Posted today
Top Secret/SCI
Mid Level Career (5+ yrs experience)
Unspecified
Intelligence
College Park, MD (On-Site/Office)
Job Title: Project Lead in Experimental / Human Factors Psychology
Organization: UMD ARLIS University Affiliated Research Center (UARC)
Location: ARLIS/College Park
Clearance: Active or eligible TS/SCI ( poly preferred)
Employment Type: Full-Time, On-Site minimum 3 days per week
Overview
The UARC is seeking an experienced Experimental or Human Factors Psychologist with a strong analytical backbone—someone who can move from structured interviews to advanced mixed-methods analysis, and from complex operational data to validated, defensible system requirements. The role supports national-security R&D inside secure environments, translating real cognitive work and mission constraints into actionable design, acquisition, and evaluation guidance. Project leadership experience is a must.
Key Responsibilities
• Plan and execute structured interviews, contextual inquiry, and observational studies with cleared mission personnel; transform raw qualitative data into structured datasets suitable for statistical and thematic analysis.
• Conduct comprehensive qualitative analyses using coding frameworks, inter-rater reliability checks, and model-driven interpretations of operator behavior.
• Lead quantitative analyses including workload modeling, statistical comparisons, performance measurement, signal detection analyses, task-time decompositions, and multivariate analyses to uncover true drivers of user needs.
• Integrate mixed-methods findings (qual + quant) to generate validated operational requirements and performance metrics.
• Create cognitive task analyses, decision models, error taxonomies, and workload profiles grounded in empirical data.
• Develop program or technology measures and metrics to support, for example, user testing, system integration test and evaluation, and program executive analyses/reporting,
• Develop comprehensive qualitative analysis studies (of document, image corpora, for example),
• Run usability tests with controlled experimental designs; analyze outcomes statistically to determine effect sizes, usability risks, and design tradeoffs.
• Produce analytical reports, visualizations, personas, scenario models, and requirements documents for government sponsors and engineering teams.
• Ensure all data handling, storage, and analysis meet SCI-level protocols and human subjects requirements.
• Work closely with engineering, HCI, data science, and operations research staff to embed human-system performance models into system development and evaluation cycles.
Required Qualifications
• PhD or Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology, Human Factors Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, HCI, or a related field.
• PhD (with 1-5 years experience) or Master’s degree (with 2-7 years experience)
• Demonstrated success as a project lead / technical lead on government contracts, with government stakeholder engagement experience
• Demonstrated leadership of project teams of junior and senior researchers
• Demonstrated expertise in both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, including experience with coding software (NVivo, Dedoose, MAXQDA), statistical tools, and programming languages (R, Python).
• Proven ability to translate analytical findings into system and interface requirements for mission-critical environments.
• Strong foundation in experimental design, psychometrics, human performance modeling, and usability measurement.
• Experience conducting research and analysis in classified environments.
• Active TS/SCI or eligibility to obtain and maintain SCI access.
Organization: UMD ARLIS University Affiliated Research Center (UARC)
Location: ARLIS/College Park
Clearance: Active or eligible TS/SCI ( poly preferred)
Employment Type: Full-Time, On-Site minimum 3 days per week
Overview
The UARC is seeking an experienced Experimental or Human Factors Psychologist with a strong analytical backbone—someone who can move from structured interviews to advanced mixed-methods analysis, and from complex operational data to validated, defensible system requirements. The role supports national-security R&D inside secure environments, translating real cognitive work and mission constraints into actionable design, acquisition, and evaluation guidance. Project leadership experience is a must.
Key Responsibilities
• Plan and execute structured interviews, contextual inquiry, and observational studies with cleared mission personnel; transform raw qualitative data into structured datasets suitable for statistical and thematic analysis.
• Conduct comprehensive qualitative analyses using coding frameworks, inter-rater reliability checks, and model-driven interpretations of operator behavior.
• Lead quantitative analyses including workload modeling, statistical comparisons, performance measurement, signal detection analyses, task-time decompositions, and multivariate analyses to uncover true drivers of user needs.
• Integrate mixed-methods findings (qual + quant) to generate validated operational requirements and performance metrics.
• Create cognitive task analyses, decision models, error taxonomies, and workload profiles grounded in empirical data.
• Develop program or technology measures and metrics to support, for example, user testing, system integration test and evaluation, and program executive analyses/reporting,
• Develop comprehensive qualitative analysis studies (of document, image corpora, for example),
• Run usability tests with controlled experimental designs; analyze outcomes statistically to determine effect sizes, usability risks, and design tradeoffs.
• Produce analytical reports, visualizations, personas, scenario models, and requirements documents for government sponsors and engineering teams.
• Ensure all data handling, storage, and analysis meet SCI-level protocols and human subjects requirements.
• Work closely with engineering, HCI, data science, and operations research staff to embed human-system performance models into system development and evaluation cycles.
Required Qualifications
• PhD or Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology, Human Factors Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, HCI, or a related field.
• PhD (with 1-5 years experience) or Master’s degree (with 2-7 years experience)
• Demonstrated success as a project lead / technical lead on government contracts, with government stakeholder engagement experience
• Demonstrated leadership of project teams of junior and senior researchers
• Demonstrated expertise in both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, including experience with coding software (NVivo, Dedoose, MAXQDA), statistical tools, and programming languages (R, Python).
• Proven ability to translate analytical findings into system and interface requirements for mission-critical environments.
• Strong foundation in experimental design, psychometrics, human performance modeling, and usability measurement.
• Experience conducting research and analysis in classified environments.
• Active TS/SCI or eligibility to obtain and maintain SCI access.
group id: 91122244
