RAND Overview

Research Careers

RAND hires outstanding individuals for a wide array of research and research support roles, including full-time researchers, research assistants, graduate student summer associates, research communications analysts, project managers, and computer programmers.

RAND full-time research staff typically progress through three levels: associate, full and senior. An early-career researcher will enter RAND at the associate level and work as a member of a project team. As a full researcher, the individual will lead project teams and establish expertise through a research portfolio. A senior researcher is a recognized expert in a field and a skilled project manager. Researchers select or develop projects for their work portfolio and can work across a variety of policy areas on both domestic and international projects. Researchers can also pursue management roles, including research program manager, research unit director, quality assurance manager and personnel manager. Staff members in research support roles can also pursue advancement through development of their capabilities and expertise. Researchers can also teach as faculty members at the Pardee RAND Graduate School (PRGS) located in Santa Monica, CA. PRGS, founded in 1970 as one of the original graduate schools in public policy, now grants the largest number of Ph.D's in policy analysis.

For more information on research jobs, please visit: http://www.rand.org/jobs/recruiting.html

RAND's Graduate Student Summer Associate Program introduces outstanding graduate students to RAND, an institution that conducts research on a wide range of national security problems and domestic and international social policy issues. Students receive a stipend and are given the opportunity to conduct research that can be completed during the three months they are at RAND.

The program receives about 500 applications each year for the 20+ positions. The associates who end up finding matches with a research project do so because their skill sets match the needs of the project. We do not know in advance which projects may require summer associates.

The program runs in the summer months only. Summer associates work at RAND fulltime for a 12-week period. Positions are available in RAND's three major U.S. offices — Santa Monica, Arlington, and Pittsburgh. All summer associates are collocated with project mentors. The location of the project mentor determines the location of the summer associate. The summer stipend in 2010 was approximately $12,000 (before taxes) for the 12 weeks of fulltime research. 

For more information, please visit the program page.

Benefits Highlights

Sabbatic Pay. Sabbatic pay is a unique and extremely attractive benefit to exempt employees, reflecting RAND's strong belief that employees should take paid time off to ensure their health and well-being. When an eligible employee takes a vacation day, he or she receives sabbatic pay in addition to his or her regular salary. The pay for each sabbatic day is equal to 3 percent of the monthly base salary. If an eligible employee takes all 20 vacation days over the course of the year, the total sabbatic pay will amount to an additional 5 percent of the employee's annual salary. Eligible exempt employees normally begin to accrue sabbatic pay after one year of employment.

Vacation. Eligible exempt employees such as researchers, executives, and administrators accrue 20 days of vacation per year. Eligible nonexempt employees such as administrative assistants and clerical staff accrue 15 to 20 vacation days per year, depending on their RAND service.

Retirement. RAND's contributions to employee retirement savings are significant and a major attraction of our benefits package. Contributions to the Qualified Retirement Plan are fully vested after four years of RAND service. RAND contributes the amounts shown below. Additionally, employees may contribute on a tax-deferred basis to a Supplemental Retirement Annuity [403(b) Plan]. RAND also offers retiree medical coverage to eligible employees.

Health Insurance. RAND pays a generous share of the cost of health insurance coverage for eligible employees and their covered dependents. The employee's cost of coverage varies with the medical plan selected and full-time or part-time status.

A comprehensive PPO medical plan is available at all RAND locations. The plan includes both retail and mail-order pharmacy networks as well as preferred provider hospital and physician networks. Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans are also available at our California, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania locations.

Eligible employees may select the type of coverage they prefer from these options.

Dental Insurance. RAND pays a significant share of the cost of eligible employees' and dependents' coverage; coverage is voluntary. The plan reimburses 50-100 percent of reasonable and customary dental expenses up to $1,500 per person per year. A $100 deductible applies to some expenses. Child orthodontia is covered. Certain procedures are not covered.

