Market Research & Evaluation Scientist

Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA); Portland (OR); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) seeks an MRE Scientist to lead market research and evaluation efforts across cross-functional teams advancing energy-efficient products and services. The position is based in the Portland, OR metro area with a hybrid work model requiring at least 2 days per week onsite at NEEA’s office.

The role focuses on managing quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research to inform program decisions and assess market progress, including supervising

Qualifications

• Experience in market research and evaluation.
• Ability to manage contractors and supervise external researchers.
• Strong project management and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead market research and evaluation projects using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods to support program decisions.
• Develop and manage research plans, metrics, and deliverables for market transformation programs.
• Oversee third‑party research contractors, budgets, timelines, and deliverables (workplans, data materials, reports).
• Present results and insights to internal and external audiences; contribute to logic models and data management plans.

Job description

The Market Research and Evaluation (MRE) Scientist is an integral part of 2-3 cross-functional program teams dedicated to bringing energy efficient products and services to market through the approach of Market Transformation.

The primary role of the MRE Scientist is to manage market research and evaluation projects using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches to support organizational and program decision-making and assess market progress of programs.

This position is based in the Portland, OR metro area, with a hybrid work location. We are looking for candidates who can meet the requirement of working at least 2 days per week onsite at NEEA’s office location. Finalists must have eligibility to work in the US as NEEA is not able to provide VISA sponsorship or have remote work outside of the US.

Salary range: $90,000 - $105,000, exempt

• Salary is based on the applicants Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.

The Typical Day May Include…

• As the MRE functional lead, proactively work with cross-functional team members to contribute to the success of Market Transformation programs by:
• assessing whether strong program logic exists and is measurable
• efficiently and effectively managing research and evaluation projects to deliver actionable insights.
• Activities related to this include:
• Developing the long-term research and evaluation plan
• Developing metrics to measure program influence in the short-, medium-, and long-term
• Defining the research/evaluation objectives, scope of work, assumptions/constraints, sample population, and deliverables for individual projects.
• Sourcing (including ownership of the competitive bidding process: drafting contracts, reviewing proposals, finalist selection, etc.)
• Managing and ensuring contractor performance
• Leading project kick-off and subsequent meetings
• Leading the socialization and comprehension of results and insights with internal and external audiences
• Supporting the Market Analysis & Planning function, as needed, by commissioning studies to validate their energy savings assumptions
• The MRE Scientist brings an evaluative mindset to the program team and actively works to ensure all activities tie back to the program logic and theory of change. MRE Scientists are responsible for participating in the development of logic models and data management plans, ensuring programs can be effectively evaluated and that data is available for evaluation purposes.
• MRE Scientists have primary responsibility for defining the market progress indicators that track progress on logic model outcomes.
• MRE Scientists manage third-party research and evaluation contractors to ensure that projects meet the stated research objectives. This involves development of contract documents, management of contract budgets and timelines, and review of project deliverables (workplan, data collection materials, reports, etc.).
• MRE Scientists are expected to contribute to the MRE team’s functional abilities through participation in continual improvement activities.
• Perform other duties which may be necessary or desirable to support the organization’s success.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position is primarily an individual contributor. This position has no supervisory responsibilities but provides guidance and leadership on specialized areas to internal clients and to less experienced members of the work group.