Tavern Research: Senior Researcher

Tavern Research:
Senior Researcher LOCATION

Chicago, IL, 60606

$145000 - $185000 (Yearly)

Employer-sponsored health insurance offered

Managed Paid Staff, Python, R

Tavern Research

Research

Other

Departmental Staff (a role in a specific department. Ex: Organizer, Finance Assistant, Social Media Manager)

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Senior Researcher

Location: Chicago, IL or Washington, DC

Reports to: Director of Survey Researcher or Principal

About Tavern Research

Tavern Research is a political tech startup building tools and insights to help our customers win elections and make better, evidence-based decisions. We specialize in scaling expert human work, such as content generation and survey research to support thoughtful, data-driven civic engagement. We're a venture-backed, mission-driven, fast-moving, and mostly technical team focused on supporting campaigns and organizations working to strengthen democratic participation.

We are experimental by design and expect every team member to continuously improve how they work using new tools and technology. Everything else is on our website. If you still have questions, let us know when you apply!

About You

You've spent years doing serious political polling, the kind that shapes how campaigns talk to voters and how organizations make decisions that matter. You light up at the chance to tear apart a crosstab, love obsessing over questionnaire wording, and can sniff out a methodological problem long before it turns into a client problem. You believe Democrats can win more if they use data better, and you're hungry to be part of making that happen.

You're not just curious about what AI and new technology can do to the craft of polling; you're genuinely excited to help build what that looks like in practice. If that sounds like the next chapter you've been waiting for, we should talk.

About the Role

You'll be one of Tavern's primary polling voices, running sophisticated studies, owning deliverables, and doing the work that's hard to scale: translating data into sharp, credible guidance on campaigns and policy issues. A big part of this role is editorial: sharpening messaging across a wide range of issues and candidates, pressure-testing findings, and bringing seasoned political judgment to content at every stage of the process.

You’ll work closely with our leadership, research, and product teams, and while the role is primarily internal-facing, you’ll also serve as a trusted backstop for client briefings and press interactions when senior leadership needs backup.

We value in-person work and expect employees based in Chicago to work regularly from our South Loop office. We also welcome remote candidates, ideally based in Washington, DC.

Responsibilities

Research Design & Methodology

• Design and execute polling, ad-testing, message-testing, and audience research studies

• Develop questionnaires and sampling methodologies with strong methodological rigor

• Manage weighting, segmentation, and statistical modeling processes

• Demonstrate fluency in RCTs, Max Diff, conjoint, and other advanced survey designs

• Apply a quality-first mindset, catching problems in the data before they become problems for clients

Data Analysis & Insights

• Synthesize survey results into clear, actionable strategic recommendations

• Identify demographic, geographic, and behavioral trends that shape campaign strategy

• Write, edit, and refine persuasive political messaging translating survey research into language that moves target audiences

• Conduct cross-tab and subgroup analysis with a practiced eye

• Translate findings into written memos, presentations, and briefings that non-experts can act on

Client & External Communication

• Deliver in-depth polling briefings to clients and campaign leadership when needed

• Engage credibly with press when the moment calls for it, because you understand what reporters are looking for

• Represent Tavern's research work with professionalism and political instinct in external settings

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