Predoctoral Fellowship--Opportunity Insights

Predoctoral Fellowship--Opportunity Insights

Company: Harvard University

Job Location: Cambridge, 02138

Category: Economics

Type: Full-Time

School: Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Department/Area: Opportunity Insights

Position Description

Opportunity Insights (OI) at Harvard University is hiring several full-time predoctoral fellows to start in Summer 2026 to work with our research group and under the direction of Raj Chetty, John Friedman, and Nathan Hendren. OI is a nonpartisan research and policy institute focused on improving economic opportunity. Founded in 2018, OI has become a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the science of economic mobility and in the use of large administrative data to understand and address inequality. OI has published seminal work on national trends in upward mobility; racial disparities; the role of neighborhoods, social capital, credit, and higher education in upward mobility; and the use of private-sector data to understand disparate impacts in the recent economic recession and recovery. Much of the team's ongoing research uses quasi-experimental methods to identify causal effects and test the predictions of economic and sociological models. Examples of current research projects include: long-term impacts of neighborhoods and place-based policies, the role of colleges and workforce training in upward mobility, and measuring how social networks affect mobility. OI's work has shaped policy discussions at the national and local level, with nearly a dozen of its studies covered on the front pages of major media outlets, such as the New York Times, The Economist, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, and have been widely cited in policy discussions.

Fellows will be based at Harvard or Brown Universities under the direction of Professors Chetty, Friedman, and Hendren. The fellowship will include a variety of tasks that provide preparation for graduate school or other industry research positions, such as analyzing data, developing statistical models, creating presentations, and editing research papers. In addition to working with OI faculty, predoctoral fellows frequently co-author papers with other students or faculty members. Fellows will interact regularly with professors and their collaborators - such as Stefanie DeLuca, Benny Goldman, Matthew Jackson, Larry Katz, Theresa Kuchler, Michael Stepner, and Johannes Stroebel - in a team-oriented lab environment, with regular lab meetings, seminars, and other events. Fellows also have the opportunity to support our research translation and policy work through such resources as the Opportunity Atlas, the Social Capital Atlas, and the Economic Tracker.

Fellows are invited to participate in broader activities at Harvard and Brown, including seminars and courses. The program serves as an ideal bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. Most previous fellows have gone on to top Ph.D. programs. Salary and benefits are competitive with other top predoctoral fellowships.

As an organization focused on economic mobility, we welcome applications from persons with varied backgrounds and perspectives. Even if applicants are uncertain whether their technical research skill or subject-matter knowledge will be competitive, we strongly encourage applications.

Basic Qualifications

Applicants should have completed a bachelor's degree (or be on track to complete by July 2026) or master's degree, have strong quantitative skills, and experience with empirical research methods. Candidates with research experience are strongly preferred, especially those with programming experience in Stata, SAS, R, and/or Python. Candidates need not be Economics majors, though they should have a strong interest in and some experience with Economics. Successful candidates have come from a variety of backgrounds (including from undergraduate and graduate programs, industry jobs, and other research assistant positions), and have a range of skill levels and experience with coding.

Fellowships will begin around July 1, 2026. Fellows typically work at OI full-time for two years before starting graduate school in Economics or another social science or pursuing other related career paths.

Note: Persons may only apply once during the 2025-2026 academic year. If you applied during the Fall 2025 hiring session and were not selected, you will not be eligible to reapply until the 2026-2027 Academic Year (i.e., Fall 2026 or Spring 2027 hiring rounds).

Additional Qualifications

Applications are due on Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 11:59 pm ET. Our selection process includes a coding exercise, a first-round interview, and a final round interview. We expect to share decisions from the Spring 2026 hiring round before the end of March 2026.

Questions about the application process can be sent to hiring@opportunityinsights.org. Answers to FAQs can be found here.

Special Instructions

To apply, please:

1. Submit a Harvard application through this posting.
2. Fill out the OI online application form.

Please note that we require both Harvard and OI's online forms to be filled out in order to be considered.

Supporting Documents:

To submit the application, you will need the following documents through the OI online application form ONLY:

(1) A Resume

(2) Unofficial Transcript(s)

(3) A Writing Sample

The writing sample can be any length and should demonstrate your analytical and writing abilities (preferably, but not necessarily, in economics). It should preferably be individual work (if not, it should come with a description of your specific contribution).

When uploading files, please make sure the name you provide matches the name you've specified in this form. Please start all file names with NameLast_ (e.g. RajChetty_CV, etc.).

References:

Please submit information (name, role, institution, and email) for three references as required in the OI online application form ONLY. You are not required to enter reference information in the Harvard system (Note: in the Harvard system you can click Save & Continue without entering any references, and you will be able to continue with (and submit) your application).

Learn More About OI's Predoctoral Fellowship

On Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at 1:00 pm ET, we will host a virtual information session (via Zoom) to provide more information on OI's Predoctoral Fellowship program and answer potential candidates' questions. After the webinar, participants can join breakout rooms at 2:00 pm ET for informal Q&A with current predoctoral fellows. To register for this session, please visit OI's Join Our Teams page.

Contact Information

Questions regarding details of the position can be directed to: hiring@opportunityinsights.org.

Contact Email: hiring@opportunityinsights.org

Salary Range

$60,000 base salary + $8,000 bonus