Post Doctoral Fellow (Skills) - Workforce

Educational Testing Service; Princeton (NJ); On-site; USD 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

BRGs for career growth

Volunteer PTO (up to 8 hours)

Job summary

Educational Testing Service invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellow to advance measurement science of human competencies in the AI era. The role targets early-career scholars who recently earned a doctoral degree and aims to define, validate, and apply readiness and skills assessments across education and work contexts.

The Fellow will contribute to research on durable skills, AI-era capabilities, and career pathways, working with interdisciplinary partners.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. completed within the past three years or expected before start date.
• Strong background in educational measurement, learning sciences, or related fields.
• Experience with construct definitions, evidence-centered design, validity arguments, and competency frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute research projects on human competencies, human-AI collaboration, readiness science, and workforce pathways.
• Develop competency taxonomies, evidence models, and validity arguments for AI-mediated contexts.
• Study how students and workers use AI in complex tasks and decision making; examine readiness for transitions.

Skills

Educational measurement

Learning sciences

Workforce readiness

Human-AI collaboration

Quantitative methods

Qualitative methods

NLP

Python

R

Education

Ph.D. in educational measurement, learning sciences, educational psychology, workforce development, human-AI interaction, AI and education, labor economics, or related field completed within the past three years or expected before the start date

Tools

R

Python

Job description

About ETS:

ETS is a global education and talent solutions organization enabling lifelong learners worldwide to be future-ready. For more than 75 years, we've been advancing the science of measurement to build benchmarks for fair and valid skill assessment across cultures and borders. Our worldwide impact extends through our renowned assessments including TOEFL®, TOEIC®, GRE® and Praxis® tests, serving millions of learners in more than 200 countries and territories. Through strategic acquisitions, we've expanded our global capabilities: PSI strengthens our workforce assessment solutions, while Edusoft, Kira Talent, Pipplet, Vericant, and Wheebox enhance our educational technology and assessment platforms across critical markets worldwide.

Through ETS Research Institute and ETS Solutions, we're partnering with educational institutions, governments, and organizations globally to promote skill proficiency, empower upward mobility, and unlock opportunities for everyone, everywhere. With offices and partners across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas, we deliver nearly 50 million tests annually. Join us in our journey of measuring progress to power human progress worldwide.

Position Summary:

The Postdoctoral Fellow will contribute to a research agenda focused on understanding human competencies in the AI era.

This role is designed for an early-career scholar who has recently completed a doctoral degree and seeks to advance the measurement science of human competencies, human-AI collaboration, skills assessment, readiness, and workforce pathways at the intersection of AI-era work and education. The Fellow will help contribute to projects that define and validate priority human capabilities, study how people use and collaborate with AI in complex education and work tasks, and examine how durable, technical, and emerging AI-era skills can support postsecondary readiness, employment, career transitions, and upward mobility.

The postdoctoral fellowship will be a one-year appointment, with renewal possible contingent on funding

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design and execute research projects on human competencies, human-AI collaboration, readiness science, workforce pathways, and portable evidence of skills.

• Contribute to the development of construct definitions, competency taxonomies, evidence models, indicators, and validity arguments for measuring human capabilities in AI-mediated education and work contexts.

• Study how students, workers, and adult learners use AI in complex problem-solving, decision-making, learning, and work tasks, including what they delegate, verify, revise, and retain.

• Support research on readiness for education-to-workforce transitions, including how durable skills, technical foundations, AI-era capabilities, and prior learning contribute to employment opportunities, job performance, persistence, and upward mobility.

• Analyze competency frameworks, labor-market sources, surveys, interviews, assessment tasks, process data, work samples, or administrative records using quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, or computational approaches.

• Contribute to the development of research-based tools and resources such as capability reports, assessment-paradigm crosswalks, readiness evidence frameworks, skills-based transcript guidance, or portable skills evidence models.

• Collaborate with interdisciplinary researchers and partners across education, workforce, and AI-related research initiatives within and outside of ETS.

• Strong background in one or more areas: educational measurement, learning sciences, educational psychology, workforce readiness, skills assessment, human-AI collaboration, labor‑market analysis, competency-based education, career and technical education, or related fields.

• Experience with construct definition, evidence-centered design, validity arguments, competency frameworks, skill taxonomies, assessment design, or readiness research.

• Experience analyzing survey, interview, assessment, process, administrative, labor-market, or other data.

• Strong quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, computational, or NLP‑related research skills; programming experience in R, Python, or related tools preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to use generative AI responsibly in research processes preferred.

• Ability to translate research findings into practical evidence models, indicators, reports, guidance, and partner-facing materials.

• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to write for scholarly, technical, internal, and external audiences.

• Ability to work collaboratively in diverse, interdisciplinary teams and with external partners.

• Commitment to ethical, valid, equitable, and responsible research practices.

Education and Experience:

• Ph.D. in educational measurement, learning sciences, educational psychology, workforce development, human-AI interaction, AI and education, labor economics, or a related field completed within the past three years or expected before the start date.

ETS is mission driven and action oriented

We are passionate about hiring innovative thinkers who believe in the promise of education and lifelong learning.

We are energized by cultivating growth, innovation, and continuous transformation for the next generation of rising professionals as leaders. In support of this ETS offers multiple Business Resource Groups (BRG) for you to learn and advance your career growth!

As a not-for-profit organization we will encourage you to lean in to your passion for volunteering. At ETS you may qualify for up to an additional 8 hours of PTO for volunteer work on causes that are important to you!

The base salary range advertised represents the low and high end of the anticipated salary range for this position. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate's geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. The base pay is only one aspect of the Total Rewards Package that will be offered to the successful candidate.

ETS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law. We believe in creating a work environment where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity.