# Senior Research Fellow - Apprenticeship & Workforce Policy

> AlphaHire · United States (Remote) · Contract · Posted 2026-08-31

**Salary:** USD 34,000–154,000

**Workplace:** remote

## Description

**Workforce Intelligence Lab (WIL)** is building a research network focused on workforce policy, labor-market measurement, infrastructure workforce capacity, and causal policy evaluation.

We are seeking a **Senior Research Fellow — Apprenticeship & Workforce Policy** to support current and future externally funded research examining how apprenticeship policy, employer incentives, and workforce-development interventions affect participation, completion, labor supply, wages, and employer demand.

This opportunity is particularly relevant to researchers with experience in **registered apprenticeship, labor economics, workforce development, Career Pathways, employer hiring incentives, or state workforce policy**.

### Current Research Opportunity

WIL is currently developing a quasi-experimental study examining whether state policies that incentivize employers to participate in registered apprenticeship programs produce measurable changes in apprenticeship outcomes and skilled-workforce capacity.

Potential research responsibilities may include:

-   refining the research question and causal estimand;
-   evaluating treatment and comparison-group design;
-   Difference-in-Differences, event-study, synthetic-control, or related quasi-experimental analysis;
-   working with RAPIDS / Apprenticeship.gov and other administrative datasets;
-   integrating BLS, Census, state workforce, and labor-market data;
-   reviewing methodology and threats to identification;
-   contributing to grant proposals and pre-analysis plans;
-   conducting or supervising empirical analysis if the project is funded;
-   contributing to academic manuscripts, research reports, and policy publications.

### Ideal Background

We are particularly interested in candidates with experience in one or more of the following:

-   registered apprenticeship or apprenticeship policy;
-   workforce development or Career Pathways;
-   labor economics or applied microeconomics;
-   employer hiring or workforce incentives;
-   education-to-workforce transitions;
-   state or federal workforce policy;
-   quasi-experimental policy evaluation;
-   administrative labor-market data.

Strong methodological experience may include:

-   Difference-in-Differences;
-   modern event-study methods;
-   synthetic control;
-   regression discontinuity;
-   instrumental variables;
-   panel-data methods;
-   causal inference.

Experience with datasets such as **RAPIDS, CPS, ACS/PUMS, QWI/LEHD, OEWS, QCEW, or other Department of Labor/Census administrative data** is especially relevant.

## Requirements

Preferred candidates will have:

-   Ph.D. or advanced doctoral training in economics, public policy, sociology, education, statistics, or a related quantitative field;
-   demonstrated applied research experience;
-   experience working with large administrative or longitudinal datasets;
-   proficiency in R, Stata, Python, SQL, or comparable research tools;
-   strong written communication and methodological judgment.

Academic affiliation is welcome but not required. We care more about **research quality, methodological fit, and the ability to execute rigorous work** than institutional prestige.

## Benefits

This is a **project-based research opportunity**, not a guaranteed salaried appointment.

Initial participation may include limited research-design, methodology, literature-review, or proposal-development work. Larger research engagements are expected to be **contingent upon external grant or sponsored-project funding**.

Depending on experience and project requirements, selected researchers may be considered for roles such as:

-   Senior Research Fellow
-   Methods Lead
-   Co-Investigator
-   Principal Investigator / Co-Principal Investigator
-   Research Consultant

Any funded role, scope, compensation, institutional involvement, or formal appointment would be established separately.

### About Workforce Intelligence Lab

Workforce Intelligence Lab is an independent nonprofit research organization focused on improving how workforce capacity, labor-market change, hiring demand, compensation pressure, and workforce execution risk are measured and understood.

WIL works with researchers, academic institutions, industry experts, and data partners to produce evidence-driven research intended to support public policy, workforce planning, infrastructure development, and better labor-market decision-making.

### Researcher Network

Applicants may also elect to be considered for future WIL research, grant, publication, and sponsored-project opportunities aligned with their expertise.

## Apply

[Apply at AlphaHire](https://apply.workable.com/alphax/j/6B88292461/apply)

---
Powered by [Workable](https://www.workable.com)