Senior Researcher

About Pearl

Founded in 2013, Pearl is a ratings and standards company building the national standard for home performance. Pearl SCORE™ rates every single-family home in the U.S. across five key pillars — Safety, Comfort, Operations, Resilience, and Energy — so homebuyers, homeowners, and real estate professionals can understand how a home performs in daily life.

Today, the value of a home is judged by its location, size, and aesthetics— but these factors overlook the home’s most important function: safeguarding the comfort, well-being, and finances of the people inside. Most American homes underperform in these regards because home performance is simply not on our radar. We can’t see it, quantify it, or put a value on it. Pearl aims to change that by making home performance a central part of how we view and value our homes.

Pearl is not a home inspector, a contractor, a real estate platform, or a green-certification program — we rate homes against a transparent, evidence-based standard so that home performance becomes visible, measurable, and valuable in the real estate market.

As a Certified B Corporation, we're accountable not only to our shareholders, but also to the homeowners and communities we serve. For more information, visit pearlscore.com. 

About the role

Pearl is seeking a Senior Researcher to lead the development and continuous improvement of Pearl’s SCORE, Pearl’s proprietary industry standard home performance rating. The Senior Researcher will hold primary responsibility for maintaining and improving the Resilience Pillar of the SCORE, and will support research and development for the SCORE’s other pillars. The Senior Researcher will track standards and technologies in the home performance field, ensure the SCORE reflects current best practice, and promote Pearl’s research externally through publications and engagement with national and international experts.

What you'll do

• Lead the development of SCORE algorithms, with primary ownership of the Resilience pillar and active support for the other SCORE pillars.
• Track the development of new and emerging industry standards to ensure that the Pearl SCORE remains aligned with leading industry research (e.g. NFPA 1140, ASCE 7-22, ASHRAE Standard 62.2-2022, ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55, etc.).
• Track new and emerging technologies in the home performance and resilience space, ensuring they are properly represented in the Pearl SCORE.
• Engage with national and international experts in the home performance and resilience fields to inform SCORE methodology.
• Support Pearl’s public programs division in identifying roles for the SCORE in resilience, energy, and other SCORE-related programs.
• Support studies of the relationship between home resilience features and the outcomes of natural disasters, including disaster-driven physical damage, insurance payouts, and replacement costs.
• Identify data sources to generate accurate SCOREs at scale, including U.S. census data, permit data, insurance data, etc.
• Author or co-author research papers documenting SCORE-related methodology and findings.
• Author or co-author blogs and other materials that translate SCORE research for popular and industry audiences.

What we are looking for

Required Qualifications, Skills, and Abilities:

• Background in residential resilience research and/or standards.
• Demonstrated experience developing or maintaining scoring methodologies, algorithms, or technical standards.
• Strong working knowledge of residential building performance, resilience measures, and related technologies.
• Experience tracking and interpreting industry standards development (e.g., building codes, resilience ratings, energy performance standards).
• Excellent written communication skills, with experience authoring technical research papers and content for general audiences.
• Ability to engage credibly with external subject matter experts and represent Pearl in professional and academic settings.
• We appreciate and value everyone's unique skillset, but for this role to be successful, the above criteria MUST be met. Please do not apply if you do not meet the requirements above.

Preferred Qualifications (What makes you stand out)

• Advanced degree in a relevant field (e.g., building science, environmental science, engineering, resilience/hazard mitigation, public policy).
• Published research in residential resilience, home performance, or a related field.
• Familiarity with Pearl’s SCORE or comparable home performance scoring systems.
• Experience collaborating with data science or modeling teams on algorithm development.
• Comfortable working semi-independently, with support and partnerships across the S&R team.

Why work at Pearl?

• We are a mission-driven company: we love what we do and the impact we are making.
• Impact. Everything you do here will matter. Your opinion and contributions will make a big difference to the future of this company and our mission of making home performance matter.
• Flexibility. We are 100% remote - work where you feel comfortable.
• Environment. We value candor, excellence, and collaboration while fostering creativity and camaraderie. We are supportive and genuinely enjoy celebrating each others’ wins!
• Ownership. You will hold broad responsibilities with high autonomy in a fast-paced, evolving startup world.
• Equality between people. We support diversity, championing our differences, and most importantly, learn from one another. Pearl is an equal opportunity employer, and candidates from all backgrounds and life experiences are encouraged to apply.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Salary expected in the range of 130k-195k, based on candidate experience and market research
• Medical, vision and dental coverage provided at no cost for employees and their families (with an option to purchase upgraded coverage at a minimal cost to employee)
• FSA, HSA, and dependent care accounts
• Life insurance coverage
• Employer paid cell phone service
• 401(k) with employer match up to 4%
• Stock options
• 15 vacation days during the calendar year, plus holidays (including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day), a floating holiday for your birthday, sick days, and paid parental leave
• Flexible work environment: work remotely from anywhere within the U.S.