Senior Research Scientist

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Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Job Description

The Senior Research Scientist is responsible for the design and execution of research projects, with emphasis on owning the research plan, selecting appropriate methods, and overseeing research execution. They establish and maintain strong relationships with peers and leaders across multiple departments. They deploy a range of mixed (qualitative and quantitative) methods and tools to produce research supporting fact-based decision-making, disseminating findings across the university and the broader scientific community.

Responsibilities

• Owns the research plan and executes following systematic and structured approaches that ensure the validity, reliability, and meaningfulness of research findings while remaining open to necessary adjustments and adaptations as circumstances require.
• Drives strategic research contributions and leads large-scale, cross-functional initiatives.
• Drives tasks, activities, and large-scale projects with high levels of autonomy, confidence, and collaboration with peers and partners. Contributes to organizational discussions and activities to build culture and advance strategic direction.
• Sets and manages expectations about complex research tasks and activities through clear, timely, and effective communication with partners and stakeholders.
• Identifies adequate data sources and data sets to evaluate hypotheses, build forecasts, and support findings of research projects and experiments. Answers complex business questions requiring extensive knowledge of the university's data assets across several domains and departments.
• Drives the documentation of data and research needs in projects of high complexity with a student and equity-centered lens, collaborating with peers, cross-functional partners, faculty staff, and leaders.
• Influences institutional decision-making by aligning research outcomes with strategic goals.
• Disseminates findings through professional conferences, external publications, and internal presentations to enhance the institution's reputation.
• Combines data analysis, visualization, and narrative structures to convey information in compelling ways that instigate deliberate action.
• Leads the translation of user stories into technical requirements.
• Creates and organizes information about processes, projects, operations, data assets, and insights from analyses and research, making it accessible in ways that increase the university's knowledge and efficiency.
• Mentors team members by creating professional development opportunities and providing ongoing coaching.
• Plays a prominent role in other team members' development through constructive feedback and sharing of technical and institutional knowledge.
• Supports leadership in strategic planning and contributes to operational excellence across the department.
• Conveys information effectively to peers, partners, senior leaders, and, as projects require, external audiences using a variety of resources and formats (synchronous and asynchronous, verbal and written) such as e-mails, presentations, meetings, and workshops. Is open and responsive to feedback to improve work.
• Tracks and reports own progress, dependencies, and challenges diligently. Breaks down complex goals into concrete tasks and activities and actively supports leader in project planning.
• Understands and abides by the relevant policies and methods to access, use, transform, store, and delete data in responsible, secure, and compliant ways.
• Works actively to improve own skills and knowledge through internal and external, formal and informal, structured and unstructured learning. Is a lifelong learner and embodies a growth mindset. Stays abreast of innovative developments in their area of work and plays an active role in deploying them in the department and at the university.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

KSAs

• Advanced knowledge in accessing, retrieving, manipulating, inserting, and deleting data from structured and unstructured databases.
• Advanced knowledge in accessing, retrieving, manipulating, inserting, and deleting data from structured and unstructured databases.
• Highly experienced in selecting and deploying methods and techniques to conduct studies, including A/B testing, quasi-experimental, mixed methods, and others.
• Ability to perform analysis tasks and follows research plans under minimal guidance and supervision. Has extensive experience working with qualitative research software (e.g., Recollective, Usertesting.com, MaxQDA).
• Highly proficient and experienced in using tools like Google Scholar and peer-reviewed journals to identify valid and reliable sources of research, using critical thinking, judgment, and reading skills.
• Highly experienced in the creation of surveys, and survey software (e.g., Qualtrics), that elicit clear and relevant inputs from target groups, and in using them to acquire data to draw meaningful conclusions.
• Advanced experience in the selection and deployment of a variety of mathematical models, forecasting methods (e.g., time series, inferential, regression), descriptive statistics, and classification algorithms to make predictions and identify relationships based on limited sets of data.
• Comfortable with common project management methodologies and frameworks (e.g., Waterfall, Agile, SDLC).
• Proficient in the MS Office suite, including advanced Excel knowledge.
• Ability to apply sound judgment, systems-thinking, and analytical skills to assess risks, perform root-cause analyses, make recommendations, and drive cross-functional decisions that contribute to the achievement of the university's objectives.
• Ability to perform assigned tasks with very high levels of autonomy, reliability, self-direction, and with a bias for action. Manages conflicting and concurrent activities with minimal need of supervision.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in a related discipline
• Minimum of 7 years of related experience in Research, Learning Science, Program Evaluation, Statistics, Decision Intelligence, or Behavioral/Cognitive Psychology.
• This research job focuses on human subjects, and you must have experience working with, collecting data from, and researching actual humans. We will only consider candidates for this role with experience conducting research with live people (either through qualitative interviews or the creation of custom surveys-and optimally both) as it requires someone with extensive experience writing custom surveys and drafting custom interview protocols.

Preferred Qualifications

• Masters or PhD in a related discipline strongly preferred
• Experience in lieu of education-An equivalent combination of training, experience, credentials, or accomplishments demonstrating the ability to perform the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements.

Job Description Disclaimer: This position description provides the major duties/responsibilities, requirements and working conditions for the position. It is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current position, however management reserves the right to revise or change as necessary to meet organizational needs. Other responsibilities may be assigned when circumstances require.

Position & Application Details

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It's not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.