research associate

researcher

senior researcher

research assistant

senior technical consultant

American Institutes for Research

Expect to do most of the work as a temp because full-time staff will take advantage of you trying to find your footing. For the most part it feels like playing middleman and secretary for some people who don't want to work. Knock it all out of the park? Expect someone to dump more work on you instead of doing it themselves. Management puts an emphasis on ticket counts, but that only leads to low quality work from those trying to meet this artificial quota they want you to meet. Not to mention this also cultivates this competitive work environment, mind you this is not a sales job, and you will certainly be reminded of it by management any chance they get by being compared to someone else's performance, and even attendance. Maybe it's to make up for the revolving door of temps they run through like there's no tomorrow. I've even witnessed someone not start because they didn't receive their equipment on-time, only for it to be delivered later that day; AIR's response: oh well. 
You will be baited to work in one location, and then switched to another and told you will need to alternate your attendance in these offices on occasion. Staying at your parents house 30 minutes away from you? You need to tell management...
It's sad that even the Executives and other full time staff notice the large rotation of temps that AIR goes through. That probably explains why you won't get a personable experience here. Most people in this company are nice, don't get me wrong, just don't expect much from anyone higher like Executives; they seem to only pay you much mind when they can see you a full-time employee. You'll even be excluded from most engagement in the company because you aren't full time.
 Management tries to act like they know what they are doing and what their plans are for continuity, but they are "making this up as they go" as they have admitted numerous times. Verbatim. What seems to be a simple process elsewhere, is a nightmare for all staff here, and only prolongs people getting the crucial things they need to do their work. Good luck trying to explain through someone's ego why you need something, or even how something works (because they'll assume they know best and tell you no). You would think as long as this company has been around that they would have more organization surrounding their infrastructure. It's clear some processes are the way they are to ensure some level of job security for the people who have already established themselves here. 
They contradict written policy in an attempt to cultivate some new culture around the office. Their approach is laughable when you cherry pick what you want to focus on. If time and attendance is so pressing to you, why are you bringing the hammer down on someone for coming in on-time (on-time, and any time after is considered late), yet you turn a blind eye to people who leave 2-3 hours before their shift is scheduled to end?  Why is one of your manager's on Discord during business hours? Why haven't you responded to the numerous emails I have sent that require your action? Oh, I guess they're focusing on what they can control...
If you think you can weather through just some of the things I mentioned, by all means, otherwise, wise ones know to stay away from a hostile work environment like this. 


Recently, AIR laid off over 30 employees within less than 24 hours time without any sort of warning. Several of the people who were laid off had been with the company for over 10 years, yet their career at AIR was over in an instant. Even worse, many project directors and staff managers had no idea what was happening and had to scramble to get the leftover work done when the employees who were laid off suddenly disappeared without being able to turn in their deliverables...The whole thing was a management nightmare, and the employees left behind are now unsettled, demoralized, and live in constant fear that another round of layoffs will occur whereby they'll lose their jobs. In addition, AIR hires people based on a certain area of expertise or skill set that individuals have that they think will be put to use. Though once most people land a job there, they immediately find out that their job security and stability depends on getting a certain percentage of their time covered on numerous projects, many of which may be completely unrelated to their skill set.  

Promotions only occur for individuals based on cronyism and favoritism from upper management, and has little to do with whether a person has been there for a long time or actually does their job well. I honestly am surprised to see so many people on here are stating that AIR provides a pleasant and collaborative working environment--it doesn't!!! Overall, it's a very toxic work environment with a serious lack of diversity among upper management, which is both shameful and ironic given that the so-called mission of the company is to improve the lives of the "disadvantaged". On the whole, the only people that get help improving their lives at AIR are well-educated, well-connected individuals from historically advantaged groups who find their ways into cliques with upper management. 

The best advice most employees, particularly those from historically underrepresented, marginalized groups, is to stay for a short while while learning all that you can, and do your best for as long as you're able to deal with the constant lack of upward mobility, belittlement, and consistently biased treatment from upper management. And if someone is abusive or treating you poorly once you land a job there, don't even think about going to HR for help. Almost everyone in the company knows that HR is a joke primarily built to protect upper management no matter how egregious their behavior.

