• Type: Full-time

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

• Starting salary: $91,000 - $106,000 per year, plus benefits. We use a defined rubric to determine placement in the salary band to reflect differences in educational attainment and experience.

• Based in New York or DC. 

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 a Senior Advisor 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.

We are looking for someone who can successfully manage the following:

• Leading and managing a multi-project workstream pertaining to labor and unemployment issues, e.g. leading multiple project teams; overseeing the development and delivery of project deliverables; applying concepts from behavioral science to the design of policies, communications, processes, and programs; overseeing the design and implementation of field experiments; leading work plan development and coordination across multiple workstreams; ensuring project teams are coming in on time and on budget per the project parameters, contracting, and defined scope of work. 

• Research and analysis on behavioral science and/or government labor issues, e.g. leading and organizing field research and desk research; overseeing statistical analysis and the synthesis of findings; an ability to analyze complex policy issues pertaining to labor and unemployment insurance with an eye towards driving process improvements and efficiencies, and understanding how behavioral science could improve state and federal government operations. 

• Written and oral communication, e.g. writing final reports; presenting findings to senior decision-makers; leading client workshops.

• Leading and managing people, e.g. assuming project and line management responsibilities over junior and mid-level staff; contributing to the establishment and effective management of BIT’s State and Federal government labor projects.

• Client and stakeholder management, e.g. understanding multiple client and stakeholder priorities, cultivating relationships, managing issues, and contributing to and leading client meetings.

• Developing new projects, e.g. identifying opportunities and developing proposals for new projects in BIT’s State and Federal Government labor portfolio, with a particular eye towards significant social impact.

• Experience with or demonstrated interest in the US unemployment insurance system.

What makes for a great Senior 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.

• Work habits and team management. You can manage your own time and that of your colleagues to produce high-quality work within a defined timeline and budget. You can lead and coordinate across multiple teams simultaneously to ensure your colleagues complete deliverables to a high standard. 

• Scoping projects and defining success. You are able to identify key outcomes and intervention areas by quickly spotting where government efficiencies and behavioral science could improve operations. You can clearly articulate and frame policy and operational challenges and how your team’s solutions can further a client’s objectives.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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 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 Behavioral Insights Team will be passed on to The Behavioral 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.