Lead Behavioral Scientist

We are looking for a senior, hands-on scientist (PhD or equivalent depth in Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, or Behavioural Science) to build and lead our Habit Lab from scratch.
You will translate fundamental principles of neuroscience and human behaviour—variable reward schedules, anticipation, social validation, loss aversion, and friction—into high-velocity product experiments that directly drive daily opens and long-term retention.
This is not an advisory, policy, or purely academic position. You will own the core psychological levers, collaborating daily with founders, product managers, engineers, and designers to conceive, build, and validate engagement loops in a live consumer app.

Key Responsibilities

• Build & Lead the Habit Lab: Audit our current UX to map which psychological drives the product successfully triggers, which it misses, and where structural loops can be introduced.
• Own Engagement Core Metrics: Direct accountability for D30 Retention and Daily Sessions Per User (Daily Opens).
• Formulate Science-Backed Hypotheses: Bridge academic research on reward, habit formation, and social behaviour into clear, testable hypotheses ("If we do X, users will feel Y, resulting in Z").
• Execute Hands-on Research: Dig directly into user behaviour using a hybrid toolkit of qualitative playtests, interviews, behavioral data analysis, and rapid live experiments.
• Ship Product Loops: Partner closely with engineering and product design to translate successful experimental findings into permanent, scaled product features.
• Scale the Function: As the Habit Lab proves its impact on core metrics, recruit, mentor, and lead a lean team of researchers and behavioural scientists.

Who You Are

• Deep Scientific Grounding: PhD or equivalent research depth in Neuroscience, Cognitive/Experimental Psychology, Neuroeconomics, or Behavioural Science. You know the research well enough to apply it dynamically, not just quote it.
• Proven Consumer Product Impact: You have spent years inside a live mobile/console games studio, social network, or habit-driven consumer app, directly designing loops that measurably shifted retention or daily active usage.
• Rapid Experimentation Mindset: You think in lean experiments that a small product squad can ship in days or weeks, rather than multi-month academic observational studies.
• Cross-Functional Communication: You can break down complex neurobiological or psychological mechanisms into plain, actionable language for founders, software engineers, and UI/UX designers.