(2027 PhD/ABD graduates) Senior Associate (Finance Practice)

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.

Position Overview

CRA’s Finance practice consultants use their expertise in finance, accounting, and economics to help their clients address significant legal and regulatory issues. Typically, we are retained to quantify economic damages in the context of large, complex commercial litigation matters. Our work often requires the development of fact-specific financial models to help our clients effectively resolve disputes involving valuation issues (shareholder class actions and other corporate valuation disputes), as well as matters regarding the functioning of financial markets and institutions (alleged market manipulation and insider trading). The analyses are summarized in the form of an expert report, which sets forth our conclusory opinions (including the underlying analytical support for those opinions) in court.

Senior Associates work closely with CRA colleagues and academic experts on project teams. Successful candidates have a strong working knowledge of financial, accounting, and economic concepts and a range of research and quantitative skills. A typical Senior Associate would:

• Independently conceptualize and identify issues, designing complex economic and financial models to analyze economic and financial data;
• Guide programming, model building and/or regression analysis in statistical analysis programs (such as Stata, SAS, R or Python);
• Draw conclusions and generate insights for leading academics and senior leaders based on models and data analysis;
• Draft and present portions of client deliverables including expert reports summarizing our opinions, conclusions, and recommendations and third party financial, market and industry data;
• Interact directly with clients (attorneys, industry professionals and government entities) on a variety of finance, strategy and economics issues;
• Assist regulators and financial institutions with analysis of trading on exchanges and in OTC markets for a wide spectrum of contracts;
• Ensure the integrity and accuracy of economic analyses and opinions;
• Facilitate internal and client meetings (when appropriate) with effective communication;
• Supervise, coach and delegate work to junior analysts;
• Identify and raise potential project revenue opportunities to senior staff;
• Assist with practice development activities (mentoring, training, recruiting, thought leadership).

Desired Qualifications

• PhD in Finance or Accounting, graduating in late 2026 or 2027;
• Solid working knowledge of finance, accounting, and economic empirical methodologies;
• Command of a broad range of research and quantitative analysis skills (including strong Excel skills);
• Curious and analytic thinkers who bring creative approaches to non-standard problems;
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills;
• Demonstrated high level of initiative and leadership
• Strong teamwork and collaboration capabilities;
• Excellent time management and task prioritization skills.

To Apply

To be considered for this position, we require the following:

• Resume – please include current address, personal email and telephone number;
• Cover letter – please describe your interest in CRA and how this role matches your goals;
• Academic Research Paper – please include a recent research paper.
• Letters of Recommendation – please submit any letters of recommendation to LORsubmission@crai.com

Career Growth & Benefits 

• CRA’s robust skills development programs, including both formal and informal programs, encourage you to thrive as an individual and team member. Beginning with research and analysis skill building, training continues with technical training, 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 day 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.

Responsible AI Use in Recruiting

We believe that recruiting is fundamentally a human process, and we are committed to a hiring process that is fair, transparent, and people-focused.  While AI and other technology-enabled tools help our team operate more efficiently, we strive to provide every candidate with a personalized, thoughtful, and high-touch experience.  As CRA invests significant human effort to find qualified members for our teams, we expect candidates to invest corresponding human effort to learn about CRA, prepare thoughtful application materials, and engage with our interviewers.  To learn more about appropriate hiring manager, recruiting team, and candidate AI at CRA, please read here.   

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.

Salary and other compensation

A good-faith estimate of the annual base salary range for this position is $180,000 – $212,500. Starting pay within this range may vary based on factors such as education level, experience, skills, geographic location, market conditions, and other qualifications of the successful candidate. This position may be eligible for additional bonus incentive compensation.

CRA offers a comprehensive benefits package, subject to eligibility requirements, which includes: medical, dental, and vision insurance; 401(k) retirement plan with employer match; life and disability insurance; paid time off (vacation, sick leave, holidays); paid parental leave; wellness programs and employee assistance resources; and commuter benefits.