Psychometric test development
Building personality, ability, motivation and judgment tests, and the evidence that shows they work.
I-O psychology · People science · San Mateo, CA
Jason Furneaux
I help organizations make people decisions they can stand behind.
For nine years I have designed and tested the tools organizations use to hire, develop, understand and lead people, from psychometric tests and structured interviews to leadership frameworks and the studies that show whether they work. I am a UK-registered occupational (I-O) psychologist, finishing my doctorate and now based in the Bay Area.
- HCPC-registered occupational psychologist (UK)
- Doctoral viva, December 2026
- Authorized to work in the US
About me
My work has always been driven by one simple belief: rigorous behavioral science has the power to transform how organizations understand and support their people. It turns ‘gut’ feeling into evidence that leaders can act on with confidence.
I am a people scientist and UK-registered occupational psychologist with nine years of experience, mostly in client-facing consulting roles. At the heart of my work is robust measurement: measuring the things that matter in the right way. I have applied this foundation across the employee lifecycle, with experience spanning selection and assessment, employee development, leadership, and organizational research and analytics.
Underpinning my work are strong quantitative skills, from survey design and statistical modeling to predictive analytics, alongside the qualitative research that uncovers the stories behind the data. Just as important are the consulting skills that turn findings into clear recommendations and earn the trust of the people who act on them.
I do my best work at the bridge between research and practice, where insights become interventions and data can help a business and its people flourish. That commitment led me to pursue a professional doctorate in occupational psychology alongside full-time work, which has deepened my expertise in research and practice alike.
Outside of work you'll find me in the pool or the gym, having swum competitively at county, national and university levels in the UK. I have been a gamer since childhood, these days mostly World of Warcraft and Diablo IV, and I am also a WWE fan and a keen crocheter. Home is San Mateo, where I am, by my own admission, a bothersome husband. Our two cats, Isaac and Wesley, are just as bothersome, and like to join my client calls uninvited. They have a lot to say about psychological assessment 🐈
Expertise
What I specialize in
My work spans all five core areas of occupational psychology, but these six specialties are where I have the most experience.
Select a card to turn it over for the detail and methods.
Selection and assessment design
Designing hiring processes grounded in job analysis, from structured interviews to assessment centers.
Validation and fairness
Testing whether assessments predict performance, and whether they treat every group fairly.
Leadership assessment and development
Assessing leaders up to the C-suite and turning what the results show into development.
Training and enablement
Training the HR teams, recruiters, coaches and assessors who use assessments every day.
Research and analytics
Turning workforce data and published research into evidence leaders can act on.
Core skills
- Psychometrics and survey design
- Program evaluation
- Structured interviewing
- Competency modeling
- Assessment and development centers
- People analytics
- Statistical analysis in R and SPSS
- Mixed-methods research
- Stakeholder engagement
- Project management
Approach
How I work
I believe decisions about people deserve the same standard of evidence as any other major business decision. Evidence-based practice is how I hold to that, combining research, an organization's own data, the views of the people affected and professional judgment. The principles below describe what that looks like in practice.
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Follow the evidence, and know why
No single source of evidence settles a question. Research, an organization's own data and the experience of the people involved each show part of the picture, and the weight each deserves shifts with the question being asked. Understanding why an approach works, and not only that it does, is what allows it to be adapted with confidence when the context changes.
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Build fairness in, then test it
Fairness is designed in from the start, with clear, accessible content that gives every candidate the same chance to show what they can do. I then keep testing that it holds up in practice, so that a process designed to be fair is also experienced as fair by the people going through it.
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Find the story behind the numbers
Statistics tell me how big an issue is, but rarely why it exists. So I pair the data with the experiences behind it, through interviews, focus groups and open comments. Together they give a fuller picture of what is driving a result and what is likely to help.
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Explain it so it sticks
Insight is only valuable if the people receiving it can act on it, and most will not have a background in statistics. I frame findings around the decisions they inform, in language that fits the audience. Done well, the rigor behind the work becomes something people can see and use.
