Senior Research Scientist, Executive Engagement & Insights
About this role
Designing research questions, writing analysis code, and presenting empirical findings to chief people officers make up the daily routine in this role. The Executive Engagement & Insights team transforms proprietary pay data into actionable research, executive narratives, and category leadership for human resources, compensation, and finance leaders. This position requires an independent researcher who can handle an entire project from framing the initial concept to publishing the final result while combining internal records with external labor market data.
Operating successfully means building outcome and ROI models that stand up to scrutiny from corporate finance teams and partnering with product squads to embed insights directly into software features. Candidates who possess a broad skill set spanning data engineering, statistical modeling, and executive communication will thrive in this environment. The organization values professionals who appreciate rigorous methodology and want to make fair pay a strategic business decision rather than a compliance afterthought.
What you will do
- Lead research studies from initial question formulation through to published findings and executive briefings.
- Combine proprietary pay records with external labor market, survey, and benchmark data sources.
- Build outcome and ROI models that connect pay governance metrics to organizational cost, risk, and performance.
- Engage directly with senior customers including CHROs and CFOs to discuss evidence and strategic decisions.
- Partner with product and data science teams to integrate research insights into customer-facing reporting features.
- Co-author external reports, articles, and executive briefings while ensuring every claim remains traceable to its source.
What you need
- Hold a PhD or equivalent depth in industrial-organizational psychology, behavioral science, decision science, labor economics, statistics, or a related field.
- Demonstrate a track record of driving applied research through to tangible product, decision, or business outcomes.
- Apply hands-on quantitative skills in causal and quasi-experimental methods, psychometrics, and survey design.
- Maintain working fluency in Python or R and SQL when handling large, messy, real-world data sets.
- Communicate complex findings effectively in front of senior enterprise customers and handle challenging methodological questions.
- Work autonomously within strict data-use and privacy boundaries.
Nice to have
- Domain depth in compensation, total rewards, pay equity, or people analytics
- Experience with labor-market or compensation benchmark data such as posted-pay data or salary surveys
- Consulting or customer-facing analytics experience
- Published thought leadership or a public research voice
- Experience in a startup, applied research lab, or research-to-product environment
Benefits
- Competitive Compensation ($164,000 -$184,000 per year with a geo-neutral US approach)
- Syndio Equity
- Flexible Vacation Policy plus paid sick time, compassion leave, and voting leave
- Paid parental leave
- Medical, Dental, Vision insurance with 90% of employee premiums covered
- Life Insurance, Disability coverage, and a 401(k) plan
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote work policy?
The position operates under a fully remote model based out of a United States home office.
What is the salary range for the role?
The targeted salary is $164,000 to $184,000 per year, determined by experience and expertise using a geo-neutral approach within the United States.
What does the interview process look like?
The evaluation plan includes a 30-minute interview with a talent team member, a 45-minute Zoom interview with the hiring manager, three video interviews with team members lasting about 2.5 hours, and a final 30-minute interview with an executive.