Associate Research Scientist

College Board

1d•$80,000 - $135,000•Remote

About The Position

The Associate Research Scientist works with the College Access and Readiness Research Team, the larger Research team, product owners, and field staff to answer research and data-analysis questions that advance the College Board’s mission and sustain and grow the Advanced Placement Program. The role contributes to the broader research agenda, with a primary focus on research that helps invite more students into AP. A central focus is building and maintaining an evidence base on high school course taking. This includes collecting, cleaning, and organizing student transcript data from K–12 districts and partners; creating dashboards that make the data useful to stakeholders; and synthesizing findings into published reports about advanced course taking and longer-term student outcomes. The role also conducts customized research for individual districts, tailoring analyses and deliverables to their questions. The Associate Research Scientist works iteratively with stakeholders to produce research findings, dashboards, visualizations, and other deliverables, and communicates results to varied audiences. The position is fully remote. Candidates who live near College Board offices may instead choose a hybrid schedule with in-office work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The role may require travel up to 6–8 times a year.

Requirements

Ph.D. or Ed.D. in Education, Psychology, Educational Measurement, Economics, Sociology, Public Policy, or a related quantitative field.
Excellent data coding, manipulation, and analysis skills, with a strong foundation in research methodology and advanced statistical techniques.
Experience collecting, cleaning, and organizing large, messy, real-world datasets, such as student transcript or administrative K–12 data, from multiple external sources.
Experience building dashboards or data-visualization tools for varied audiences.
Experience with large, national datasets related to the education industry and ability to work accurately and quickly with new datasets.
Strong problem-solving skills, including using data to inform decisions and actions.
Adaptability and willingness to shift approach as work, data sources, and organizational priorities evolve.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including presenting to technical and non-technical audiences and authoring reports for publication.
Strong organization and prioritization skills, with the ability to advance multiple projects simultaneously, independently and as part of a team.
Interest in team collaboration and agile work with researchers and non-researchers to support organizational priorities.
Ability to travel up to 6–8 times a year.
Passion for expanding educational and career opportunities and for mission-driven work.
Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, willingness to experiment with and adopt AI-driven solutions, and comfort independently learning and applying new digital tools.
Clear and concise written and verbal communication skills.
Learner’s mindset and commitment to growth, including welcoming diverse perspectives, giving and receiving timely, respectful feedback, and improving through iterative learning and user input.
Drive for impact and excellence, including solving complex problems, making data-informed decisions, prioritizing important work, and improving through learning, user input, and external benchmarking.
Collaborative and empathetic approach, including working across differences, fostering trust, and contributing to shared success.
Authorization to work in the United States.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with program partners, product owners, and field staff to identify research needs and propose studies supporting student success, particularly research on advanced high school course taking and longer-term outcomes.
Design and conduct customized research for individual districts, tailoring questions, analyses, and deliverables to their needs.
Present findings to district leaders and internal partners, respond to questions, and identify follow-up research.
Synthesize findings into reports, memos, and visuals with clear talking points for technical and non-technical audiences.
Disseminate findings through presentations, College Board Research Reports, peer-reviewed journals, and other formats.
Acquire, clean, and organize student transcript data from K–12 districts and other partners, creating repeatable processes for new and varied data sources.
Design and maintain data pipelines that merge transcript data with other institutional and outcomes datasets.
Establish data quality checks and documentation practices to keep datasets reliable and usable across projects.
Design, build, maintain, and iterate on dashboards that surface trends in advanced high school course taking and related outcomes, incorporating stakeholder feedback and evolving data availability.
Lead analyses of educational datasets using advanced statistical methods to answer questions about course taking and outcomes.
Respond rapidly to data-analysis questions that advance the College Board’s mission.
Collaborate with other research scientists on the College Access and Readiness Research team to review and improve the team’s work.