Research Methodology Analyst (Remote)

📋 Description

• • Shape the future of consumer and small-business decision-making by owning the data backbone that powers Forbes Advisor’s trusted rankings. As a Research & Methodology Analyst you will design, stress-test, and continuously refine the scoring systems that millions of readers rely on to choose mortgages, insurance, software, and financial services.
• • Own end-to-end data integrity for 100+ ranking categories. You will ingest raw feeds from partners, scrape public data, and harmonize disparate sources into a single, auditable truth set. Expect to wrangle spreadsheets with 50k–200k rows, build pivot-driven validation dashboards, and surface anomalies before they reach production.
• • Architect and document bullet-proof scoring logic. You will translate business rules into weighted algorithms, run Monte-Carlo simulations to test edge cases, and publish living methodology guides that editorial, SEO, and compliance teams can understand at a glance.
• • Lead rigorous QA cycles before every ranking refresh. You will create test harnesses that compare new model outputs against baselines, flag rank reversals >5 positions, and sign off only when statistical significance and editorial intuition both align.
• • Drive continuous improvement through experimentation. You will A/B test alternative weightings, introduce new sentiment or pricing signals, and quantify uplift in click-through or revenue per visit so stakeholders see the dollar impact of your tweaks.
• • Translate complex findings into crisp narratives. You will craft 1-page executive briefs, build interactive Data Studio dashboards, and present monthly “voice of the data” sessions that turn numbers into strategic actions for product and content teams.
• • Collaborate across SEO, Editorial, Data Engineering, and UX squads. You will join sprint planning, translate ranking requirements into Jira tickets, and unblock teammates with clear data dictionaries and code snippets that accelerate delivery.
• • Monitor industry and regulatory trends to future-proof our models. You will scan CFPB updates, ISO standards, and academic literature, then propose methodology patches that keep Forbes Advisor compliant and best-in-class.
• • Mentor junior analysts and champion a culture of reproducible research. You will enforce Git-based version control for SQL queries, template Google Sheets with protected ranges, and run lunch-and-learns on advanced Excel array formulas.
• • Champion user-centric insights via lightweight surveys. While the core focus is quantitative, you will occasionally field 5-question Qualtrics polls to capture qualitative pain points, then fold sentiment scores into ranking factors for richer context.