Psychometrician Contractor

About the Company What if K-12 education were designed to help all students develop lives of meaning and purpose? Wayfinder was founded at the Stanford d.school to answer this question. Our goal is to double our impact each year for the coming years. Our vision is to become the preeminent future-readiness curriculum company in the world—leading the global movement of purpose, meaning, and belonging-based education worldwide. We are seeking a Contract Psychometrician to lead the design and validation of a universal screener that will support Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) in schools. This is a contract role with a defined project scope, and you’ll play a key part in solidifying Wayfinder’s evidence-based practice. The Role The Contract Psychometrician will be responsible for the end-to-end development of a future-readiness screener for K–12 students, including item development, pilot design, data analysis, scoring, and technical documentation. This screener will be based on Wayfinder’s existing summative assessment and corresponding insights functionality. This work will ensure that Wayfinder’s measurement tools are research-backed, psychometrically sound, and actionable for schools. We strongly encourage people from traditionally underrepresented populations in tech — such as women, People of Color, People with Disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people, etc — to apply.

Responsibilities include:

• Develop item pools and scoring logic for 4 grade bands (K–2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–12).
• Design and oversee a pilot study to collect reliability and validity evidence.
• Conduct item analyses to refine the screener.
• Produce a technical manual documenting the screener’s development, scoring, reliability, and validity.
• Produce a white paper demonstrating the validity of the methodology used to develop the screener and any available early evidence of its efficacy derived from the pilot study.
• Advise Wayfinder on best practices for ongoing norming, calibration, and longitudinal use.

Qualifications + Skills:

• PhD or advanced degree in Psychometrics, Educational Measurement, Quantitative Psychology, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience developing and validating large-scale assessments or screeners.
• Expertise in psychometric methods such as classical test theory, item response theory, and factor analysis.
• Familiarity with MTSS frameworks and the role of universal screeners in school settings.
• Excellent written communication skills, especially in technical documentation.
• Ability to work independently as a contractor while collaborating with internal teams.
• Contract role (remote, U.S.-based preferred).
• Project scope: screener development, pilot analysis, and delivery of technical manual and white paper.
• Competitive hourly or project-based rate, commensurate with experience.
• Anticipated duration: 3-5 months, with potential for extension.