Research Assistant

Role Overview

The Institute for Justice is hiring an entrepreneurial Research Assistant to join its Strategic Research team at headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. This position supports research that informs litigation and advocacy aimed at exposing government abuse and advancing individual rights.

What You’ll Do

You will help produce social science and policy research by finding, collecting, and structuring data; handling public records requests; performing literature reviews; and checking datasets for accuracy and consistency. The work supports research products used by journalists, lawmakers, advocates, and courts.

Key Qualifications

The ideal candidate has a bachelor’s degree, preferably in the social sciences, and is comfortable working with Excel. Exposure to Stata, R, Python, or SPSS is an advantage. This role calls for hands-on experience with quantitative data, including obtaining and working with datasets from census, crime, labor, and other public or private sources; gathering original information through FOIA/public records requests, agency outreach, web scraping, and review of statutes, regulations, legislation, and government documents; manual data entry and qualitative coding; and cleaning, merging, and organizing data for analysis.

You should also be able to locate and summarize both scholarly and non-scholarly sources to support research questions or generate new ideas. Strong descriptive statistics skills are important, and familiarity with inferential statistics is a plus. Success in this role also requires independence, careful attention to detail, reliability with deadlines, and the ability to collaborate effectively while staying motivated on long research assignments.

Benefits

The position includes a hybrid schedule, flexible working hours with core hours from 10am to 4pm, a smart casual dress code with casual Fridays, full medical coverage for individual premiums under the health, dental, and vision plans, free short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance, HSA employer contributions, a 401(k) with employer match, and generous paid time off that includes a personal day and 12 paid holidays.

How to Apply

Applicants should submit a resume, a writing sample, and a cover letter explaining how their background will help them succeed in this role. The application should also reflect interest in the Institute for Justice’s mission and include any relevant alignment with its values.

About the Team

The Strategic Research team creates data-driven social science and policy research that is actively used in litigation, communications, and legislative outreach. Its work has been referenced by the White House, the U.S. Supreme Court, and major national news organizations, and has supported outcomes such as successful class action litigation involving civil forfeiture, recovery of wrongfully seized funds, reform of occupational licensing, and protection of school choice programs.

Equal Opportunity and Encouragement to Apply

The organization is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are encouraged to apply even if they do not meet every listed qualification, as the team values a diverse workplace and recognizes that applicants may bring strong potential even without matching every requirement exactly.

Additional Notes

No phone calls are requested. The role is based in Arlington, Virginia.