Senior Behavioral Scientist — Policy & Impact (Remote)

Cayuse Holdings; City of Albany (NY); Remote; USD 160,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance;

Flexible Spending Accounts

Short-Term and Long-Term Disability

Basic Life and AD&D Insurance

Voluntary Life and AD&D options

401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

Paid Time Off

Job summary

Cayuse seeks a Senior Behavioral Scientist to translate behavioral insights into data‑driven policy solutions for federal programs. You will partner with clients and senior data scientists to plan, test, and optimize interventions within governance frameworks.

You will lead cross‑functional teams, mentor junior researchers, and present findings to executive leadership, delivering high‑impact deliverables on schedule.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (master’s or PhD) in Public Policy, Behavioral Economics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Decision Sciences, Human Factors, or a related field.
• 7–10+ years of experience applying behavioral science in organizational, government, consulting, or policy environments.
• Formal training in experimental design, statistical analysis, customer experience, or behavioral research methodologies.
• Demonstrated success designing, implementing, and evaluating behavioral interventions that influence decision‑making, improve program outcomes, or shift organizational behavior.
• Strong working knowledge of experimental design, statistical analysis, and interpretation of quantitative results.
• Experience translating academic research into practical, scalable solutions for complex real‑world problems.
• Demonstrated experience in leading cross‑functional teams to successfully deliver large‑scale data solutions.
• Prior work within public sector, regulated environments, or mission‑driven organizations is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Engage with senior government stakeholders to understand complex business needs, translate them into advanced data engineering and analytics objectives, and develop comprehensive strategies for data integration, transformation, and analysis.
• Strong consultative and relationship‑building abilities; adept at influencing decision‑makers and partnering across agencies or departments.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor junior researchers and guide cross‑functional teams through the behavioral insight process.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams of data scientists, engineers, and analysts to design and deploy innovative data‑driven solutions and ensure seamless integration into operational frameworks.
• Provide technical mentorship and guidance to junior team members, ensuring quality work‑product development and fostering skill development within the team.
• Drive projects independently by demonstrating ownership, accountability, and leadership for deliverables, ensuring timely and high‑quality outcomes.
• Stay at the forefront of industry trends in data engineering, big data tools, and analytics methodologies to continually improve processes and solutions.
• Ability to develop behavioral strategies aligned to organizational priorities and measurable outcomes.
• Competence in managing multiple projects, setting research priorities, and delivering high‑quality insights under tight timelines.
• Comfortable presenting findings to executive leadership and shaping strategic policy or program design.
• Identify behavioral frictions, biases, and decision bottlenecks affecting organizational performance or customer experience.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and translate results into recommendations that inform policy, operations, or strategic direction.
• Other duties as assigned.

Skills

Behavioral science

Public policy

Experimental design

Statistical analysis

Stakeholder communication

Leadership

Cross-functional

Education

Advanced degree

Tools

SAS

R

Tableau

Power BI

Job description

Cayuse seeks a Senior Behavioral Scientist to translate behavioral insights into data‑driven policy solutions for federal programs. You will partner with clients and senior data scientists to plan, test, and optimize interventions within governance frameworks.

You will lead cross‑functional teams, mentor junior researchers, and present findings to executive leadership, delivering high‑impact deliverables on schedule.