Senior Survey Researcher — Methodology & Insights

Mercor; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor, in partnership with a leading AI research organisation, seeks experienced survey professionals to evaluate and improve sophisticated survey‑based research for decision‑useful insights. You will review design quality, assess bias risks, and ensure respondent fairness across diverse populations.

Ideal candidates have designed and fielded surveys, understand common survey errors, and can provide structured rationales for methodological improvements, including evaluation of AI‑generated

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience in survey research, market research, consumer insights, behavioural science, UX research, or a closely related field.
• Meaningful hands-on experience designing and/or fielding surveys professionally.
• Strong understanding of questionnaire design and common sources of survey error and bias.
• Experience working with respondent panels, sampling strategies, screeners, quotas, or survey fieldwork is highly valuable.
• Ability to critically evaluate survey methodology rather than execute a predefined questionnaire.
• Strong written communication skills and the ability to explain why a survey design decision is methodologically strong or weak.
• High attention to detail and comfort making nuanced judgments with incomplete or ambiguous information.
• Experience with platforms such as Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, Alchemer, Decipher/Forsta, QuestionPro, or similar research tools is helpful but not required.

Responsibilities

• Review and evaluate surveys for methodological quality, clarity, and fitness for purpose.
• Assess survey questions for issues such as leading language, ambiguity, double-barreled questions, response-option problems, ordering effects, and respondent burden.
• Evaluate screeners, eligibility criteria, survey flows, skip/display logic, scales, and questionnaire structure.
• Identify potential sources of sampling, measurement, response, and selection bias.
• Assess whether surveys are likely to generate reliable and interpretable data from the intended respondent population.
• Review approaches to survey fielding, respondent recruitment, quotas, sample composition, and data-quality controls.
• Apply practical research judgment to ambiguous survey-design problems where there may not be a single objectively correct answer.
• Provide clear, structured rationales explaining methodological issues and recommended improvements.
• Help evaluate AI-generated survey content and research reasoning against professional research standards.

Skills

Survey research

Market research

Consumer insights

Behavioural science

UX research

Tools

Qualtrics

SurveyMonkey

Alchemer

Decipher/Forsta

QuestionPro

Job description

Mercor, in partnership with a leading AI research organisation, seeks experienced survey professionals to evaluate and improve sophisticated survey‑based research for decision‑useful insights. You will review design quality, assess bias risks, and ensure respondent fairness across diverse populations.

Ideal candidates have designed and fielded surveys, understand common survey errors, and can provide structured rationales for methodological improvements, including evaluation of AI‑generated