Psychometric & Psychological Assessment Architect

Apply below

Australia (Melbourne, Sydney or remote) or United States. Full-time.

NovoPsych exists to help mental health clinicians improve their client outcomes. Behind every one of the assessments we deliver is a clinician sitting with someone who is struggling, trying to understand them well enough to help. Everything we build is in service of that moment.

Since 2012, more than 75,000 mental health professionals across Australia, North America, the UK, Europe and New Zealand have used NovoPsych’s 150+ validated assessments and NovoNote, our AI scribe and clinical writing assistant. Clinicians trust us because we are scientist-led: clinical psychologists and PhD psychometricians work alongside our engineers, and we publish our research in peer-reviewed journals.

We are growing fast and are still small enough at around 30 people that every hire shapes the company. If you want your work to change how mental health care is delivered around the world, and you move quickly, this is the place.

Design how psychological assessment works in the age of AI. You’ll architect NovoPsych’s next generation of measurement, combining modern psychometrics, data science and machine learning, with a particular focus on neurodevelopmental assessment across the lifespan.

The opportunity

NovoPsych is a global leader in psychometric and psychological assessment. Our science makes it possible to build measurement that is shorter, smarter and more accurate than anything a single research group could create. We’re looking for a senior scientist-practitioner who can see that future clearly, and has the technical depth to build it.

What you’ll do

• Build adaptive and AI-assisted assessment: item response theory, computerised adaptive testing and machine-learning models that ask fewer questions and give more precise answers.
• Lead our neurodevelopmental program, including autism and ADHD assessment across childhood, adolescence and adulthood, with multi-informant (self, parent, teacher) designs.
• Develop and validate measures derived from language and behaviour, such as constructs estimated from clinical conversations or digital tasks.
• Run large-scale psychometric analyses: dimensionality, reliability, measurement invariance, differential item functioning and fairness across groups.
• Design validation studies with clinical partners and universities, and publish the results.
• Work hand in hand with our engineers to turn models into production code, with the clinical logic exactly right.
• Mentor psychometricians and research fellows, and set the standard for analytic rigour across the team.

You’ll thrive here if you…

• Are ambitious and want your work used by clinicians around the world, not just cited.
• Are equally at home in a clinical formulation and a Python notebook.
• See AI as a way to make assessment more accurate and more humane.
• Have strong views on how assessment can evolve, and the evidence to back them up.

Selection criteria

• PhD in psychology, psychometrics, quantitative methods or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in psychometrics, psychological assessment or measurement science, including senior or lead roles.
• Advanced expertise in modern psychometrics: IRT, factor analysis, measurement invariance, DIF, and test development and validation.
• Strong data science skills in R and/or Python, including machine learning and work with large, messy real-world datasets.
• Hands-on experience applying AI or natural language processing to assessment or clinical data.
• A strong publication record in psychological measurement.

Nice to have (strong preference)

• Registered psychologist (or equivalent licensed clinician), ideally with board-approved supervisor status.
• Clinical and research expertise.
• Experience with computerised adaptive testing in production.
• Experience developing commercially published assessments.

What success looks like in 12 months

• A measurement architecture and roadmap adopted across our assessment library.
• An adaptive or AI-assisted assessment live with clinicians, with published or submitted validation evidence.
• Our neurodevelopmental assessment suite (autism and ADHD) validated and in clinical use.
• A fairness and invariance review completed for our most-used measures.

What we offer

• One of the largest real-world assessment datasets in clinical psychology to work with.
• A world-class research and clinical team. Meet the team.
• Competitive salary commensurate with seniority and impact.
• Remote or hybrid flexibility, with autonomy and strong organisational support.
• The chance to shape the next generation of psychological measurement.

How to apply

Apply using the form below, or email your resume and cover letter to Dr Ben Buchanan. In your cover letter, please outline:

1. A measure or model you built, and the evidence that it worked.
2. How AI should change psychological assessment in the next five years, and the biggest risk to manage.
3. Key attributes or achievements that demonstrate your exceptional ability.