Empirical Researcher - School of Law

Salary range:
The UC academic salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and step at appointment. See the following table(s) for the current salary scale(s) for this position: https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2025-26/represented-july-2025-scales/t24-b.pdf. The current base salary range for this position is $55,000 - $79,200. "Off-scale" salaries, which yield compensation that is higher than the published system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary to meet competitive conditions.

Percent time:
100%

Anticipated start:
Summer 2026

Position duration:
One-year term position, with the possibility of renewal.

The UC Berkeley School of Law is searching for a researcher to work with faculty doing empirical legal research. Researchers will work for 1-2 years with multiple UC Berkeley Law faculty members. Work involves potentially the full scope of activities involved in quantitative empirical scholarship: creating and cleaning datasets, writing and executing code to generate results, creating tables and figures of results, writing and presenting research papers, and generally working to assist descriptive analysis as well as the study of the effects of law and policy.

Applicants will receive mentoring from faculty within a tight-knit research community at UC Berkeley Law and will have access to a broad range of activities at UC Berkeley. This is a good opportunity for candidates interested in spending 1-2 years developing research skills in anticipation of attending law school and/or PhD programs in the social sciences. As such, in addition to providing research mentorship, faculty will help researchers to engage in additional education and training, such as auditing courses, attending research seminars, etc.

Key responsibilities include:

• Collect data through policy research and web scraping (typically in Python)
• Clean and manage large datasets
• Conduct statistical analyses of data using Stata, R, and/or Python
• Prepare literature reviews, background research, and other content for grant proposals and academic papers
• Draft project reports, research protocols, and other project documents

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)

• Bachelor's degree (or equivalent international degree) or current enrollment in a bachelor's degree (or equivalent international degree) program

Additional qualifications (required at time of start)

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent international degree.

Preferred qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in economics, Finance, Political Science, Public Policy, Accounting, Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics or similar field requiring substantial quantitative coursework.
• Proficiency programming in more than one of Python, R, Stata, and SQL
• Experience writing in Markdown and LaTeX
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)
• Prior experience as a research assistant or fellow in the fields of economics or political science is a plus.

• 3 required (contact information only)

Apply link:
https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05264

UC Berkeley is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in our public mission of research, teaching, and service, consistent with UC Regents Policy 4400 and University of California Academic Personnel policy (APM 210 1-d). These values are embedded in our Principles of Community, which reflect our passion for critical inquiry, debate, discovery and innovation, and our deep commitment to contributing to a better world. Every member of the UC Berkeley community has a role in sustaining a safe, caring and humane environment in which these values can thrive.

The University of California, Berkeley is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status.

For more information, please refer to the University of California's Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment Policy and the University of California's Anti-Discrimination Policy.

In searches when letters of reference are required all letters will be treated as confidential per University of California policy and California state law. Please refer potential referees, including when letters are provided via a third party (i.e., dossier service or career center), to the UC Berkeley statement of confidentiality prior to submitting their letter.

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.

Unless stated otherwise, unambiguously, in the position description, this position does not include sponsorship of a new consular H-1B visa petition that would require payment of the $100,000 supplemental fee.

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct.

• "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment or discrimination, as defined by the employer.
• UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
• UC Anti-Discrimination Policy
• APM - 035: Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment

Berkeley, CA