Survey and Data Researcher

Medium; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 93,000 - 109,000; Full time

Job summary

A political tech startup in Chicago seeks an experienced professional in survey research to design and deploy surveys, analyze data, and support political campaigns. The ideal candidate will have 1-4 years of related experience, strong communication and organizational skills, and a passion for making a real impact in a fast-paced environment.

Benefits

Premium health insurance

Unlimited PTO

Office closed for all federal holidays

401k match

Equity

Qualifications

• 1–4 years of experience in survey research, polling, public opinion, or related data-heavy work.
• Familiarity with survey design and experimental design.
• Strong organizational skills and an instinct for building clean, reusable systems.
• Effective communicator when translating data into actionable insights.
• Interest in U.S. political campaigns and issue advocacy.

Responsibilities

• Design and deploy surveys and experiments using Tavern’s proprietary tools.
• Manage survey fielding and data collection from start to finish.
• Build and maintain a searchable database of past survey content.
• Clean and process raw survey data, performing statistical analysis.
• Draft memos and internal documentation communicating results.

Skills

Survey research

Data analysis

R or Python

Communication

AI tools

Job description

Location: Chicago, IL

Office: 3 days/week in South Loop office

Reports to: Client Delivery Lead

Starting Salary: $93,000-$108,500 and equity

About Tavern Research

Tavern Research is a political tech startup that builds tools and insights to help our customers win elections and make better decisions. We specialize in scaling expert human work, like content generation and survey research. We're a venture-backed, mission driven, fast-moving, mostly technical team focused on supporting winning campaigns. Everything else is on our website. If you still have questions, let us know when you apply!

About You

You're someone who doesn't just want to run surveys. You want to understand them. You like questions that are tricky, datasets that are messy, and workflows that need fixing. You probably have a few tabs open right now, and at least one of them is a spreadsheet. You’re organized without being rigid, and opinionated without being difficult.

You might have done this kind of work in polling, campaigns, academia, or another research-heavy environment. Titles don’t matter much to us. What matters is whether you can bring clarity to complex information, spot patterns in data, and help teams make better decisions. You're excited about working in an environment that values both rigor and speed. You want to do work that matters and see it put into use.

About the Role

This role blends applied survey research and experimental design with internal data infrastructure. You’ll help design and field surveys, clean and analyze results, and turn insights into action. At the same time, you’ll build internal systems that make it easier for the team to reuse what we’ve already done—indexing past surveys, organizing messaging insights, and building a knowledge base that supports scale and speed.

This is a role for someone who wants to do real work with real impact. You’ll be part of a team that moves quickly, asks hard questions, and works across disciplines to build tools that actually get used.

Responsibilities

• Design and deploy surveys and experiments using Tavern’s proprietary research tools and methodology
• Manage survey fielding and data collection from start to finish, ensuring accuracy and timeliness
• Build and maintain a structured, searchable database of past survey content, including question wording, metadata, and fielding history
• Catalog and maintain evidence-based messaging insights to support survey design and content generation
• Clean and process raw survey data, including weighting survey data, performing regression analysis and statistical tests, and identifying key takeaways
• Conduct analysis and synthesize findings to support internal teams and client-facing deliverables
• Draft memos, internal documentation, and slide materials that communicate results clearly and effectively
• Streamline workflows and improve efficiency with the assistance of generative AI tools

Qualifications

• 1–4 years of experience in survey research, polling, public opinion, or related data-heavy work
• Familiarity with survey design, experimental design, and polling workflows
• Experience cleaning and wrangling data in R or PythonStrong organizational skills and an instinct for building clean, reusable systems
• Effective communicator, especially when translating data into actionable insightsInterest in (or familiarity with) U.S. political campaigns and issue advocacy
• Experience using AI tools to support and optimize research workflows

To be explicit: you don’t need a degree to work here. You just need to be elite at the things we’re asking from you.

Benefits

• Premium health insurance
• Unlimited PTO
• Office closed for all federal holidays
• 401k match
• Equity

Tavern Research is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.