Fellow

Character Lab is seeking applications from recent graduates, with no more than two years of professional experience, to join our team for a year-long fellowship program. We especially encourage applicants who identify as Black, Latinx, Native American, Asian and/or LGBTQ+ to apply for this full-time, salaried Fellow position. People who identify as part of these groups have been historically underrepresented at Character Lab, and this fellowship is one of several ways we are working to bring more diverse voices to our organization.

As a Fellow, you will receive an introduction to all aspects of Character Lab by supporting various departments, and have opportunities to discover what field of work aligns with your interests while rapidly developing new skills.

During this fellowship, you will report to Tara Taylor, who leads Design Thinking at Character Lab. She will guide you in your exploration of all departments at Character Lab. She will act as a mentor throughout the program and support your subsequent job search or placement into a new role at Character Lab at the conclusion of the fellowship.

The ideal candidate is an adaptable, critical thinker who takes initiative in everything they do. Additionally, they are able to successfully manage multiple projects at once, exhibit strong time management, and demonstrate highly effective communication to thrive within our small and dynamic team. Recent graduates with backgrounds in any field of study and work are encouraged to apply.

About Character Lab

Founded in 2013 by two educators (Dave Levin and Dominic Randolph) and one scientist (Angela Duckworth), Character Lab is a nonprofit dedicated to advancing scientific insights that help kids thrive. By connecting researchers with educators, Character Lab seeks to create greater knowledge about the conditions that lead to social, emotional, academic, and physical well-being for young people throughout the country. To learn more, go to www.characterlab.org.

Job Responsibilities:

Your responsibilities and projects will be dependent on Character Lab’s priorities, and over time, your individual interests. You will be responsible for:

• Being flexible and willing to support any department at Character Lab
• Engaging in and driving your professional development throughout the fellowship with the support of your manager
• Additional responsibilities as assigned

You will support the work of various departments within Character Lab to help achieve our goals and accomplish our mission of advancing scientific insights to help kids thrive. A high-level summary of each department’s function within Character Lab is described below:

• School Partnerships
  • Manage all school partnership functions: research activity days, troubleshooting, writing supporting documentation and communication, etc.
  • Recruit and retain schools and district partners according to nationally representative sample of students and districts
• Research Partnerships
  • Manage all research functions: IRB protocol, Qualtrics programming, compliance checks, data management and support research facilitation
  • Recruit and retain both high-impact and under-represented research partners
  • Increase the quality of research (e.g. open science initiatives)
• Revenue Operations
  • Implement a scalable and predictable revenue strategy
  • Align fee-for-service, scalable technology, marketing, and customer success functions
  • Drive and lead all aspects of sales and marketing operations from process optimization, technology stack, lead-to-deal processes, proposals and sales enablement
• Strategic Partnerships
  • Identify and cultivate prospective strategic partners
  • Work internally and in collaboration with partner organizations to operationalize and manage partnership models
• User Experience
  • Foster user-centered innovation across the organization through user research, ideation, and prototyping
  • Develop and improve digital products that increase ease of use and add value for users
• Finance and Operations
  • Manage organizational finances and ensure compliance and sustainability
  • Support operations functions (technology, facilities, HR, etc.)

Job Requirements

Character Lab understands that job requirements sometimes exclude historically marginalized groups, such as BIPOC individuals or those who identify as LGBTQ+, from applying to jobs for which they are qualified. Even if you don’t meet 100% of the specific requirements listed below, or if you achieved these requirements through unconventional channels, we encourage you to apply.

• Completed Bachelor’s degree
• Demonstrated track record of achievement
• No more than 2 years of professional experience
• Strong passion for our organization’s mission and culture
• Highly effective interpersonal communication, collaboration, presentation, and writing skills
• Exceptional critical thinking skills
• Excellent organizational and project management skills
• Strong attention to detail
• Fierce work ethic and sense of purpose, with the ability to work well as part of a dynamic start-up

Physical Demands/Environmental Factors

• Prolonged and irregular hours of duty, as necessary.
• Some light-to-medium level of manual labor (e.g., preparing mailings, moving boxes of materials).

Location

Character Lab has a Distributed Work policy, which means that we fully support employees working remotely from any US location. Employees decide whether to work remotely or on-site at our office headquarters in Philadelphia.

Character Lab strives to ensure our culture and operations support all staff equitably. We support effective office environments for all staff, whether in our headquarters, a local coworking space, or a home office.

Application Process

Character Lab is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages a diverse pool of candidates from underrepresented groups to apply. Please submit a compelling cover letter with your resume.

The proposed start date for this role is July 18th, 2022.

Compensation and Benefits

Competitive salary is commensurate with an individual’s experience and skills. All full-time employees receive a comprehensive benefits package. The annual salary range for this position is $50,000-$60,000.