Staff Behavioral Scientist

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Staff Behavioral Scientist based in the United States.

This is a ground-floor opportunity to shape the scientific foundations of an innovative new product at the intersection of behavioral science, workplace psychology, and technology. As Staff Behavioral Scientist, you will own the scientific integrity of a new venture, ensuring its assessments, insights, and claims are rigorous, credible, and supported by evidence. You will apply industrial-organizational psychology to product development, research, and market positioning while helping validate solutions in real organizational environments. Working within a lean, startup-style team, you will collaborate closely with product, engineering, and go-to-market leaders. This role offers significant influence over the research agenda, product roadmap, and scientific standards of an emerging offering. It is ideal for an experienced scientist who combines deep psychometric expertise with a practical, entrepreneurial mindset and enthusiasm for AI-enabled innovation.

Accountabilities

You will establish and maintain the scientific foundation of the new venture, ensuring that its products and market claims meet rigorous standards of validity, reliability, and credibility.

• Apply industrial-organizational psychology principles, including assessment science, team dynamics, leadership, employee engagement, and job fit, to product, research, and positioning decisions.

• Design and validate new psychometric instruments, measurement scales, and scoring models required by the product.

• Ensure that all new assessments and methodologies meet rigorous scientific standards consistent with established assessment practices.

• Conduct applied research with pilot customers, including criterion and construct validation, efficacy studies, and norm development.

• Evaluate whether the product delivers measurable workplace outcomes and generate evidence to support its effectiveness.

• Translate peer-reviewed research in industrial-organizational psychology and organizational behavior into practical product features, user experiences, and go-to-market messaging.

• Communicate complex scientific concepts in accessible language that product teams can implement and HR and business leaders can trust.

• Own the scientific defensibility of product claims and develop supporting documentation, including technical manuals, validity evidence, and white papers.

• Collaborate with product, engineering, and go-to-market teams to shape the venture's research priorities, product roadmap, and market strategy.

• Contribute beyond traditional scientific responsibilities in a fast-moving environment, helping the team explore, build, and validate a new market.

Requirements

The ideal candidate combines advanced behavioral science expertise with hands-on experience developing and validating assessments in practical business environments. You should be comfortable building from the ground up, working across disciplines, and using emerging technologies to improve the quality and speed of your work.

• PhD or equivalent applied experience in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Organizational Behavior, Psychometrics, or a closely related discipline.

• Approximately 8–10 years of relevant professional experience, ideally in an early-stage company or developing a product that has not yet achieved product-market fit.

• Deep practical expertise in psychometric development, including scale construction, Item Response Theory (IRT) or Classical Test Theory (CTT), validation design, and norm development.

• Demonstrated experience conducting applied validation research in real organizational settings, beyond academic laboratory environments.

• Strong understanding of assessment science, workplace behavior, organizational psychology, and evidence-based measurement.

• Ability to translate rigorous scientific findings into actionable guidance for product development and clear messaging for business buyers.

• Confidence operating in an evolving environment where research priorities, product direction, and go-to-market strategy are still being defined.

• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively alongside product, engineering, and commercial teams.

• A proactive, builder-oriented mindset and willingness to take ownership beyond the boundaries of a traditional job description.

• Enthusiasm for AI and a commitment to integrating modern AI tools into everyday work to strengthen analysis, accelerate execution, and extend team capabilities.

Benefits

• Flexible work arrangements, with the option to work remotely anywhere in the United States, from the Massachusetts headquarters, or through a hybrid arrangement.

• Opportunity to join a small, dedicated team of approximately 13 people operating with the autonomy and pace of an early-stage startup.

• Ground-floor ownership of a new venture, with meaningful influence over its scientific direction, product development, and market positioning.

• Direct collaboration with venture leadership and cross-functional product, engineering, and go-to-market teams.

• Access to AI tools and ongoing training to support effective use of emerging technologies.

• Opportunity to contribute to an established behavioral science legacy while helping develop a new product and market.

• Inclusive and collaborative working environment that values teamwork, honesty, reliability, energy, action, drive, and focus.

• Equal opportunity workplace committed to welcoming people from diverse backgrounds and experiences.

How Jobgether works: We use an AI-powered matching process to ensure your application is reviewed quickly, objectively, and fairly against the role's core requirements. Our system identifies the top-fitting candidates, and this shortlist is then shared directly with the hiring company. The final decision and next steps (interviews, assessments) are managed by their internal team. We appreciate your interest and wish you the best!  Why Apply Through Jobgether?    Data Privacy Notice: By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Jobgether will process your personal data to evaluate your candidacy and share relevant information with the hiring employer. This processing is based on legitimate interest and pre-contractual measures under applicable data protection laws (including GDPR). You may exercise your rights (access, rectification, erasure, objection) at any time.     #LI-CL1