Sr. Computational Social Scientist

At BetterUp, we give people the coaching, support, and push they need to reach peak performance and unlock their limitless potential, in all they do, personally and professionally. We work with world-class experts and Coaches, pioneer innovative technology, and foster human touch at scale to fuel the BetterUp experience, and make growth and development achievable for all. We believe that practicing strong mental fitness is a never-ending practice of maintaining and building the strengths that proceed health, happiness, and success. 

And we’re looking to build out a diverse and ambitious team of go-getters to join us as we grow. Exciting opportunities lie ahead, as well as work that makes a real difference — not only in the lives of others, but for your own personal and professional growth, too. Join us as we continue to bring BetterUp to more people everywhere, and create impactful change for our members and for you.

BetterUp Labs is currently seeking an innovative, accomplished computational social scientist who is passionate about advancing our understanding of the inner life and whole person performance of professionals around the globe. In this role, you will capture, measure, and analyze a range of behavioral data signals – from sensor data to self-report assessments to digital exhaust – to develop computational models of human flourishing. You’ll need to draw on your mastery of experimental social science, web- and app-based data engineering, applied machine learning, computational linguistics, and all-around data wizardry to uncover truly ground-breaking answers to The Big Questions.  

This role will provide a rich opportunity to showcase the intersection of your strengths as a social and computational engineer and scientist, and to leverage your diverse skills in the translation of science to practice. At BetterUp you’ll have the opportunity to work side by side with talented, motivated, and intellectually stimulating colleagues who thrive on helping organizations solve their most pressing behavioral business challenges.

What you’ll do:

• Conceive of, develop, and prototype predictive computational models of personal and interpersonal flourishing behaviors.
• Collect and process data from a range of behavioral health software and hardware (think productivity apps, wearables, and digital communication platforms).
• Analyze both new and existing data to generate insights for both internal (marketing, product) and external (research community, prospects, customers) audiences.
• Develop best practices for collaboration, maintenance, and reporting of analytics projects.
• Communicate findings with written, visual, and oral presentation media, for internal presentations, external reports and talks, and academic manuscripts.
• Stay on top of advances in relevant fields of research (e.g. applied ML, NLP, wearable/sensor technologies, psychological science) to inform experimentation and other business decisions.

Key Behaviors:

• Practice rigorous science and compelling data storytelling.  Storytelling as a moral good!
• Think creatively and interdisciplinarily.  Draw from the cutting-edge across academic and industry to inform study design and analysis.Always be ready to answer: what’s the best paper you’ve read recently that changed how you see the world?
• Demonstrate unerring responsiveness to and seamless collaboration with internal customers, including marketing, product, sales, customer success, and operations teams. We work with a lot of different, amazing, people.
• Learn continuously to stay on your edge in the relevant scientific literature.
• Collaborate without ego, willing to take on small tasks (CSS tweaks) and large (design of years-long projects).

If you have some or all of the following, please apply: 

• Hold an advanced degree from a top-tier university in one of the following (or similar) fields: applied machine learning, computational linguistics, computational social science, data science, data engineering.  (B.S. holders with strong computational/statistical backgrounds also considered.)  Note: This is not a traditional software engineering function.  A strong background in social science, along with computational science/engineering expertise, is required. Similarly, this role requires a lot more comfort with data engineering (e.g. building a data ingestion pipeline from scratch for a new wearable) than a traditional social science role.
• Strong preference for minimum 2 years working in a similar role, preferably in a startup environment.
  Proficient in Python, with a focus on ML/DL modules (Pandas, Scikit, Tensorflow, Pytorch).  Proficiency in R (tidyverse) a big plus.
• Experience building and understanding predictive models based on multimedia data (video, audio, text), using cutting-edge deep learning methods.
• Comfortable with common inferential statistical methods, including hierarchical/multilevel models, Bayesian inference, cross-validation, and optimization. 
• Basic SQL competency.
• Expertise in human behavioral data measurement, collection, and analysis.  Psychology background a big plus.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated desire for continued learning and development across different academic disciplines. 

Benefits:

At BetterUp, we are committed to living out our mission every day and that starts with providing benefits that allow our employees to care for themselves, support their families, and give back to their community. 

• Access to BetterUp coaching; one for you and one for a friend or family member
• A competitive compensation plan with opportunity for advancement
• Medical, dental and vision insurance
• Flexible paid time off
• Per year:
  • All federal/statutory holidays observed
  • 4 BetterUp Inner Work days (https://www.betterup.co/inner-work)
  • 5 Volunteer Days to give back
  • Learning and Development stipend
• Holiday charitable contribution of your choice on behalf of BetterUp
• 401(k) self contribution

Tagged as: Senior-level