outcomes. 

All our staff believe passionately in our company values: always prioritising social impact, empiricism and humility, fresh thinking and collaboration, and public service. As our team grows, we are looking for an Associate Research Advisor to join us. We provide a supportive environment, offering flexible working arrangements and other policies to ensure the wellbeing of everyone on the team.

About you

We’re searching for a dynamic researcher to support our projects in Singapore. This role is suited for a high-performing go-getter with a bachelor's degree or higher, who is at the early point of their career in public policy, research, and behaviour change and/or has 1-2 years of work experience. 

Our team comes from a variety of academic backgrounds, including economics, psychology, research methodology, neuroscience, anthropology, design, public policy and more. We also welcome candidates who may be taking non-traditional routes to behavioural science, such as those who have backgrounds in computer science, engineering, or the humanities. In general, we encourage candidates who have an interest in and understanding of what drives human behaviour to apply. 

What does an Associate Research Advisor at BIT do?

• Delivers and provides oversight on research projects, including; Designing randomised controlled trials, including implementation and communication plans;

• Qualitative research, such as developing & delivering interview guides, surveys and participant observation protocols;

• Data analysis, including data cleaning and statistical inference;

• Designs tools to help other members of the team conduct research;

• Manages and delivers projects in the Singapore team’s portfolio. This could include preparing policy papers, trial checklists, ideas notes, and literature reviews. You will work with either a Principal Advisor/ Senior Advisor in BIT to implement these projects;

• Listens to the objectives and requirements of the organisation seeking advice from BIT, identifying problems, and determining the appropriate research methodology with support from our specialist researchers and advising organisations based on these findings;

• Shares and communicates insights through activities such as running workshops with clients, and addressing seminars and conferences to present project findings.

Skills that make a great Associate Research Advisor at BIT?

Research & evaluation experience:

• Good theoretical and practical knowledge of experimental and quasi-experimental approaches;

• An understanding of different qualitative techniques;

• Experience in using large data sets (such as administrative data) for evaluation is ideal;

• Experience conducting original research in policy, economics, psychology, sociology or anthropology;

• A Bachelor, Masters or PhD in a relevant subject area (including, but not limited to: economics, psychology, statistics, anthropology, sociology, public health, design thinking, research methods); and,

• Experience conducting quantitative or qualitative research, including surveys, interviews; participant-observation and desktop research.

Behavioural science expertise:

• Interest in behavioural science and how it can be applied to help solve complex real-life policy problems;

• Interest in designing and delivering projects across a broad range of policy areas;

Stakeholder & Project Management :

• Excellent written and verbal communication for a wide range of audiences (e.g. will be able to translate academic work to non-academic audiences);

• Oversee small projects/ contracts including managing timelines, deliverables, and client expectations;

• Prepare a range of materials, including trial checklists, ideas notes, literature reviews, journey and process maps, presentations and workshop materials;

• Write draft reports, policy papers and proposals 

How to apply

We use a great platform called Applied to reduce bias in the recruitment process. You will need to answer a few work-based questions which will be anonymously marked by members of our team. Our selection is based on performance in these questions, rather than looking at your CV. 

Candidates with the top-scoring answers will be invited to a structured assessment centre followed by an interview where you get to meet some of the team. At the interview stage, you will be asked questions that reflect the role, so you have the chance to demonstrate your skills. It’s at this stage we first see your CV. 

Key dates:

1. An online application and test (Role closes: Monday 2nd January 2023, at 11.59 pm SGT)

2. An Assessment Centre (1:1 interviews, group assessment, research analysis task and a  written assignment : (Week commencing 23rd January 2023)

Please note:

You will need to have the right to work in Singapore to be able to undertake this role. We will ask all applicants short-listed for an interview to provide evidence of their right to work during the recruitment process.