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Bring stakeholders along
The work that lasts is usually shaped with the people who will live with it. I build a shared understanding of the problem early, ground the work in the organization's own priorities and language, and leave real room for challenge along the way. That sense of shared ownership is what turns findings into lasting change.
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Respect the people behind the data
Every response, score and comment comes from someone who chose to share something about themselves. I treat taking part as an experience worth designing well, and handle what people share with the care that trust deserves. People who trust the process tend to engage more openly, so respect and data quality go hand in hand.
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Stay curious
The science of work keeps moving, and so does the way people work. I keep up with new research, methods and tools, and often find useful ideas in neighboring fields such as data science, behavioral economics and design. That curiosity keeps the work current, and it is often where the better solution comes from.
Career · 2018 to now
Experience and qualifications
Four firms and, most recently, freelance work. Along the way my role has grown from hands-on design and analysis to leading client projects across hiring, development, leadership and organizational research.
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Jan 2026 to presentSan Mateo, CA
Freelance Consultant, I-O Psychology and Psychometrics
Self-employed · Consultancies, test publishers and employers
Independent practice partnering with consultancies, test publishers and employers on selection science, development and psychometric research and development.
- Designing and validating assessments, structured interviews and selection processes, with fairness analysis built in.
- Evaluating the impact of selection and development programs for client organizations.
- Leading development of a new reasoning test for an AI-enabled hiring platform, from item specification to final test forms.
- Reviewing scoring, calibration and data quality across the wider test suite.
- Building a curated library of recent research on hiring, leadership, learning, well-being and AI at work.
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Sep 2024 to Nov 2025London, UK
Principal I-O Psychologist
Sova Assessment · Assessment technology company
Led client projects across the employee lifecycle, served as the in-house I-O expert for sales, product and customer success, and helped develop new psychometric tools.
- Led end-to-end assessment projects for global clients, from job analysis and assessment design to validation studies and fairness analysis.
- Built bespoke selection and development processes for clients in energy, retail, security, law and supply chain, combining behavioral, values and cognitive measures with custom work samples and interviews.
- Presented quarterly business reviews to C-suite stakeholders, turning client assessment data into recommendations.
- Led a validation study of nearly 4,000 employees at a global telecom, showing which behaviors predicted performance and potential in different markets and functions.
- Ran adverse impact and cut-score analyses for hiring programs with more than 18,000 applicants.
- Led the expert review of an AI-driven work-sample assessment and set the review process for each new version.
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Sep 2023 to Sep 2024Chelsea, London, UK
Senior Assessment Consultant
Hult EF Corporate Education · Leadership development and assessment provider
Diagnosed client needs, then designed, sold and delivered assessment and development solutions.
- Ran diagnostic needs analyses with global clients to pin down the underlying problem and the assessment or development solution that would address it.
- Delivered and oversaw 360 programs, assessment centers, structured interviews, psychometric assessment and validation studies.
- Supported development of the firm's assessment products, researching industry trends and client needs to inform the roadmap.
- Built a leadership framework for a luxury retail group in the Middle East from interviews and focus groups with its leaders, then turned it into interview guides and a custom 360.
- Trained sales colleagues to scope and sell assessment work on their own.
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Sep 2021 to Sep 2023Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
Senior Consultant Business Psychologist
SHL · Global talent assessment company
Ran end-to-end assessment and development projects for enterprise clients, and advised them on talent management, leadership development and succession planning.
- Scoped client requirements and defined the skills and behaviors behind hiring and development decisions through job analysis.
- Managed multiple concurrent client programs end to end, and supported business development through proposals, statements of work and contract negotiation.
- Delivered assessment and development centers, executive assessments, coaching, and 360 and personality feedback for leaders up to the C-suite.
- Designed work-sample exercises for a global bank's graduate hiring, about 2,000 candidates a year, with no adverse impact and a strong link to later job performance.
- Led a capability gap analysis for a global telecom technology company that changed its hiring practice and led to follow-on work.
- Trained HR teams as qualified test users, designed custom 360 training, and mentored junior consultants.
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Jan 2018 to Sep 2021Guildford, UK
Consultant Psychologist
10x Psychology · Psychometric test publisher and consultancy
Built and validated psychometric tools, and designed hiring and development programs for the firm's clients.
