Research Scientist, Demography and Survey Sciences

Job description

The Demography and Survey Science team's mission is to improve the way we make decisions and measure impact both within and outside of Meta. We collect and analyze rich survey and behavioral datasets to understand new challenges, solve problems, and shape decisions. We are looking for quantitative social scientists with experience answering complex research questions to join us in this effort. Our interdisciplinary team includes those with expertise in statistical inference, survey methodology, causal inference and econometrics, regression modeling, exploratory data analysis, and mathematical demography, among other areas.

In this role, you'll own research end-to-end. This means you'll navigate trade-offs while designing projects, proposing appropriate methodologies, analyzing data, and communicating results to broad audiences in order to drive impactful decisions. Qualified candidates may include social scientists, applied statisticians, or other applied researchers with expertise in quantitative research methods, experience working with large datasets and relational databases, and experience with survey methodology (e.g., bias correction, sampling).

We are looking for candidates who can demonstrate methodological rigor, demonstrated communication skills, and experience making research design choices that balance competing tradeoffs effectively.

Responsibilities

• Help shape the research agenda and drive research projects from end-to-end
• Collaborate with product teams to define relevant questions about survey methodology and quantitative measurement
• Deploy appropriate quantitative methodologies to answer those questions
• Develop novel approaches where traditional methods won’t do
• Provide teams with usable measurement strategies and methodologies to meet their product and business decision needs
• Deliver insights and recommendations clearly to relevant audiences

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in quantitative research, survey methodology, or a related field Bachelor's, Master's or Ph.D. in the social sciences (e.g., Economics, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, Communication), or in a quantitative field (e.g., Statistics, Informatics, Econometrics)
• Demonstrated experience in designing original research to address complex questions
• Demonstrated expertise in data manipulation and analysis software and programming languages (Python/R, SQL) Expertise and applied experience in measurement (e.g., survey design and analysis, experiment design, bias correction, measurement models, data collection, log data) and statistical inference (e.g., causal, Bayesian, machine learning) Experience initiating and driving research projects to completion with minimal guidance Experience communicating analyses and results to any audience, including executives
• Demonstrated experience in distilling and communicating research insights to influence the thinking, decision-making, and actions of diverse audiences
• Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize/redesign workflows and drive measurable impact (e.g., efficiency gains, quality improvements) Experience with qualitative methods such as focus groups, in-depth interviewing, cognitive testing Experience adhering to and implementing responsible, ethical AI practices (e.g., risk assessment, bias mitigation, quality and accuracy reviews)
• Demonstrated ongoing AI skill development (e.g., prompt/context engineering, agent orchestration) and staying current with emerging AI technologies Experience working with executive or leadership-level stakeholders Experience working with online survey panel vendors (e.g., YouGov, Ipsos, Kantar, SSRS) Experience translating often abstract stakeholder requests into actionable research plans