Built Buildings Researcher (Part-Time)

Position Purpose

Built Buildings Lab is seeking a mission-aligned, collaborative Built Environment Researcher to join our team on a remote, 20 hour/week basis for a 6-month term beginning by March 2025. The researcher will work in close collaboration with our executive director and research director to engage in studies, analyses, and assessments for current projects.

We are committed to interdisciplinary, integrated research and welcome candidates from many backgrounds. Built Buildings Lab’s activities encompass a range of topics, including architecture, engineering, and urban planning, climate change response, cultural heritage, social and environmental history, public and community health, and others. Accordingly, candidates may come from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds and demonstrate experience across any subset of activities described here in alignment with Built Buildings Lab’s mission.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

• Conduct and synthesize background research on a range of built environment topics including but not limited to building use and reuse, building materials and technologies, building maintenance and repair, decarbonization, environmental and climate justice, built environment history, circularity, cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and social, ecological, and health impacts

• Contribute to review of literature, reports, projects, practices, and policies to develop case studies.

• Engage research workflows, including study question definition, development of methods, analysis, synthesis, and summarizing findings.

• Perform analysis including but not limited to social and environmental life cycle assessment, social impact assessment, embodied and operational carbon modeling

• Contribute to stakeholder engagement, including preparation for and synthesis of outcomes from workshops

• Develop clear and accessible deliverables from research and engagement to communicate research findings and support storytelling and broad engagement of our audiences, including charts, diagrams, and other visual representations, written summaries, and verbal presentations

Skills and Qualifications

• Strong graphic, written, and verbal communication skills

• Demonstrated knowledge of research processes

• Demonstrated capacity to engage outside of primary field(s) of expertise

• Life cycle assessment modeling and thinking skills

• Ability to self-direct work on multiple projects simultaneously

• Optional experience (not expected, but we’d love to hear if you have it):

  • Excel, PowerBI, or other database management tools

  • Data analysis and management skills

  • Community engagement design and execution

  • Policy development and/or advocacy

Desired Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, architecture, buildings science, historic preservation, planning, public policy, or other field relevant to the role and BBL’s mission

• A minimum of 3-5 years of work experience in a relevant field with flexibility for a more experienced researcher based on the candidate

• Professional or educational experience with existing building assessment and reuse practices and/or policies

• Demonstrated experience in built-environment research

• Familiarity with the application of standards, codes, and policies in the built environment

Pay and Benefits

This is a part-time, 20 hours/week, salaried, exempt position.

• Salary commensurate with level of experience and qualifications.

• 8 days paid time off, inclusive of holiday, vacation, and sick time.

• Flexible remote work.

Apply

Interested applicants should submit the following to hiring@builtbuildings.org,

• A cover letter

• A resume including references

• Work samples

Priority will be given to applicants who apply before February 14, 2025.