Household Finance Researcher

About the Role

Discover and share breakthrough behavioral insights using one of the largest investor datasets in the world. The Investment Strategy Group (ISG) is a global team that serves as Vanguard’s in-house think tank, with subject matter experts based in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. The team produces industry-leading research to help shape perspectives, plays a central role in developing Vanguard’s investment and advice methodology, and informs decisions about our investment offerings and strategies.

As the Behavioral Economics Team within ISG, we aim to discover, share, and apply breakthrough insights about investor behavior to drive better decisions and outcomes for all investors. We are seeking a behavioral scientist to conduct research and experiments to deepen our understanding of how investors think, feel, and behave. Your work will generate thought leadership with applications to media, public policy, and the academic research community. You’ll have the opportunity to work with senior business partners to inform Vanguard products and services as well as collaborate on surveys and experiments to understand how and why investors think and behave as they do.

In this role you will leverage one of the largest investor datasets in the world, including rich administrative data on millions of self-directed retail investors, advised clients, and retirement plan participants. Vanguard has incredible people and an inspiring mission: To take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success. If you are interested in making a positive impact on the long-term financial security of households across the globe and have a passion for data, research, and working in teams, this is a great opportunity for you.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research that is scientifically rigorous, relevant to millions of investors, timely and impactful.
• Analyze administrative data, surveys, experiments, third-party and public datasets, distilling data into compelling visualizations and “killer charts” to tell differentiated stories.
• Help shape Vanguard’s house views on behavioral economics, household finance, investment advice, and public policy.
• Distill insights into high-impact written materials, including research memos, articles, blog posts, white papers, and academic journal publications.
• Serve as an ambassador for Vanguard by presenting your research to a wide range of audiences, from internal business partners to investors, advisors, and industry and academic conferences.
• Provide consultation services and act as a subject matter expert on behavioral economics.
• Prepare and deliver insight presentations and action recommendations.
• Communicate complex analytical findings and implications to business partners in ways that inform Vanguard products and services.
• Conduct rapid data analytics to support Vanguard’s response to media and regulator inquiries.
• Keep up with the latest trends in behavioral economics, identifying new ways to amplify research rigor and impact.
• Work with academic partners in research collaborations.
• Participate in group discussions designed to identify and debate investment issues and potential research projects.
• Develop recommendations on new research topics or methodology issues.
• Proactively identify opportunities to enhance team research capabilities, such as new data sources or analytic techniques.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (Masters or Doctoral) in Psychology, Economics, Decision Sciences, or a related quantitative field required. Doctoral degree (Ph.D.) preferred.
• Experience conducting, writing, and publishing research on behavioral economics, household finance, and/or investing strongly preferred.
• Proven experience writing code to access, transform, and analyze data (Python preferred).
• Experience working with administrative data and AWS tools preferred (Athena and Sagemaker).
• Intellectual curiosity and a pa