Vision Insurance. RAND pays a significant share of the cost of eligible employees' and dependents' coverage; coverage is voluntary.

Life Insurance. RAND pays the full cost of eligible employees' coverage.

• For employees under age 65, coverage is equal to 1.5 times annual base salary.
• For employees age 65 or over, coverage declines on a percentage basis.
• Employees whose coverage amount is greater than $50,000 will have imputed taxable income on coverage in excess of $50,000. These employees may elect to reduce coverage to $50,000.

Supplemental Life Insurance. Additional coverage is available for eligible employees and their families on a voluntary basis, paid for by the employee.

Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance. This is also available, paid for by the employee.

Travel Accident Insurance. In addition to other life and accident insurance coverage, eligible employees receive accidental death and dismemberment coverage up to $100,000 while they are in authorized travel status. The full cost of this insurance is paid by RAND.

Disability Insurance. There are two types of disability coverage.

• Short-term disability insurance provides benefits if employees cannot work because of nonoccupational illness or injury. This coverage provides benefits after one week of disability for up to 52 weeks, and RAND pays the full cost of this coverage.
• Long-term disability insurance also is available to eligible employees; RAND pays the cost for a basic level of coverage and employees can elect to purchase supplemental coverage.

Workers' Compensation. Workers Compensation, which covers occupational illness or injury, and Unemployment Insurance are paid by RAND.

Tuition Aid Program. Eligible employees may, upon approval, receive reimbursement for courses taken and satisfactorily completed, provided that the courses are required for an academic degree in one of RAND's areas of interest or are directly related to any RAND job classification. The maximum reimbursement is $4,000 per fiscal year. The class must be taken for a letter grade; pass/fail; or credit/no credit.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Non-RAND counselors may be contacted directly by eligible employees and members of their households for confidential, short-term counseling on personal as well as work-related problems. The full cost is paid by RAND.

Life Balance Resource and Referral Service. Assistance with family issues and with locating care for family members is available at no cost to eligible employees.

Holidays. RAND's U.S. locations have nine paid holidays each year. Eight follow a common schedule, and the ninth is a "floating holiday" of the employee's choice.

Sick and Other Leave. Sick pay (up to 10 days annually) is available on an annual basis for occasional illness. Sick pay can also be used for medical appointments, and up to half of the annual allowance may be used to care for ill family members. Paid personal time off is also available for maternity, paternity, adoption, jury duty, bereavement, and emergencies.

Flexible Spending Accounts (Pre-Tax). Employees who incur certain costs for the care of eligible dependents may contribute toward those costs on a tax-favored basis. Employees may also contribute toward expenses not covered by health, dental and vision plans on a tax-favored basis.

Credit Union. The RAND branch of the Premier America Federal Credit Union offers exceptionally attractive savings-deposit services and low-interest loans.

This brief summary is intended as an overview of RAND benefits.

People are the key to RAND's success. Approximately 1,700 people from more than 50 countries work at RAND, representing diversity in work experience; academic training; political and ideological outlook; and race, gender, and ethnicity. This diversity reinforces RAND's core values of quality and objectivity by promoting creativity, deepening understanding of the practical effects of policy, and ensuring multiple viewpoints and perspectives.

At RAND, diversity is key to improving policy and decision-making through research and analysis. RAND is staffed with people of different ages, races and backgrounds, which encourages creativity and imagination and has proven highly successful over time. The range of perspectives and contributions provided by RAND's diverse community assures multiple perspectives and cultivates the ability of all RAND's researchers to offer comprehensive, objective analysis and effective solutions to the many issues facing our world.

Creativity and intellectual growth thrive in an environment that welcomes differences in viewpoints, backgrounds, and experiences. RAND staff come from all walks of life and from around the world, and we use the knowledge we have acquired to enrich the content and meaning of our research. The diversity of our staff is also reflected in the global scope of RAND research — from Europe to the Middle East to Asia — and allows us to offer insight and analysis on diversity management to governments and business.