Principal Measurement Scientist

Tracksuit Limited; Auckland; On-site; NZD 178,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

6 weeks paid leave

Annual wellness bonus

ESOP

Job summary

Tracksuit Limited is seeking a Principal Measurement Scientist to become the intellectual engine of our brand-tracking system. You will define the scientific agenda, design the programme, and produce the evidence base underpinning how Tracksuit measures brand health.

You’ll lead multi-year measurement science initiatives, partner with Survey Ops and Data Science, and build the knowledge base while maintaining scientific independence and rigorous validation.”

Qualifications

• Deep academic training in psychology, statistics, behavioural science, or similar.
• 10+ years in quantitative research or measurement science in rigorous empirical settings.
• Expert in survey methodology, measurement theory, psychometrics, and respondent psychology.
• Able to produce scientific documentation that withstands peer review.
• Collaborative across departments while maintaining scientific independence.

Responsibilities

• Create and lead Tracksuit’s measurement science programme.
• Audit and challenge existing methodology with scientific independence.
• Design and run academic‑level validation studies with partners.
• Own the science of respondent psychology and mitigation strategies.
• Define and maintain Tracksuit’s metric and methodology frameworks.
• Build Tracksuit’s Methodology Knowledge Base with rationale and standards.
• Assess external data sources for scientific credibility.
• Engage with the academic community and external researchers.

Skills

PhD or Master

10+ years in quantitative research

Survey methodology

Psychometrics

Academic rigor

Education

PhD or Master in psychology

Job description

At Tracksuit, we’re building the world’s most loved brand‑tracking platform - simple on the surface, scientifically serious underneath. As we scale globally, the stakes get higher: more brands, more markets, more scrutiny, more ambition. To meet that moment, we’re expanding our Research Governance function and looking for a Principal Measurement Scientist to become the intellectual engine of our measurement system.

This is not a typical “research role”. It’s a Principal Investigator position in the truest academic sense; defining the scientific agenda, designing the programme, and producing the evidence base that underpins how Tracksuit measures brand health.

If you’re an academically trained measurement scientist who loves hard questions, rigorous validation, and the psychology of how humans respond to surveys at scale, this is your playground.

Why this role exists

Tracksuit’s methodology has grown fast and served us well - but now we’re operating in more markets, under greater partner scrutiny, and with increasingly ambitious product goals. To keep pace, our measurement foundations must be academically defensible, not just commercially convenient.

Your mission: Reviewing and rationalising the rigour of our current tracking, then build the forward looking, multi‑year measurement science programme that answers the hardest questions about how brand tracking should work. You’ll define the investigations, design the tests, partner with Survey Ops and Data Science, interpret the findings, and build the scientific backbone that Marketing Science, Product, and Governance rely on.

You’re not handed a roadmap. You write it.

What you’ll do

• Create and lead Tracksuit’s measurement science programme Define the questions, methods, evidentiary standards, and sequencing across a multi‑year horizon.
• Audit and challenge existing methodology Assess every core methodological choice with scientific independence - confirm, refine, or flag for investigation.
• Design and run academic‑level validation studies Partner with Survey Operations on Mode 3 test design and execution; partner with Data Science on statistical validation.
• Own the science of respondent psychology Investigate attention, cognitive load, satisficing, recognition effects, order effects, and panel fatigue; and build evidence‑based mitigation strategies.
• Define and maintain Tracksuit’s metric and methodology frameworks Conceptual definitions, incidence rules, measurement standards, and survey design constraints - all documented with academic rigour.
• Build the Methodology Knowledge Base Create Tracksuit’s scientific record: rationale, standards, validation evidence, and decisions
• Assess external data sources with scientific independence Evaluate synthetic modelling inputs and multi‑source data for scientific credibility.
• Engage with the academic community Build a scientific advisory network; maintain relationships with external academics; represent Tracksuit at conferences where relevant

What you’ll bring

• Deep academic training - ideally PhD/Master’s in psychology, statistics, behavioural science, or similar.
• 10+ years in quantitative research or measurement science, ideally in a rigorous empirical environment (Ehrenberg‑Bass or equivalent strongly preferred).
• Expert in survey methodology, measurement theory, psychometrics, and respondent psychology.
• Comfortable challenging assumptions and defending evidence‑based positions.
• Able to produce scientific documentation that could withstand peer review.
• Collaborative across Survey Ops, Data Science, Product, and Marketing Science - without compromising scientific standards.
• Commercially aware enough to understand constraints, but scientifically independent enough not to bend to them.

Why Tracksuit

We’re a fast‑growing, values‑driven company with a deep belief in brand science. You’ll join a Research Governance team that is reshaping how brand tracking is defined, validated, and communicated - with the autonomy to build a scientific programme from first principles.

You’ll work with curious, kind humans who care deeply about doing things properly. And you’ll have the space to do the kind of rigorous, meaningful measurement science that rarely exists outside academia.

Ready to build the scientific backbone of Tracksuit?

We’d love to meet you.

$178,000 - $220,000 a year

The NZ salary range is: $176,000 - $200,000. We practice transparent compensation at Tracksuit, which means we put a real focus on fair compensation for our people and their roles.

We run comprehensive full-cycle comp reviews annually, as well as rolling promotions when you've levelled up. Your salary is supplemented with our best-in-class benefits package, as well as generous ESOP.

Here’s a few things we think make Tracksuit a great place to work:

• Compensation: Competitive market-rate salaries. We’ve also got a fully transparent compensation framework, so everything’s out in the open.
• Equity: Every Trackstar gets a slice of the pie through our ESOP program.
• Wellbeing perks: 6 weeks paid leave, an annual wellness bonus, and access to top tier EAP services.
• Parental support: 12 weeks paid parental leave for all parents, extra support for IVF, and a phased return to work.
• L&D budget: $1000 per year to spend on your own learning and development - plus heaps of internal opportunities for growth.
• Flex where it counts: We’re office-first, with stunning hubs in Auckland, NYC, London, and Sydney- and we support flexibility in how you manage your time.