Senior Research Scientist

Location

Work from home | India

Job description

Overview:

Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7, high-quality text-based mental health support and crisis intervention by empowering a community of trained volunteers to support people in their moments of need.

Our mission is at the intersection of empathy and innovation — we promote mental well-being for people wherever they are.

Our vision is an empathetic world where nobody feels alone.

Our core values are at the heart of all we do: connect with empathy, center equity, get it done together, and reflect and evolve.

***Join our team! We're open to Senior Research Scientist to work remotely from Spain.***

Why you should join our team: 

• Our work is transforming the way people in pain access support at their fingertips
• Our work is innovative in the crisis response space
• Our dynamic, fun, and diverse culture
• Our meaningful cause, led by empathy and innovation
• Our strong values at the center of all we do
• Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
• Our commitment to engagement and belonging
• Our commitment to our employees and their holistic wellbeing
• Our  value of work/life balance
• Our growth mindset and prioritize professional development
• Our leaders who truly care

What you'll be doing:

The purpose of the Research & Impact department is to evidence and amplify Crisis Text Line’s impact for texters, our volunteer community, and broader society against our mission of promoting well-being for people wherever they are. It is imperative that we demonstrate impact against our mission, and we consider it our duty to contribute solutions-oriented insights to the field of mental health in the context of the global mental health epidemic. The Research & Impact team serves the organization’s mission by championing the generation of compelling, evidence-grounded, data-driven impact content, resources, and tools for internal stakeholders and the broader mental health field. We achieve this by using machine learning and natural language processing to analyze our anonymized and de-identified dataset of over 9.5 million conversations with texters in the United States, and combining it with publicly available data sources, to inform policy, practice, and systems change to reduce mental health inequities and improve wellbeing.

As a Senior Research Scientist within the Research & Impact team, you will deliver  insights related to mental health crises, coping, and crisis support to improve practice, policy and the broader field of mental health support globally. Reporting to the Senior Principal Research Scientist, you will analyze more than 9.5 million crisis conversations since 2013 to conduct research, monitor emerging trends, and generate insights to help people thrive, specifically uplifting underinvested communities. In collaboration with other teams across the organization, you will work to meet organization-wide business needs for data and insights on Crisis Text Line’s impact for texters, volunteers, and society across languages, cultures, and contexts. An individual contributor, you will work in close collaboration with all members of the Research & Impact team to ensure our work is grounded in technical and methodological rigor to satisfy scientific scrutiny, engaging with a range of cross-functional internal partners. Promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion, as well as deliberately highlighting various identities, particularly those of historically minoritized groups, is an explicit focus for our work.

Responsibilities:

Crisis Text Line is a fast moving, growing organization with a big vision and a critical mission. To serve our mission and vision, the person in each role must be agile and flexible to meet the needs of the business, aligning their work with priorities as defined by their manager and team leaders.

Contribute to the delivery of new research insights related to Crisis Text Line’s impact for the organization and broader field 

• Analyze conversational data to support research projects on mental health crises; briefs related to mental health, coping, and volunteering; and mental health and support disparities in the United States and globally
• Support or lead collaborative strategic research sprints on priority issues, adhering to rigorous, industry-standard research methods and documentation practices 
• Generate data visualization content for strategic data storytelling projects
• Write research briefs and memos 

Meet organization-wide business needs for data and insights verification and content 

• Provide data analytics and support specialized team dashboard development for team efficiency related to showing evidence of impact
• Build machine learning and/or natural language processing models to augment data flows for the team
• Manage and provide expertise in the ongoing management of organization-wide internal data insights and research requests as a leader of the core workflow team  
• Lead or support the development or review of external-facing content referencing Crisis Text Line data and insights, as appropriate

Qualifications:

• 4+ years of combined training and experience in computational social science, natural language processing, computer science, statistics, mixed-methods evaluation or research, or related disciplines
• Experience in programming languages used for data manipulation and computational statistics (such as Python, R, MATLAB, C++, Java, Go), and with SQL.
• Knowledge and demonstrated experience using rigorous quantitative or mixed research methods, analyzing data using multiple approaches, and reporting results
• Intermediate understanding of ML theory and practice and ability to extract insights from text using different NLP techniques (text parsing, lemmatization, TF-IDF, topic modeling, etc.)
• Skills in translating research results into non-technical insights for broad consumption
• Experience working in cross-functional or matrix teams

Reliable High-Speed Internet Required: Must have a stable high-speed internet connection to support seamless remote collaboration, virtual meetings, online job tasks, etc.

The full salary range for this position, for SPAIN ONLY, is €65,000 - €95,000 per year. The upper portion of the salary range is typically reserved for existing employees who demonstrate strong performance over time. Starting salary will vary by location, qualifications, and prior experience; during the interview process, candidates will learn the starting salary range applicable for their location. We pay competitively in the tech-forward nonprofit space and offer a robust benefits package.

Benefits:

Crisis Text Line employee  benefits are thoughtfully designed using an equity lens, acknowledging that we are all unique human beings with individual life circumstances that require flexibility and support. 

Benefits include: 

• 20 paid holidays including:
• Federal  holidays like Juneteenth and Labor Day
• Election day
• Holiday break from Dec 24  through January 1
• 2 renewal days 
• 2 floating holidays  
• Flexible  paid time off, including: 
• 15 vacation days
• 3 personal days
• 7 sick days 
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits for the staff member and family at no cost to the employee
• 403B retirement plan (the nonprofit equivalent of a 401K): 3% contribution by Crisis Text Line to support building financial wellness,  regardless of personal contribution
• 12 weeks paid parental leave (after 6 months of employment)
• Student loan repayment (after 2 years of continuous full time service)
• Family support through a virtual childcare platform
• Stipends/Allowances
• Mental health  (Monthly) 
• Internet Service (Monthly) 
• Professional Development (Annual)
• Wellness (Annual)
• Home office setup (One time/First year)

(Benefits only apply to full-time employees)

Crisis Text Line is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We provide reasonable accommodation to individuals who have a disability and meet the skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the role to allow the individual to perform the essential functions of the job.

Job tags

Salary