There was such a litany of problematic dynamics right off the bat at this place all I can conclude for certain is that being assigned to a sub-par manager seemed to promise unavoidable conflict and demise. My manager simply did not care to be a manager for this new hire.  Every interaction was a one-sided affair of questions being generically responded to; problems brought up readily to the manager were met with embarrassingly passive rambling responses that were mind-blowingly childish.  This was very stressful for this new hire because there developed a point where I could not turn to anyone for help regarding the multitude of problems on the first contract I was hired for because there is in some sense a genuine fear that develops to not make too much noise...even if it has nothing to do with qualification but rather how best to go about problems never before experienced on projects.  My fellow new hire officemate, on the other hand, seemed to have a world class manager that checked in on that person weekly, inquired regularly of any concerns or questions; just simply seemed to go out of the way to provide an incredibly welcoming environment.  I was not afforded to be assigned a manager with this kind of confidence, attention to detail, and passion for the job.  

Simply put, this was one of the most miserable working experiences I signed up for.  There are so many elements regarding the isolating dynamics of telecommuting (is that the word?) and teleconferencing that made being a new hire as the only research person in this area that started the ball rolling on problems I experienced. 

TL;DR: Incredibly sub-par manager for this new hire. Much of the AIR experience seems to be a random luck-of-the-draw whether you are set up to succeed or set up to fail.  

Poor working environment, poor management, poor pay; not shocked there isn't more groundbreaking, world-changing research going on.

Sorry, I have some good experiences here, but mostly negative. Let me explain before you stop reading.

My first few weeks I would say "Hi" to people in the hallway and they would say nothing back. That was just the beginning.

The "team" manager cares nothing about the team so long as the job gets completed. 

Over the last 2 years 8 (or more because I stopped counting) people have left due to poor team management and unneeded stress conditions. Managers should have a balance of team and job duties. When a manager puts job duties over the sake of their team, then it becomes an uncomfortable environment.

It is not uncommon for a manager to respond to a user and throw their "team" under the bus before even asking the team for the facts and work that was done. 100% of the time the work was done correctly and if they'd have just asked first, they'd have seen that. Like I said, this is not uncommon. Quite the opposite.

They also tend to keep who they like, despite how well you do your job, or how long you've worked there.

The work has become a little less hands-on and more automated, so if you want to come here to learn, unless you are a Developer who doesn't mind getting blamed for things they have no control over, or do work and other people get the credit for it while you get scolded for not doing a good job, then this place is for you! Otherwise, I would look elsewhere as you won't really be learning much and your stress level will only increase.

The good? Well, the core-team members are nice and very helpful. The company has many "events" that are fun and you get to mingle with pretty much anyone at them. That's really about it. Oh, and you're not supervised, which is nice. However, unless you shine above the rest then your work may still get overshadowed for no particular reason.

What I like most about working for AIR is the location. I'm in Georgetown and this is the area that tourists flock to and it's where I work...let's marinate on that for a moment...the Washington Harbour is right across the street! On a great weather day, I typically will take a break and saunter across the street to look at the Potomac River and take pictures like a tourist...now about working for AIR: Wednesday is BAGEL DAY! In addition to the bagels, there are boiled eggs and fruit, usually bananas and apples. I get a kick out of how some "paint" cream cheese onto their bagels as if it's a work of art. And, whenever AIR has what I'll call a "food event," I know the eating or snacking is going to be good...ice cream socials during the summer...we just had Pirates' Day in September (I think that's what it was called), but anyway, there was food! Now, about the work: my work is cyclical, so there are busy periods and low periods. Reviewing content is quite interesting because I have learned so much:) The atmosphere is casual and sometimes it's really too quiet, but I understand. AIR staff needs a noise-free environment to focus on the demands of work. I'm impressed by the diversity of workers here, but one little suggestion: consider hiring additional older workers because that's an area where diversity is lacking. Overall, I enjoy my job; I wish I was a permanent employee though; I hear the parking benefits are great, but I know that you can't have everything...but I do have one important thing and that is a job, and I am grateful that AIR brought me in as part of their team.

