Scientific Associate Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

Salary: $80,000 - $100,000 annually.

Applications are now being accepted for two Future of Scientific Discovery Emerging Scholar positions at the Mercatus Center. These are full-time, one-year positions, based in Arlington, Virginia, running from September 8, 2026, through September 8, 2027. The two scholars will join Mercatus’s Emerging Scholars Program and will work alongside the broader cohort while focusing on questions related to science, scientific institutions, and technological change.

The Emerging Scholars Program is designed to identify rising classical liberal thinkers and help them become stronger public communicators and contributors to major policy and cultural debates. For this track, Mercatus is seeking candidates who can examine the future of scientific discovery through the lens of institutional design, incentives, governance, and human flourishing. Possible areas of focus include AI and emerging technology policy, science funding structures, regulatory design, innovation ecosystems, and discipline-specific scientific domains.

As a Future of Scientific Discovery Emerging Scholar, you will be embedded in Mercatus’s interdisciplinary research community and participate fully in the Emerging Scholars Program. All Scholars are based full-time in Arlington.

You will develop a substantial research project and produce regular public-facing writing or multimedia content during the year. You will participate in a weekly work-in-progress seminar, a policy discussion group, and regular one-on-one meetings with program leadership. You will also complete an intensive ten-week communications training sequence covering writing, branding, public speaking, media skills, podcasting, design, and related forms of public communication.

Each scholar is assigned two mentors and is encouraged to seek additional mentorship as their work develops. The program is led by Rebecca Lowe, Director of Emerging Scholars. Scholars also benefit from the wider intellectual community and from opportunities to engage with research working groups relevant to their interests.

This position is designed for candidates with real subject-matter depth. Mercatus expects Future of Scientific Discovery scholars to arrive with substantial expertise in the area they plan to study, along with the background needed to speak credibly to technical and policy audiences. The program is meant to deepen and amplify that expertise through mentorship, critique, and public engagement.

• Candidates should be prepared to pursue a research agenda connected to one or more of the following themes:
• The institutions and norms around science research, including funding, regulatory and incentive structures. 
• The effects and implications of AI and emerging tools on research in in the sciences (biological and physical)
• Communicate new scientific frontiers opened by new discoveries, instruments and frameworks.
•  Explore questions relating to the moral and civic implications of accelerating discovery for individuals, and for society.

How to Apply:

Please submit your cover letter and resume in through our online application process at 

https://www.paycomonline.net/v4/ats/web.php/portal/307BA7EF49AFA6A0DEB7FC43852DC641/jobs/148609

Your cover letter must indicate your interest in the Mercatus Center's mission.

About the Mercatus Center:

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is where top classical liberal scholars solve real-world challenges. Grounded in the tradition of market-oriented thinking and classical liberal ideas, we equip high-agency talent to apply bold ideas that shape institutions, inform policy, and help people flourish.

Employee Benefits Review

Salary is competitive and will be commensurate with experience. In addition, Mercatus provides excellent benefits to all individual employees, including full health and dental coverage, unlimited paid time off, long-term disability and life insurance, a 403(b) retirement savings program, parking/travel benefits, and twelve free credits per year at George Mason University.

EEO Statement

The Mercatus Center is an equal employment opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

E-Verify

The Mercatus Center participates in E-Verify. Upon hire, Mercatus will provide the U.S. Social Security Administration and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security, with information from each new employee’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization.