(2026 PhD/ABD graduates) Economic Consulting Senior Associate

About Charles River Associates

Charles River Associates is a leading global consulting firm that provides economic, financial, and business management expertise to major law firms, corporations and governments around the world. CRA advises clients on economic and financial matters pertaining to litigation and regulatory proceedings, and guides corporations through critical business strategy and performance-related issues. Since 1965, clients have engaged CRA for its combination of industry experience and rigorous, fact-based analysis that provide clients with clear, implementable solutions to complex business concerns.

Practices seeking to hire candidates with this profile include (hiring locations listed):

• Antitrust and Competition Economics (Boston, Chicago, Oakland, Washington DC)
  • Our Competition practice economists provide analysis and testimony in matters involving mergers and acquisitions, antitrust litigation, and global competition policy.
• Energy (Boston, New York, Washington DC)
  • The Energy practice has researched, published, taught, and consulted on energy matters for a wide range of clients, including electric and gas utilities, investors, power asset owners and developers, power agencies, large industrial firms, and clean energy technology leaders.
• Finance (Boston, Chicago)
  • Our Finance experts work on valuation issues (shareholder class actions and other corporate valuation disputes), as well as matters focused on the functioning of financial markets and institutions (alleged market manipulation and insider trading).
• Financial Economics (Washington DC)
  • The Financial Economics group provides analytical expertise and advisory services in financial economics and consumer credit markets to financial institutions, legal teams, and regulators.
• Labor & Employment (College Station, Los Angeles, Tallahassee, Washington DC)
  • Our Labor team provides in-depth analysis, expert reports, testimony, and advisory services to clients involved in complex labor and employment issues such as wage and hour litigation and pay equity disputes

Learn more about our work by reviewing our Services and Industries on our website.

Position Overview

Senior Associates work closely with senior consultants on project teams. Successful candidates have a strong knowledge of economic concepts and a range of research and quantitative skills. A typical Senior Associate would:

• Conduct research in a team-oriented environment alongside some of the most respected academics, industry experts and regulators in the world;
• Identify and conceptualize issues, design complex economic models to analyze data, and manage the research process;
• Supervise, train and mentor junior analysts;
• Assist in the development and presentation of client deliverables, including expert reports and white papers summarizing opinions, conclusions, and recommendations using market, industry or client-proprietary data;
• Act as a primary point of contact for attorneys and other industry or government clients on a variety of practice-relevant issues;
• Program, build models and/or perform regression analyses in statistical analysis programs (such as Stata, SAS, Python, R, Matlab or Mathematica);
• Ensure the integrity and accuracy of analyses and opinions;
• Participate in practice-building activities (training, recruiting, publication, expertise sharing, etc.).

Explore how CRA can help you launch your career and click here to learn why PhDs choose CRA.

Candidates are encouraged to express any preferences for a practice area in their application.

Job Qualifications

• PhD degree in economics with a completion date of December 2025/Summer 2026 and an academic focus on quantitative research, with specializations like industrial organization, applied microeconomics, econometrics, labor, health, intellectual property, corporate finance, financial accounting, or other quantitative areas;
• Curious and analytical thinkers who bring creative approaches to non-standard problems;
• Effective written and oral communication skills;
• Eagerness to learn new skills and programming languages;
• Demonstrated high level of initiative and leadership;
• Strong teamwork and collaboration capabilities;
• Excellent time management and task prioritization skills;
• Clear and demonstrated interest in consulting through coursework, work experience, activities, or attendance at CRA recruiting events;
• Demonstrated understanding of, and ability to explain, economic, financial and/or accounting concepts, and quantitative and qualitative analysis methods;
• Experience in Excel, Stata, Python, R, SQL, SAS, ArcGIS/ArcPy, or Cloud computing (Databricks/Spark, Google Cloud, Azure, AWS);
• As much of our work occurs in our offices, minimal travel is required.

To Apply

To be considered for a position in the United States, submit through this job posting:

• Resume/CV – please include current address, email and telephone number;
• Cover letter – please describe your interest in CRA and how this role matches your goals. Also, please note if you have interest in a particular practice and/or a location preference;
• Research/Job market paper – please submit your original research or dissertation.
• Letters of Recommendation – please have three LORs submitted to LORSubmission@crai.com 

To apply for one of our international locations, please visit our Careers Site to view available jobs.

Please also note that candidate resume review will commence November 1 and continue on a rolling basis until positions are filled. Interviews will begin following application close, with first round interviews occurring virtually. Candidates focusing their search on industry and consulting who need to be considered early should indicate that in the CRA online application and submit all materials as early as possible.

Career Growth and Benefits 

• CRA’s robust skills development programs, including a commitment to offering 100 hours of training annually through formal and informal programs, encourage you to thrive as an individual and team member. Beginning with project management skills, training continues with team management/development, client presentation skills, internal seminars, and career mentoring and performance coaching from an assigned senior colleague. Additional leadership and collaboration opportunities exist through internal firm development activities.
• We offer a comprehensive total rewards program including a superior benefits package, wellness programming to support physical, mental, emotional and financial well-being, and in-house immigration support for foreign nationals and international business travelers.

Work Location Flexibility

CRA creates a work environment that enables our colleagues to benefit from being together in the office to best deliver on our promise of career growth, mentorship and inclusivity. At the same time, we recognize that individuals realize a range of benefits when working from home periodically. We currently ask that individuals spend 3 to 4 days a week on average working in the office (which may include traveling to another CRA office or to a client's location), with specific days determined in coordination with your practice or team.

Our Commitment to Equal Employment Opportunity

Charles River Associates is an equal opportunity employer (EOE). All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

Wage range considers several factors including but not limited to experience, education level, and expertise. A good-faith estimate of the base wage range for this role is $175,000-$220,000 (dependent on practice); actual total compensation may also include benefits and bonus incentives.