• Type: Full-time

• Flexible working options include flexible start and finish times, work-from-home, and compressed hours 

• Starting salary (We use a defined rubric to determine placement in the salary band to reflect differences in educational attainment and experience.)

  • Associate Advisor: $57,000 - $65,500 per year, plus benefits

  • Advisor: $72,000 - $82,250 per year, plus benefits

• Based in New York or D.C.  

Are you looking for a new challenge and want to join a successful and growing organization dedicated to creating social impact? Do you have a passion for translating your knowledge of behavioral science and evaluation into pragmatic policy solutions, especially pertaining to US labor and unemployment insurance issues? If so, we want to hear from you.

What does an Advisor (A) or Associate Advisor (AA) do?

Key questions your work may answer are:

• How can a more nuanced and realistic model of human behavior help address critical challenges in the unemployment insurance space?

• What qualitative and quantitative methods can we use to design and rigorously evaluate the impact of new ideas inspired by behavioral science given the constraints of state or federal government partners? 

• How can we best build capacity among state and federal government partners to apply behavioral science and rigorous evaluation methods?

If you want to answer these questions, apply for this role.

Some of your typical daily tasks may include: 

• Research and analysis

  • Understand the labor policy context, especially around policy and operational analysis of unemployment insurance systems across state and federal government

  • Scan the evidence base for relevant behavioral science findings; assess quality of research supporting those findings

  • Design interventions based on that research and analysis

  • Develop the experimental design for randomized controlled trials

  • Investigate and respond to gaps, errors, and irregularities identified through field research or data analysis

  • Conduct randomizations, power calculations, descriptive and multiple regression analysis in Stata

  • Keep abreast of changing labor market conditions and policies affecting multiple states and the federal government

• Work planning and project management

  • Ability to work with a high degree of autonomy and project engagement

  • Deliver tasks on time, or proactively communicate around challenges to on-time delivery

  • Provide input on project planning and scoping

  • Work collectively across multiple project teams to deliver high-quality work

• Client management support

  • Comfort working on and participating in projects with multiple engagement partners

  • Schedule and participate in client meetings and phone calls

  • Support project team in maintaining a high level of responsiveness to client communications, e.g. by drafting email responses on tight deadlines

• Written and oral communication

  • Write clearly and concisely with appropriate style for the audience

  • Communicate behavioral science concepts clearly and concisely

  • Present to external partners on BIT projects and behavioral science concepts

• Strategic and operational support

  • Contribute to proposals and policy notes

  • Actively engage in relevant policy agendas by reading widely, attending conferences and events

Note: For all tasks, Associate Advisors receive close supervision, guidance, and support. As an AA develops in the role, they will be expected to take more ownership of specific tasks within the project development process. This is true as well for Advisors, though more experience with these types of tasks is expected upon starting the role.

What makes a great Advisor or Associate Advisor at BIT?

We are looking for people who understand what we do, share our values, and are keen to learn and develop their expertise. We are looking for candidates with the skills listed below. We expect to provide training and development support in some of the areas.

• Behavioral science. You can explain the implications of theoretical concepts such as defaults, loss aversion, and social norms.

• Public policy. You can see both sides of an argument, and you think about what makes some policies, programs, and services effective and others impractical.

• Experience in qualitative and quantitative research, leading to a solid understanding of ‘causality’ and statistical reasoning. You know that just because sales of sunglasses and ice creams increase at the same time, one does not cause the other. You can also describe how to run an evaluation to prove this and then run analysis on real-world data to reveal insights for the team and our partners.

• Clear and effective communications. You can explain complex topics in simple terms. You can lead a workshop or presentation and you write clearly and concisely.

• Managing and developing yourself at work. You demonstrate high self-awareness and regularly self-reflect. You are aware of the impact that your actions and words have on those around you. You are resilient and accept responsibility for decisions whether they achieve the desired outcome or not.

• Work habits and project management. You can manage your own time, and, where appropriate, that of your colleagues, to produce high-quality work within a defined timeline and budget.

• Supporting and developing others. You are supportive and energize people to perform at their best. You care about the success, development, and wellbeing of others and can have meaningful (and sometimes difficult!) conversations.

Who are we and what can we offer you?

The Behavioral Insights Team is the world leader in applying behavioral science to public policy challenges in order to strengthen communities and improve lives. 

We design and rigorously test new ideas across a range of areas such as health, crime, and education to help understand what works and what doesn’t. We have helped Tuberculosis patients take their medicine; reduced police susceptibility to cyberattacks; and helped organizations close their gender pay gap.

We are looking for a passionate and imaginative individual who understands behavioral science and shares our thirst for evidence-based solutions to join our team.

BIT really is a great place to work!

• The BIT team is kind, curious, and supportive. 

• We employ effective, tested tools and methodologies in our work. 

• We are committed to the quality and relevance of our applied research. 

• We encourage flexible working and have a culture that enables this; for example flexible start and finish times and an IT set up which allows for easy working from home options.

• We offer competitive salaries and good supplementary benefits, including: 

  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage or healthcare allowance per month;

  • 5% 401(K) match with no waiting period;

  • $104 cell phone stipend per month;

  • $1,200/year professional development reimbursement fund;

  • 15 vacation days with the option to purchase an additional 10 days at the beginning of each year;

  • 7 sick days;

  • 9 public holidays per year;

  • Life insurance;

  • Commuter benefits;

  • Flexible work arrangements;

  • Discretionary annual bonus (dependent on company performance); 

  • 12 weeks paid parental leave;

  • Weekly team lunches. 

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 interview where you get to meet some of the team. At the interview stage, you will be asked questions that reflect the role and also to complete a work-based task, so you have the chance to demonstrate your skills. It’s at this stage we first see your CV. We always give all applicants feedback, no matter what stage your application reaches.

Start your BIT journey here and apply now! We will be reviewing applications in batches on a rolling basis, so applying early will help your chances!

To learn more about what it's like working at BIT, check out this handy FAQ sheet and feel free to make suggestions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hjnb5VLlxjVoMrI-FiFJ9soEmo5A_OdpVP8D2JNggxo/edit#

The Behavioral Insights Team is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and is determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favorable treatment on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, physical or mental disability, or because an employee or applicant is a disabled veteran, recently separated veteran, other protected veteran, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

Please note:

You must hold the right to work in the United States. 

Some of the personal data you provide to Applied when you apply for a role with The Behavioural Insights Team will be passed on to The Behavioural Insights Team for the purposes of (a) reviewing your application; (b) inviting you for interview; and/or (c) offering you a job and getting you set up as an employee/contractor. For full details on how BIT collects and uses your personal data please visit our website - https://www.bi.team/bit-global-recruitment-privacy-notice/ 

If your application is not successful, any personal data provided to us by Applied (including any personal data relating to equal opportunities monitoring as set out above) will be retained by The Behavioural Insights Team for no longer than 6 months after the application deadline has passed (other than in exceptional circumstances where we may need to retain your personal data for longer), at which point your personal data will be securely deleted. We only keep your information for that period in order to allow us to comply with relevant legal obligations.