How to hire a senior behavioral scientist

How to hire a senior behavioral scientist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior behavioral scientist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a senior behavioral scientist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior behavioral scientist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The senior behavioral scientist hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a senior behavioral scientist to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a senior behavioral scientist that fits the bill.

   This list presents senior behavioral scientist salaries for various positions.

   Type of Senior Behavioral Scientist	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Behavioral Scientist	Psychologists study cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior by observing, interpreting, and recording how people relate to one another and their environments.	$33-81
   Industrial/Organizational Psychologist	The productivity of an organization is the sum of that of every individual in that organization, and the psychological state of these individuals is a major determinant their productivity. Thus, an industrial/organizational psychologist is tasked with improving the overall work environment by improving the mental state of the employees... Show more	$29-65
   Scientist	A scientist is responsible for researching and analyzing the nature and complexities of the physical world to identify discoveries that would improve people's lives and ignite scientific knowledge for society. Scientists' duties differ in their different areas of expertise, but all of them must have a broad comprehension of scientific disciplines and methods to support their experiments and investigations... Show more	$32-67

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • R
   • Vital Signs
   • Social Services
   • Group Therapy
   • Human Factors

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage technology transfer for clinical API supply delivery.
   • Develop sophisticated visualization tool to facilitate rapid and interactive sequence analysis through graphical representation of genomic sequence and relate information.
   • Analyze effectiveness of counter-y influence initiatives for enhance detainee exploitation and dissemination among DOD detainee populations.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your senior behavioral scientist job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A senior behavioral scientist salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, senior behavioral scientists' average salary in hawaii is 61% less than in illinois.
   • Seniority. Entry-level senior behavioral scientists earn 59% less than senior-level senior behavioral scientists.
   • Certifications. A senior behavioral scientist with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a senior behavioral scientist's salary.

   Average senior behavioral scientist salary

   $108,481yearly

   $52.15 hourly rate

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   Entry-level senior behavioral scientist salary

   $69,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 23, 2026

4. Writing a senior behavioral scientist job description

   A senior behavioral scientist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a senior behavioral scientist job description:

   Senior behavioral scientist job description example

   The Apple Media Products Engineering team is one of the most exciting examples of Apple's long-held passion for combining art and technology. These are the people who power the App Store, Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Books. And they do it on a massive scale, meeting Apple's high expectations with high performance to deliver a huge variety of entertainment in over 35 languages to more than 150 countries.
   
   The Apple Media Products Evaluation team is looking for a Senior Behavioral Scientist to design, coordinate, execute, and monitor research studies which enable the development and validation of machine learning models. Moreover, the person in this role will work to identify new and innovative opportunities to apply behavioral science and achieve impact.
   
   Behavioral Scientists work to answer the most challenging questions in design. In this role, you will reveal what our users need from our products by conducting both primary and secondary research, exploring the behaviors and motivations of our users, and working with teams of Data Scientists, Product Managers, Engineers, and others to develop new evaluation methodologies and user research studies. You'll inspire change at all stages of product development by delivering exciting oral, written, and visual presentations about our findings. Most importantly, your job as a researcher is to help the Evaluation team understand what would make a user's experiences feel more intuitive, accessible, fun-and even magical!
   
   With considerable experience, you evaluate all the features contributing to user experience and behavior, providing expertise, collaborating internally and occasionally leading projects. You contribute new processes and identify product and use requirements.
   
   You will combine broad skills in experimental design, qualitative methods, statistical analysis, programming, and behavioral science theory/methods to shape the product and research direction for products used and loved by all Apple customers.
   
   You will identify and quantify problems, and embark on new research areas worth exploring through innovative methods by applying principles of rigorous and ethical research to build and improve products that satisfy users' needs and exceed their expectations.
   Key Qualifications
   
   * Experience applying behavioral science principles and methodologies in an industry, government, or nonprofit setting
   * Expertise in applied qualitative methods (e.g., interview, focus groups, thematic analysis).
   * Strong foundation in data collection, data management, statistical inference, and the application of advanced multivariate/causal modeling methods
   * Expertise in experimental design and methods from A/B tests to multi-method behavioral science experiments, including field experiments
   * Experience with survey design and analysis (specifically for the purposes of experimental and quantitative analysis)
   * Fluent in at least one statistical programming language (E.g., R, Python, or similar); basic competency with SQL is a plus
   * Comfort working within ambiguous problem spaces and working as part of a cross-functional team
   * Ability to formulate and advocate for R&D objectives and results to cross-functional team members including executive business leadership and product management
   * Knowledge of product development process for both hardware and software products, including data driven algorithm development process
   * Exceptional oral, written, and visual storytelling skills. Can effectively communicate to both technical and non-technical audiences
   * Ability to translate research findings into actionable data-driven recommendations
   * Preferred qualification: Coding experience and working knowledge in machine learning concepts
   * Preferred qualification: Established contributor and/or reviewer of research for top conferences and publications, ideally attracting invited talks and submissions to such
   
   Description
   
   Examine existing data, product designs, and prior research to identify research gaps.
   
   Work on unusually complex technical problems, providing solutions that are highly innovative and inventive, impacting Apple and/or industry
   
   Maintain up-to-date knowledge of academic research and attend conferences that are relevant to problems machine learning teams are working on, and determine approaches to apply that research to our work
   
   Find opportunities to improve the capabilities we deliver in terms of revenue and profitability, performance, explainability, stability, robustness, etc.
   
   Work with team leadership to set research and development roadmap to deliver benefit to Evaluation, designing and suggesting improvements across multiple domains
   
   Disseminate behavioral science concepts and frameworks via workshops, presentations, and collaboration
   
   Communicate at all levels of the company, presenting hypotheses, proposals, and experimental results, and making valuable contributions to the discussion of such contributions from colleagues in internal, Apple wide, and external professional settings
   
   Draw on behavioral science literature to advise the team in taking scientifically informed and well-considered risks in our pursuit of solutions to difficult technical problems
   
   Navigate across Apple, pulling in peers where needed and providing valuable expertise across the company
   
   Education & Experience
   
   PhD or Master's degree (PhD preferred) in Psychology, Behavioral Science/Economics, Cognitive Science, Statistics, Social Science, Human-Computer Interaction or related field.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find senior behavioral scientists for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any senior behavioral scientists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level senior behavioral scientists with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your senior behavioral scientist job on Zippia to find and recruit senior behavioral scientist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with senior behavioral scientist candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior behavioral scientist

   Once you have selected a candidate for the senior behavioral scientist position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new senior behavioral scientist first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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