Columbia Business School is seeking to hire a Staff Associate of research for the Decision, Risk, and Operations (DRO) Division. The work will include quantitative and qualitative research and analysis involving the collection, coordination, and management of information and data, development and implementation of computer models and simulations, development of research materials (figures, presentations, papers, etc.) and work on special projects relating to pertinent fields of research within the division.
Project Specific
Columbia Business School is seeking to hire Research Staff Associates for its new Digital Twins Lab. The position involves conducting research on understanding, monitoring, and developing new methodologies for using large language models and AI agents for simulation, with an emphasis on ensuring that these technologies are used responsibly for testing and experimentation and adhere to ethical and compliance standards.
The work will include quantitative and qualitative research and analysis involving the collection, coordination, and management of information and data, development and implementation of computer models and simulations, development of research materials (figures, presentations, papers, etc.) and work on special projects relating to pertinent fields of research within the lab. The work will also involve managing the lab’s operations, e.g., scheduling and managing regular lab meetings.
Duties, Qualifications, and Application Instructions
This position provides an opportunity to gain experience in academic business research, with a special focus on computational social science and generative AI; and it would be ideal preparation for a PhD program or other graduate study.
Specific duties include:
- Maintain, develop, document and execute pipelines for digital twin simulations.
- Develop and run studies on human participants.
- Maintain the lab’s website.
- Coordinate the lab’s digital twin competition, where multiple teams of researchers will compete on predicting responses to various studies submitted by companies, using synthetic data.
- Develop models and implement program code (mostly Python).
- Perform statistical analysis, including regression analysis and machine learning techniques.
- Assist with data analysis and dissemination of findings through the preparation of reports, journal articles, presentations, websites, and other research outlets.
- Perform case-based research, including work with detailed primary documents.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in a quantitative discipline such as Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, etc. Some additional background in social science (e.g., Economics, Psychology) and/or business (e.g., Marketing) would be preferred.
- At least 6 months of experience in a research role or as a research assistant would be preferred.
- Programming experience in Python is required.
- Proficiency in Github, and coding agents such as Cursor and Claude Code are also strongly preferred.
- Familiarity with Model Context Protocol (MCP) also preferred.
- Familiarity with statistical tools such as linear regression is required.
- Demonstrated exceptional written and oral communications skills needed - a writing sample is required.
- Expertise in processing large volumes of data and algorithm design expertise.
- Familiarity with text parsing and analysis (natural language processing) and/or machine learning techniques is preferred.
- Candidate must be able to work on multiple projects simultaneously.
Application Instructions
Applications should submit:
- CV
- Cover letter
- Transcripts
- Writing sample
- Three letters of reference
Application deadline: Rolling
Anticipated start date: The role will begin on or after February 16, 2026