I really wished this wasn't a review that I had to write, but I feel like I need to warn others about AIR. As someone joining AIR, I was excited about the possibility of joining a non-profit that had such a great reputation of doing meanful work and trying to make the world a better place. However, I soon realized that AIR is easily the least compansionate and heartless organizations that I have ever worked for. Having only spent just over a year with AIR, I have seen its leadership make decisions without including pertinent employees of those decisions and then blame those employees when their decisions do not go well. Further and as previously stated, I only worked for AIR for just over a year and during most of that time, I was dealing with and taking care of a family member dying of brain cancer. I brought this to the attention of my immediate manager. Only twice did my manager ask me how I was doing and not once did my leadership check in on me. While my work suffered from the stress not once did my leadership offer any support or guidance to help me get back on track. Rather, they continue to allow me to struggle and throw me under the bus.
In the end, I would warn anyone thinking about joining AIR to be cautious of the organization. If you are dealing with any personal issues, they will not be compassionate of your needs and welbeing.

My typical work day varied based on project work.  I would script out survey and registration question, along with maintaining tier 1 and 2 helpdesk support.  In addition, performing project coordination work with Technical project managers and Senior Business Analyst.  Assisting with developing online surveys and registration, coordinate communication between project team person and web developers to oversee the scope of work for the development of database, and continue communication  throughout the duration of the project. Also, during this period, performed testing, quality review, handling business  requirements and assign to program developers, and overseeing the completion of scope work.  My daily workplace culture were at time stressful especially during peak period when the demands for  project work increased.  The most difficult part of the job is when I was an admin and had to schedule 483 observation for 15 site visitor over a 4 month period.  I enjoyed supporting helpdesk, designing databases, development online surveys and registration and being an exceptional team player.

A big part of my day is dealing with bug reports - making sure they have enough detail for developers to understand, going back to users with workarounds or questions about browsers, setup etc. Finally making sure bugs reports have the right priority and adding them in to the work backlog (yep, we're talking agile here).

Next priority is making sure I know what's coming up, talking to the product managers, tech leads (lead developers), designers and being part of acceptance criteria (requirements) creation. Using this info to write tests plans before development is complete.

Next up its releases, I make sure all releases are passing our release acceptance criteria (currently a set of tests). Sometimes I test them but other times I've worked with the developers so they know what to test. New features are tested (and earlier I would have written a test plan).

Strategy gets squeezed in when there is time - reviewing how tools are working for us, reading books, blogs, STC etc. Coming up with new ideas to make things faster and less buggy

My day begins with review of emails and project updates, followed by focused work on assigned tasks, which often involves collaborating with team members and clients.
I was active in constructive email communication among all finance teams and project managers to facilitate teamwork and contribute high quality service and to promote AIR's mission and client’s satisfaction.
The demands of work and private life are often perceived as representing two ends of a time continuum. When work and private life demands are in a state of conflict one's work life balance can be achieved through AIR's working from home policy and flexible working hours.
The diverse work environment at AIR is acceptable and the lifestyles and appearances of employees are colorful to the making of success for the company.
I communicate, interact and work without reluctance and look forward with positive spirit among all groups and backgrounds and this help me enhance my experience to achieve a pivotal role towards the mission of the company.


There is a lot of downtime at this job, and the culture is very relaxed about what you're allowed to do during the downtime.  They have a very strict attendance policy, but hire mostly temps for day-to-day operations, so it makes sense.  You will most likely be let go every summer and, if you did a good job, invited back in the fall around October.  They rarely hire anyone on permanently from the pool of temps who keeps this place running.  The work is easy, but the business model is a wreck.  Their non-profit status is the only thing that keeps them running.  The management is nice and care about employees and the work, and there are some perks such as free pop, coffee, and tea as well as bagel Wednesdays.  But overall no one talks to each other or bothers to get to know new people because they don't expect you to be around long enough for interpersonal relationships to matter.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Research associate 3 salaries reported	$33.00 per hour
Researcher 2 salaries reported	$112,100 per year
Senior researcher 3 salaries reported	$142,255 per year
Research assistant 3 salaries reported	$46,000 per year
Senior technical consultant 6 salaries reported	$68.00 per hour

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