Job Description

Research Scientist

Shoah Foundation Countering Antisemitism Lab

Washington, D.C. Campus

To be considered for this opportunity, please submit a cover letter with your application.

About USC

The University of Southern California (USC) is a leading private research university. The university offers exceptional students a world-class education with highly ranked programs in virtually every field — from cinema to the sciences — as well as unparalleled research, internship, and professional opportunities in a wide array of organizations including nonprofits, Fortune 500 companies and global businesses.

About USC Shoah Foundation

Established in 1994 and a part of the University of Southern California since 2006, the USC Shoah Foundation’s core purpose is to give opportunity to survivors and witnesses to the Shoah—the genocide of the Jews—to tell their own stories in their own words in audio-visual interviews, preserve their testimonies, and make them accessible for research, education, and outreach for the betterment of humankind in perpetuity. It achieves this work through the preservation and dissemination of a massive archive of more than 59,000 testimonies, engaging educational programs that reach multiple audiences, innovative academic and related research programs, and technology efforts that ensure that these histories remain accessible and relevant.

About the Opportunity

The USC Shoah Foundation Countering Antisemitism Lab is seeking a Research Scientist to contribute to the work in its Countering Antisemitism Laboratory. The Lab has a strong base of philanthropic support and the Research Scientist will be working with vital information and projects which can help to make a real and visible difference nationally and across the globe and in real time. 

This role will design survey instruments and conduct quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research, data analysis, and report writing. The Research Scientist will work closely with the Lab Director to design, execute, and assess applied research toward preventing and countering antisemitism.

The Ideal Candidate will possess a strong background in social psychology, psychology, or a related field; have a PhD; at least 7-10 years of experience, and significant domain knowledge & experience in psychology, social psychology, or related social science with expertise in persuasion, attitude change, social influence, intergroup relations, or political psychology. A demonstrated publication record on relevant topics is strongly preferred. 

This position will be based at the USC Capital Campus in Washington, D.C. and is currently a one-year fixed term, grant-funded position.

Key Responsibilities

• Serves as a key research scientist who is recognized as a national authority on topics in specialized field.
• Plans, designs and conducts highly specialized, technical and unusually complex research projects independently.
• Will contribute to the development of advanced new concepts, techniques and standards.
• Analyzes research data and provides interpretations.
• Contributes to the development of research documentation for publication and/or prepares technical reports, papers and/or records.
• Develops solutions to research problems of unusually complexity, which require a high degree of ingenuity, creativity and innovativeness.
• Makes presentations at academic and/or practitioner conferences.
• Provides leadership, direction and guidance to staff and/or student workers as needed.
• Works under consultative direction from supervisor toward long-range goals and objectives.
• In addition, the successful candidate must demonstrate, through ideas, words and actions, a strong commitment to  USC’s Unifying Values .

Preferred Experience:

• 10 years experience in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research, data analysis, and report writing.
• 10 years designing and conducting experimental research testing psychological interventions, particularly in domains of prejudice reduction or persuasion.
• 10 years experience in project coordination/management, research management, leading research projects related to political polarization, political rhetoric, hate crimes, discrimination, and/or extremism.
• 10 years’ experience in managing ethical issues in research and IRB processes, particularly when dealing with sensitive topics like bias and hate, targeted violence, and their impact on affected communities.
• Track record of translating laboratory findings into scalable real-world interventions.
• Experience with A/B testing, message pre-testing, and iterative intervention refinement.
• Work experience in preventing/countering hate, bias, and/or targeted violence—especially antisemitism.
• Proven ability to work with other organizations focused on Jewish community needs, as well as implementation partners (tech platforms, NGOs, government agencies).
• Work experience in monitoring/analyzing antisemitic media content and/or public opinion.
• Work experience in preventing/countering hate, bias, and/or targeted violence—especially antisemitism.
• Proven ability to work with other organizations focused on Jewish community needs, as well as implementation partners (tech platforms, NGOs, government agencies).
• Work experience in monitoring/analyzing antisemitic media content and/or public opinion.

Required Experience

• 5 years experience in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research, data analysis, and report writing.
• 5 years designing and conducting experimental research testing psychological interventions, particularly in domains of prejudice reduction or persuasion.
• 5 years experience in project coordination/management, research management, leading research projects related to political polarization, political rhetoric, hate crimes, discrimination, and/or extremism.
• 5 years experience in managing ethical issues in research and IRB processes, particularly when dealing with sensitive topics like bias and hate, targeted violence, and their impact on affected communities.
• Demonstrated experience with both rapid-cycle research (6-12 week projects) and longitudinal studies.
• Domain expertise relating to antisemitism, Jewish life, Israel studies, and/or related areas. Understanding and appreciation of historical and contemporary antisemitism – its changing manifestations and perennial patterns.
• Expertise in social psychological theories of persuasion, attitude change, social identities, political polarization, and/or social influence.
• Experience measuring both immediate and longitudinal intervention effects.
• Expertise in drafting peer-review manuscripts, white papers, and/or public-facing reports, translating social scientific research for a lay audience including practitioners, policymakers, and community partners.
• Familiarity with principles of strategic communication, counter-messaging, and/or attitudinal inoculation.
• Understanding and appreciation of hate and violence’s impact on targeted communities – psychological, medical, and economic.
• Strong project management skills, including planning, execution, and analysis.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage effectively with stakeholders.
• Experimental design and causal inference methods, including A/B and multivariate testing.
• Statistics and analytical skills: power analysis, ANOVA, multifactor analysis, mediation/moderation, multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling, latent variable analysis, and/or propensity score matching.
• Strong survey design skills: principles of sampling, weighting, cognitive pre-testing, question construction.

Qualitative

• Interview design, qualitative coding
• Narrative analysis
• Systematic review

• Software skills: R (required), Stata (preferred), Python (preferred), Atlas, and/or equivalent(s)

• Experience working with survey platforms and polling services (e.g. Qualtrics, Prolific, NORC, etc.)

The annual base salary range for this position is $108,329.08.-140,000.00 When determining an offer, the University of Southern California considers factors such as the scope and responsibilities of the role, the candidate’s experience, education, training, key skills, internal peer alignment , applicable laws, contractual requirements, grant funding, and market conditions.

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Minimum Education: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Minimum Experience: 5 years Minimum Skills: Directly related education and experience in research specialization with highly advanced knowledge of equipment, procedures, analysis methods, principles, theories and concepts. Demonstrated leadership in developing new ideas and ability to publish in appropriate academic and practitioner outlets. Demonstrated independent thinking and leadership in scholarly writing according established criteria (e.g., first-authored publications, conceptual leadership in the development of publications generated alone or with others, writing of first drafts of publications and/or single-authored publications).

Job Tags

Full time, Fixed term contract, Work experience placement, Internship, Immediate start,

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