Behavioral Scientist / Economist – Investor Behavior Team

Behavioral Scientist / Economist – Investor Behavior Team

Discover and share breakthrough 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 Investor Behavior 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.

In this role you will… 

• 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 investor behavior, household finance, investment advice, and public policy. Distill insights into high-impact written materials, including research memos, articles, blog posts, and white papers.
• 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 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 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.

What it takes 

• Undergraduate degree in Psychology, Economics, Decision Sciences, or a related field required. Doctoral degree (Ph.D.) preferred.
• Experience conducting research on investor behavior, financial decision making, or household finance strongly preferred.
• Proven experience conducting, writing, and publishing scientific research on one or more of the following topics required: Emotion, behavioral biases, choice architecture, preference elicitation, risk tolerance, financial mistakes.
• Intellectual curiosity and a passion for generating and pursuing “big ideas” for “aha” insights through research.
• Team-first orientation and openness to learning new ideas, skills, and ways of working with a diverse set of teammates.
• Proven experience writing code to access, transform, and prepare large scale data for analytics and modeling.
• Experience working with administrative data and AWS tools (Athena and Sagemaker) and coding in Python preferred.
• Minimum of five years related work experience in research roles or equivalent educational experience.

Special Factors 

• This is a hybrid role based in Malvern, Pennsylvania: Tues, Wed, Thurs in the office and Mon, Fri optionally remote.

Special Factors

Sponsorship

Vanguard is offering visa sponsorship for this position.

About Vanguard

We are Vanguard. Together, we’re changing the way the world invests.

For us, investing doesn’t just end in value. It starts with values. Because when you invest with courage, when you invest with clarity, and when you invest with care, you can get so much more in return. We invest with purpose – and that’s how we’ve become a global market leader. Here, we grow by doing the right thing for the people we serve. And so can you.

We want to make success accessible to everyone. This is our opportunity. Let’s make it count.

Inclusion Statement

Vanguard’s continued commitment to diversity and inclusion is firmly rooted in our culture. Every decision we make to best serve our clients, crew (internally employees are referred to as crew), and communities is guided by one simple statement: “Do the right thing.”

We believe that a critical aspect of doing the right thing requires building diverse, inclusive, and highly effective teams of individuals who are as unique as the clients they serve. We empower our crew to contribute their distinct strengths to achieving Vanguard’s core purpose through our values.

When all crew members feel valued and included, our ability to collaborate and innovate is amplified, and we are united in delivering on Vanguard's core purpose.

Our core purpose: To take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success.

How We Work

Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for the majority of our crew members, designed to capture the benefits of enhanced flexibility while enabling in-person learning, collaboration, and connection. We believe our mission-driven and highly collaborative culture is a critical enabler to support long-term client outcomes and enrich the employee experience.