(2027/2028 PhD/ABD graduates) Economic Consulting Senior Associate Intern (Summer 2026)
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 interns with this profile include (hiring locations listed):
- Antitrust and Competition Economics (Boston, Chicago, New York, Washington DC)
- Our Competition practice economists provide analysis and testimony in matters involving mergers and acquisitions, antitrust litigation, and global competition policy.
- Life Sciences/Litigation & Policy (Boston, New York, Washington DC)
- Our litigation team delivers expert testimony on a range of issues, while our policy experts provide independent analysis of global, national and regional policy issues for life sciences companies, government entities and industry bodies.
- 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
Our Summer Senior Associate Internship program mirrors the Senior Associate experience to give you an understanding of our business and experience project work at Charles River Associates. Throughout the 10-week program, Senior Associate Interns work alongside senior colleagues to deliver live client consulting projects within the practice area. Along the way, you’ll benefit from professional development and wellness support programs, social events to connect you with peers and a collegial work environment. Successful interns will be offered a full-time position following program completion. Successful candidates have a strong knowledge of economic concepts and a range of research and quantitative skills. A typical Senior Associate Intern 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, support complex economic models to analyze data, and participate in the research process;
- 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 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, expertise sharing, etc.).
Explore how CRA can help you launch your career and click here to learn why PhDs choose CRA.
Desired Qualifications
- PhD degree in economics with a completion date within December 2026/Summer 2028 and an academic focus on quantitative research, with specializations like industrial organization, applied microeconomics, econometrics, labor, health, intellectual property, pricing and product launch, 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 the Summer 2026 Senior Associate Internship program, we require:
- 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 (or outline).
Candidate resume review will commence January 15, and continue on a rolling basis until positions are filled.
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 realize 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.
Base wage range considers several factors including but not limited to practice, experience, education level, and expertise. A good-faith estimate of the base wage range for this role is $2,400-$3,200/week (dependent on practice area); actual total compensation may also include benefits and bonus incentives.