Research Scientist

About Morning Consult: Morning Consult is a global decision intelligence company changing how modern leaders make smarter, faster, better decisions. The company pairs its proprietary high-frequency data with rigorous analysis to better inform decisions on what people think and how they will act.

This role will be based in our Washington, DC office.

The Role: Morning Consult is looking for a quantitative social scientist to help drive methodological advancements related to online survey data collection and analyses. This role will join the Research Science team in developing best practices related to questionnaire design, sample collection and weighting methods using rigorous empirical strategies. Further, this role may also require serving as a methodological consultant for both internal and external stakeholders.

This role necessitates a fluent understanding of survey statistics, strong programming skills (R preferred), online market research and the ability to strike the right balance between methodological rigor and speed. Ideal candidates will demonstrate the ability to think holistically about the interaction between data, product and customer impact. Given the wide-ranging impact of this role, successful candidates will demonstrate a wide array of research interests and the ability to work collaboratively with peers in data operations, product, software engineering and account management.

Those in this role will work closely with leadership to shape not only the direction of new and existing data and products, but also Morning Consult’s competitive strategy as a whole. Research Scientists will have the unique opportunity to affect change at scale — as one of the leaders in the market research industry, Morning Consult will collect more than 13 million survey responses across 40+ countries over the next year.

The Research Science Team at Morning Consult: The Research Science team is part of the Strategy Division at Morning Consult. We are a team of survey experts focused on developing industry-leading practices for research methodology, sample quality and survey design through primary research and experimentation. We consult with internal and external stakeholders to develop complex research designs, build sampling and weighting strategies and oversee Morning Consult's data collection for its flagship daily tracking operation in 43 countries.

What You’ll Be Working On:

• Leading data collection design and processes for new and existing data products, including designing questionnaires, conceptualizing and executing tests, revising survey weights and improving data quality
• Continuously generating ideas and building tools to improve data collection quality and streamline processes
• Serving as subject matter expert and resource on methodology to both internal teams and external customers
• Utilizing statistical techniques such as regression analysis and machine learning to develop and improve models

About You and What You’ve Done:

• Master’s or PhD degree in survey methodology, political science, statistics, economics or a related field (PhD preferred)
• 4+ years of experience in data science or research and 2+ years of professional experience in a business or non-academic setting
• Expert-level proficiency with R statistical software for analysis, reporting and visualization
• Significant experience with online survey research, including but not limited to working with online survey panels, conducting and analyzing survey experiments and working with online weighting methodologies
• Comfort working in a high-growth, fast-paced startup environment
• Low ego, consummate team player; comfortable working across departments and job levels
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to translate data into digestible and actionable insights and adapt messaging based on the audience
• Familiarity with the following a plus: SQL, Qualtrics, JavaScript, Amazon Web Services, Python, Computational Social Science, Machine Learning, GitHub
• Willing to take feedback, learn and grow; an ethos of continuous self-improvement