Job location: Charlottesville, VA

The Motivate Lab is looking for a Research Scientist who can begin immediately. This individual will be responsible for managing our various research projects, further developing our research practices, and collaborating on the communication of our research. This person will need to understand how research and development related to motivation and learning mindsets has the potential to transform policy and practice, particularly in education. This role is an exciting opportunity for a results-oriented, innovative professional to have a tremendous impact by ensuring Motivate Lab’s products are ultimately integrated into practice and that the quality of our research is of the highest quality.

About Motivate Lab:

The mission of the Motivate Lab is to improve people's lives through rigorous motivation research. Led by two professors at the University of Virginia, Motivate Lab's annual operating budget of over $2.2M is completely supported through external grants and contracts. Our current five-year strategic plan has ambitious goals of growing the size, scope, and impact of our work in education and beyond, including sports and workforce settings. The majority of work in our organization focuses on research and development activities that develop tools to infuse learning-mindset supportive practices into educational and policy contexts, with a particular focus on supporting students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds in higher education. We utilize our rigorous methods to design translational activities, including professional development, training, and dissemination, for both researchers and practitioners. We aim to change both the fields of practice and research through our innovative and agile methods of developing evidence-based practices.

Responsibilities:

• Project Management

  • Work with the Research Director to execute the lab’s portfolio of research projects, including randomized experiments and correlational designs. The expectation is that this person can autonomously manage projects, including:

    • Understand and organize the scope, goals, and procedures of all of our research projects.

    • Aligning decisions around data collection, staffing, and interactions with external stakeholders to accomplish project goals.

    • Coordinate the work of students and staff, including the data team.

  • Work with the Director of Operations to:

    • Coordinate the management and involvement of personnel across our projects.

    • Identify and improve research processes that span multiple projects.

    • Assure that all needs for our research projects are covered (e.g., participant pools, IRB).

    • Identify and build future partnerships with external stakeholders across a wide variety of sectors (e.g., NGOs, private foundations, higher education, K-12 education, etc.)

• Research Development

  • Supporting the ongoing skill development of Motivate Lab undergraduates and staff through training and supervising on research design and methods

  • Understand the current state of our research methodology across our projects and identify ways in which we can enhance our methods

  • Support in the design and implementation of mindset interventions (RCTs and quasi-experimental research projects)

  • Work with data team to identify which analyses are particularly important for us to conduct across projects

  • Work with the data team to read through analyses and make inferences from our data

  • Identify and propose promising areas for future research

• Communication of Our Research

  • Contribute to dissemination, including academic publications, research briefs, and practitioner-facing products

  • Present our findings to key stakeholders and fellow researchers through multiple avenues including, but not limited to, conference presentations, faculty workshops, keynote presentations, editorials, blog posts, etc.

  • Contribute to grant writing, as needed

This role may require additional responsibilities, as necessary.

Qualifications and Skills/Experiences:

• A Master's or terminal degree in Psychology, Public Policy, Education, Quantitative Methods, or related field; PhD preferred

• Basic knowledge of psychological constructs, including theories of motivation and intelligence.

• Highly effective interpersonal communication and writing skills (with both internal stakeholders and external partners and constituents).

• At least 5 years of relevant experience in a relevant, fast-paced professional setting (including a graduate research lab); past K-12 or higher education experience preferred.

• Strategic thinker with advanced problem-solving and large-scale project management skills to manage multiple simultaneous cross-organizational projects.

• Excellent organizational and management skills, managing multiple tasks and prioritizing appropriately, with an understanding of systems and procedures.

• Proficiency in analyzing, managing, and reporting complex quantitative and qualitative data.

• Fierce work ethic and sense of purpose, with the ability to work well as part of a dynamic team.

• Physical demands: This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling some distance to attend meetings, and programs.

Commitment to Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

Motivate Lab is committed to:

• Recruiting talented and diverse staff.

• Recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce and providing an inclusive and supportive environment in which staff and faculty are recognized as integral to the success of our work.

• Promoting a culture of integrity, mutual respect, excellence, collaboration and innovation.

Compensation:

Competitive salary is commensurate with individual’s experience and skills. All full-time employees receive a comprehensive benefits package.

Application:

Motivate Lab is an equal opportunity employer and encourages a diverse pool of candidates to apply. For questions about the position, please contact Alison Lubin, Motivate Lab Project Associate, and for questions about the application process please contact Bethany Case, Recruiter. Applicant review will begin October 5th, and new applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the posting will remain open until filled. This position will consider remote applicants. This role is restricted with a 1 year term limit, continuation is dependent upon the availability of funding, satisfactory performance, and the need for the role.

Please apply through Workday, and search for “Research Scientist". Complete an application online and attach:

• Cover letter addressing 1) previous experience with working on and managing multiple research projects, 2) previous experience working in teams and training/managing others (if relevant), and 3) how you intend to bring a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion to this role.

• CV/resume.

• Work sample (e.g. paper/publication, research brief, analysis report [feel free to redact, if necessary]).

Attach all materials into the resume submission field, multiple documents can be submitted into this one field. Alternatively, please combine all into one PDF. Internal applicants must apply through their UVA Workday profile by searching 'Find Jobs'. Applications missing materials will not be considered.

The University of Virginia, including the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physician’s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff. We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person's perspectives and lived experiences. We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.