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SHRM is a member-driven catalyst for creating better workplaces where people and businesses thrive together. As the trusted authority on all things work, SHRM is the foremost expert, researcher, advocate, and thought leader on issues and innovations impacting today’s evolving workplaces. With nearly 340,000 members in 180 countries, SHRM touches the lives of more than 362 million workers and their families globally.

SUMMARY

The Lead Researcher is a senior insights professional responsible for designing, executing, and communicating high-impact research that advances SHRM’s position as the trusted authority on work, workers, and the workplace. This role oversees complex, multi-method research programs—quantitative, qualitative, analytical, and AI-enabled—that support SHRM’s enterprise priorities and the needs of key internal stakeholders across SHRM Business, Membership, Linkage, SHRM Labs, Public Policy, Thought Leadership, and other strategic teams.

Working collaboratively across the organization, the Lead Researcher identifies emerging workforce issues, uncovers member and market needs, and translates research findings into actionable insights that influence business decisions, product strategy, executive communications, and member value delivery. This position plays a critical role in SHRM’s insight-to-action ecosystem by ensuring research outputs lead to measurable outcomes and by supporting stakeholders in applying findings effectively.

The Lead Researcher leads the full research lifecycle—including design, data collection, analysis, synthesis, and reporting—and produces executive-ready deliverables such as briefings, dashboards, partner studies, presentations, and evidence-based narratives. This position coaches junior researchers, elevates methodological rigor, and champions innovative research tools and methods to increase the reach, speed, and impact of SHRM’s insights.

Responsibilities:

+ Design and conduct strategic research aligned to SHRM’s mission and organizational priorities.

+ Lead complex, mixed-method research programs involving survey design, advanced analytics, qualitative methods, market intelligence, and secondary research.

+ Translate ambiguous stakeholder questions into structured research plans with clear objectives, methods, timelines, and success metrics.

+ Incorporate emerging data sources (e.g., behavioral data, digital signals, unstructured text, AI-assisted analysis) into research design when appropriate

+ Other duties as assigned

Education & Experience Requirements

Required

+ Master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Economics, Public Policy, Business Analytics, Statistics, Behavioral Science, or a related quantitative field.

+ Minimum eight (8) years of progressive professional experience conducting workplace, market, consumer, or organizational research.

+ Demonstrated experience leading large, complex research programs using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

+ Expert-level proficiency with statistical analysis tools such as SPSS, R, Python, Stata, or similar.

+ Proven ability to convert data into actionable insights and communicate findings in polished, executive-ready formats.

+ Experience leading or mentoring research teams.

Preferred

+ PhD in a relevant research discipline.

+ Experience with survey platforms (e.g., Qualtrics), dashboards (Power BI/Tableau), and AI-supported analysis (e.g., NLP, clustering, sentiment analysis).

+ Research experience in HR, workforce development, labor markets, employee experience, or related domains.

Insight Design Development & Communication

+ Synthesize findings into clear, compelling insights tailored to senior executives, business units, policymakers, and external partners.

+ Produce high-visibility reports, presentations, dashboards, talking points, and narratives for internal and external audiences.

+ Present research and represent SHRM as a subject-matter expert in media, events, webinars, and partner briefings.

+ Ensure insights directly support business decisions related to product development, member engagement, marketing, sales enablement, and policy positioning.

Team Leadership & Capability Building

+ Mentor, coach, and develop junior researchers, strengthening analytical rigor and storytelling capabilities.

+ Model excellence in research design, data interpretation, analytical methods, and insight communication.

+ Champion innovative research methods including AI-assisted analysis, NLP, segmentation, predictive modeling, and advanced survey analytics.

+ Support continuous improvement of SHRM’s research frameworks, tools, and processes.

Collaboration

+ Partner closely with leaders across Brand and Marketing, SHRM Business, Membership, Linkage, Thought Leadership, Public Policy, and SHRM Labs to identify research needs and shape project direction.

+ Work with Business Intelligence and Data teams to align quantitative approaches, integrate datasets, and produce shared dashboards and metrics.

+ Support SHRM’s insight-to-action process by helping teams interpret findings, identify implications, and apply insights to real-world decisions.

+ Cultivate strong relationships with external research partners and vendors for large or specialized studies.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

+ Deep expertise in applied research design, statistical analysis, sampling theory, and qualitative methodologies.

+ Strong capability in interpreting quantitative and qualitative findings and translating them into clear, compelling business insights.

+ Exceptional writing and presentation skills; able to produce concise, persuasive narratives for senior audiences.

+ Ability to simplify complex analytical concepts into plain language for business partners.

+ Experience with modern research methods including segmentation, conjoint, factor analysis, regression modeling, text analytics, and predictive modeling.

+ Strong business acumen with an understanding of how research informs organizational strategy, product development, and member value.

+ Ability to lead multiple high-profile projects with tight deadlines and competing priorities.

+ Demonstrated curiosity and passion for identifying emerging trends in the workplace and labor market.

+ Flexible, solutions-oriented, and able to adapt quickly to changing business needs.

Additional Notes

Physical Requirements

+ Must be able to perform essential duties satisfactorily with reasonable accommodations.

+ Work is generally done sitting, talking, hearing, and typing. Visual acuity to use a keyboard, prepare and analyze data and figures; transcribing, viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading.

Work environment

Hybrid Position (3 Days In-Office, 2 Days Remote):

+ This position follows a hybrid work schedule, with Tuesday through Thursday in office and Monday and Friday remote. Employees must be available during standard business hours, with core hours beginning between 8:00AM – 9:00AM and concluding between 5:00PM – 6:00PM.

**Travel:** 0 – 10%

\#LI

_The hiring range for this position is $100,000 to $115,000 per year. This range is an estimate, and the actual salary may vary based on the candidate's experience, skills, and qualifications. SHRM offers a competitive and comprehensive total rewards package. The benefits for this position include professional growth and development, health, dental, vision, well-being, health savings, flexible spending, retirement, open leave, and annual discretionary bonus and incentives._

Our employment practices are in accordance with the laws that prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals on the basis of race, religion, color, gender, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran’s status, marital status, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by applicable law.

SHRM is an equal opportunity employer (Minority/Female/Disabled/Veteran).

We do not sponsor applicants for work visas.

Job Details

Job Family** **00 - Data & Analytics

Pay Type** **Salary