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Salary: USD 130,000 - 195,000 / annual
Pearl is a ratings and standards company building the national standard for home performance. Founded in 2013, Pearl SCORE™ rates every single-family home in the U.S. across five key pillars—Safety, Comfort, Operations, Resilience, and Energy—to help homebuyers, homeowners, and real estate professionals understand how homes perform in daily life. Pearl is a Certified B Corporation focused on making home performance visible, measurable, and valuable in the real estate market.
As Senior Researcher, you will lead the development and continuous improvement of Pearl's SCORE, Pearl's proprietary industry standard home performance rating. You will hold primary responsibility for maintaining and improving the Resilience Pillar of the SCORE and will support research and development for the SCORE's other pillars.
Key responsibilities include:
- Lead the development of SCORE algorithms, with primary ownership of the Resilience pillar and active support for other SCORE pillars
- Track the development of new and emerging industry standards (e.g., NFPA 1140, ASCE 7-22, ASHRAE Standard 62.2-2022, ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55) to ensure Pearl SCORE remains aligned with leading industry research
- Track new and emerging technologies in the home performance and resilience space, ensuring proper representation in the Pearl SCORE
- Engage with national and international experts in home performance and resilience fields to inform SCORE methodology
- Support Pearl's public programs division in identifying roles for the SCORE in resilience, energy, and other SCORE-related programs
- Support studies of the relationship between home resilience features and outcomes of natural disasters, including physical damage, insurance payouts, and replacement costs
- Identify data sources to generate accurate SCOREs at scale, including U.S. census data, permit data, and insurance data
- Author or co-author research papers documenting SCORE-related methodology and findings
- Author or co-author blogs and other materials that translate SCORE research for popular and industry audiences
Pearl offers a mission-driven environment with 100% remote work flexibility, genuine impact on company direction, broad responsibilities with high autonomy, and a collaborative culture that values candor, excellence, and diversity.
REQUIREMENTS:
Required Qualifications, Skills, and Abilities:
- Background in residential resilience research and/or standards
- Demonstrated experience developing or maintaining scoring methodologies, algorithms, or technical standards
- Strong working knowledge of residential building performance, resilience measures, and related technologies
- Experience tracking and interpreting industry standards development (e.g., building codes, resilience ratings, energy performance standards)
- Excellent written communication skills, with experience authoring technical research papers and content for general audiences
- Ability to engage credibly with external subject matter experts and represent Pearl in professional and academic settings
Preferred Qualifications:
- Advanced degree in a relevant field (e.g., building science, environmental science, engineering, resilience/hazard mitigation, public policy)
- Published research in residential resilience, home performance, or a related field
- Familiarity with Pearl's SCORE or comparable home performance scoring systems
- Experience collaborating with data science or modeling teams on algorithm development
- Comfortable working semi-independently, with support and partnerships across the S&R team
