Sustainability Design Researcher — Build Low-Carbon Spaces

LPA, Inc.

Irvine (CA)

On-site

USD 90,000 - 130,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Mentorship

Professional development grants

LPA+U courses

Volunteer time

Habitat for Humanity projects

Professional development fund

Job summary

LPA, Inc. is seeking a Design Researcher to join the Sustainability + Applied Research team in Irvine. The role focuses on applying research to real-world design challenges in built and natural environments, across market sectors.

The candidate will conduct literature reviews, develop briefs, and translate findings into actionable insights for designers and clients, driving measurable outcomes and advancing sustainable design practices.

Qualifications

MS or PhD in environmental psychology, applied research, design research, social science, data science, or a related field.
Proficiency in Microsoft Project and Excel.
Strong written communication and verbal presentation skills.
Experience with mixed-methods research.
Experience with online research tools.
Experience conducting literature searches or literature reviews.
Basic descriptive statistical or data analysis experience.
Data visualization or other graphic skills for communication of data.
Awareness of current research ethics and equity, diversity, and inclusion topics.
Entrepreneurial energy, comfortable with some ambiguity.
Proactive attitude, prepared to ask questions, and always looking for opportunities to improve.

Responsibilities

Conduct literature reviews to gather, evaluate, and synthesize multidisciplinary research in response to project and research questions.
Develop research briefs, presentations, visuals, and other resources that translate research findings into clear, digestible insights and practical implications.
Look across projects and research findings to identify recurring patterns, opportunities, and questions worth investigating further.
Help build LPA's internal research knowledge base, making previous studies, findings, and resources easier for teams to access and reuse.
Help develop and refine research tools and methodologies that can be used consistently across projects.
Support and facilitate pre-design research and stakeholder engagement, including surveys, interviews, workshops, and other methods for understanding user needs and behaviors.
Support and coordinate post-occupancy evaluations (POEs), including outreach, data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Analyze qualitative and quantitative data to identify patterns, themes, and meaningful findings.
Work with design teams to establish measurable project goals and identify ways to evaluate design outcomes.
Explore creative approaches to investigating research questions when established methods or data are not readily available.
Communicate research findings and lessons learned through internal presentations and, as experience grows, external publications, presentations, and thought leadership.
Perform other duties as applicable.