Research Associate, Grad/PhD

Economic Architecture is a mission-driven nonprofit focused on driving change at the structural level. We address the most stubborn challenges impacting society, particularly those that affect the most vulnerable communities. Economic Architecture is dedicated to the premise that we can and should (re)design our markets to serve the public good. When we do, we have the potential to tap into the drive, ambition, and ingenuity of market participants to solve problems of historic proportion. 

Since launching only a year ago, we have focused on closing the racial wealth gap by making home ownership more accessible and sustainable. This is just the first of many structural economic challenges we plan to address in the coming years. 

Our work includes: 

• Fostering structural innovations: Collaborate with innovators across the country to bring structural innovations to fruition. 

• Designing structural innovations: Design, build and launch structural innovations with the potential to use the market to address large social problems. 

• Understanding structural innovations: Drive a growing awareness and understanding of when and how to (re)design the market to improve people’s lives. 

What you can expect from our summer research program  

• Researching existing centers to help build strategy for new development 

• Stakeholder meetings with various partner organizations 

• Hybrid schedule with in-person opportunities in Washington DC 

What you will observe, learn about and assist our teams to accomplish  

• Learn about Economic Architecture as a new emerging field and how our work with innovators is redesigning the market to serve the public good  

• Actively contribute to team brainstorms and discussions and to move rapidly between collaborative work and independent research 

• Implement targeted outreach strategies to connect with organizations and community stakeholders.   

• Collecting data on existing research institutes and centers that have similar aims, focusing on their mission, structure, and internal operations. 

• Assisting the project leaders in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of these centers. 

• Conducting a review on the literature concerning the creation of research centers and think tanks and the evaluation of their performances. 

• Synthesizing and communicating results of the analysis concisely. 

• Assisting the project leaders with the elaboration of the general framework underlying the mission of the research center. 

• Assisting the project leaders with the specification of the criteria to be met for the center to achieve its goals. 

• Assisting the project leaders in the center’s designing phase. 

What background and experience should an Associate have?  

In general, successful candidates will have experience with detailed research and analysis as well as with the citizen sector (social sector, not-for-profit, social entrepreneurship). 

More specific requirements include: 

• Masters, Doctorate or other graduate-level student  

• Some exposure to one or more of the following:  

• Public Policy  

• International Development  

• Diverse for-profit business models  

• Social Entrepreneurship, Social Impact, and/or Innovation  

• Economics, Law, Philosophy, Sociology,and/or other discipline with an emphasis on economies   

• Familiarity with qualitative analysis 

Job Type: Full-time, hybrid 

Experience level: Graduate Student Preferred 

Schedule: Monday to Friday