Posted 29/06/2026
About Talamo
Talamo builds cognitive assessments that help schools identify and support children with special educational needs. Our dyslexia screener is used by 1,000+ schools and carries formal British Dyslexia Association endorsement. We are now expanding our platform, with dyscalculia and executive functioning assessments launching in September 2026.
We are a small team, which means high autonomy, fast decision-making and real influence over the product. This is an opportunity to shape how schools identify and support neurodivergent children at scale.
The Role
We are looking for a Senior Assessment Researcher to help own the research and psychometric quality behind Talamo’s assessments.
This role would suit someone with exceptional analytical ability and strong technical fluency. You do not need to be a narrow specialist in every area we assess, but you do need to learn quickly, interrogate evidence, work confidently with data, use modern tools effectively and make sound judgement calls where the evidence is incomplete.
Your core responsibility will be to ensure our assessments are well-designed, evidence-led and sufficiently valid to support screening decisions in schools. You will work across test design, item development, research planning, data analysis, standardisation, validation and scoring logic.
This is a senior, hands-on role, not an academic research or clinical diagnostic role. You will be close to the product, data and delivery, balancing scientific quality with the need to move quickly and iterate.
Responsibilities
Assessment development
Identify, evaluate and design tests that strengthen our existing batteries and support our assessment expansion.
Source, write and review test items, working with external subject-matter experts where necessary.
Critically assess the evidence behind different assessment approaches and recommend what Talamo should build, adapt or avoid.
Work with design and engineering to define item formats that are valid, accessible, age-appropriate and practical to deliver digitally.
Use AI tools responsibly to support item generation, item review and research synthesis, while applying strong human judgement and quality control.
Review test performance and refine, remove or replace weak items.
Research, validation, analysis
Design research plans for new assessments, including cohorts, recruitment, school relationships and data-collection campaigns.
Analyse data from new and live assessments, including item-level performance, reliability, validity, difficulty, ceiling and floor effects and response patterns.
Use analytical tooling to explore data, test hypotheses, investigate anomalies and build repeatable workflows.
Maintain norms and standardisation tables.
Produce clear research summaries, technical documentation and recommendations for product, engineering and external experts.
Model design
Design and evaluate scoring logic for cognitive profiles, risk indicators, strengths, challenges and support needs.
Review model performance, with particular attention to sensitivity, specificity and explainability.
Make clear recommendations about thresholds, weighting, confidence and reporting language.
Develop and evaluate AI-assisted scoring and reporting approaches, including where automation can improve consistency without reducing psychometric caution.
Work with engineering to implement and improve scoring logic within the platform, translating complex research and data questions into clear product and technical requirements.
About you
Essential
Exceptional analytical ability, with the capacity to understand complex problems quickly and make clear, evidence-based judgements.
A strong understanding of reliability, validity, norming, standardisation and item-level analysis.
Strong data fluency, including confidence working with imperfect datasets and drawing practical conclusions from them.
Strong assessment research, psychometrics or data-analysis experience.
Experience developing, refining, validating or evaluating tests, assessments, questionnaires or other structured measurement tools.
Confidence working in Python, R or similar analytical tools.
High technical fluency, including confidence using AI tools, automation and modern software to improve the speed, consistency and quality of your work.
Strong generalist problem-solving ability, with the curiosity and range to move across dyslexia, dyscalculia, executive functioning, cognitive testing, scoring models, product constraints and school implementation.
The ability to explain research findings and decisions clearly to non-specialists.
A hands-on mindset and comfort working in an early-stage environment where structure is still being built.
Nice to have
Knowledge of neurodiversity, particularly dyslexia, dyscalculia or ADHD.
Experience working with schools, children or special educational needs.
Experience with classification models and screening thresholds.
Experience with AI-assisted scoring, reporting or research automation.
Experience working closely with product, design or engineering teams.
Early-stage or startup experience.
Why Talamo?
This is a rare opportunity to own the research function at a company already being used at scale by schools.
You will have the chance to shape assessments that could improve how hundreds of thousands of children are identified and supported. You will work directly with the founders, engineers and external experts, and your decisions will have a visible impact on what we build and how schools use it.
How to apply
Fill in this form to apply, we'd love to hear from you!
(Please do not email us directly to apply for this role, your application will not be accepted via this route)
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