- Designed and ran hiring processes, performance management and development programs, training and internal audits for a range of clients.
- Managed a number of client accounts, overseeing the ongoing success of their projects.
- Co-developed a personality questionnaire across three studies and led its head-to-head validation; it was later adopted by a global behavioral science consultancy.
- Built and validated reasoning and motivation tests, co-built a competency model, and co-wrote the technical manuals.
- Served as product lead for the firm's end-to-end hiring platform.
- Secured British Psychological Society accreditation for the firm's test-user training.
Education and credentials
Doctorate
Professional Doctorate in Occupational Psychology
A practitioner doctorate in two parts, combining supervised professional practice with an original research thesis.
Page 1 of 3
Part 1Completed
Professional practice
The practitioner stage, accredited by the British Psychological Society. My supervised client work and reflective learning logs were assessed across all five core areas of occupational psychology, with evidence-based and ethical practice held to a high standard throughout. Each log also had to show that my practice met the HCPC's standards for practitioner psychologists, covering both proficiency and conduct, performance and ethics.
- Psychological assessment at work
- Learning, training and development
- Leadership, engagement and motivation
- Well-being and work
- Work design, organizational change and development
Page 2 of 3
Part 2Thesis submitted
Research thesis
My thesis looks at how personality and emotion shape the way people respond to negative experiences at work: why some react more strongly than others, and how that plays out in their behavior afterward.
It brings together a systematic review of the existing evidence and an original cross-sectional study that tests a moderated mediation model, with the aim of showing organizations where they can step in after a difficult experience.
Page 3 of 3
Degrees
- M.Sc. Occupational PsychologyUniversity of Nottingham · 2017Distinction, and the Award for Academic Excellence for the top result in the cohort.
- B.Sc. (Hons) PsychologyDe Montfort University · 2016First-Class Honors, the British Psychological Society prize for the top student on an accredited program, and the prize for the highest dissertation mark.
Registration and qualifications
- Registered Occupational PsychologistHealth and Care Professions Council (HCPC), UK
- Graduate Member (MBPsS)British Psychological Society
- Qualified test user, ability and personalityBritish Psychological Society (formerly Level A and B)
Instruments
Trained in SHL OPQ, Saville Wave, 16PF, 15FQ and TypeCoach, plus HEXACO-based and image-based questionnaires and a range of 360 tools.
Analysis
R, SPSS (including PROCESS for mediation and moderation), Qualtrics and Excel.
A note on titles
In the UK, occupational psychologist is a protected title regulated by the HCPC, and I hold that registration. The closest US equivalent is industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology. US licensing is separate and set state by state, so in the US I describe my work as I-O psychology and people science.
Selected work
Case studies
Every case is anonymized, with client names and bespoke framework names removed. Six featured cases are shown first. Filter by area to see the rest, and open any case for the background, what I did and how it turned out.
In their words
“Jason is reliable and always delivers with good quality.”
“Jason is an extremely competent senior assessment consultant who is able to design and deliver technically sound assessment and development solutions for clients.”
“I only have positive things to say about Jason.”
“He has shown great I/O skills and understanding.”
“He navigated complex stakeholder relationships with sensitivity and professionalism, fostering trust and collaboration throughout the project.”
“He actively listens to others’ ideas and concerns, ensuring that everyone feels heard and valued.”
“Both delegates and the client stakeholder were very happy with the delivery and the upskilling it provided.”
“Jason worked independently and professionally, using his own judgement and expertise.”
“He approaches challenges with a ‘can-do’ mindset, always looking for solutions and opportunities to improve processes and outcomes.”
“He continually shares his knowledge and expertise to help the team grow.”
“Jason navigated the client dialogue very well, both through the scoping and the delivery phase.”
“He has always worked very well with people.”
Contact
Open to new roles and projects
I am looking for in-house or consulting roles across people science, I-O psychology, recruitment and people analytics, based in the Bay Area or remote in the US. I also take on selected freelance projects. Email is the quickest way to reach me.
LinkedIn
San Mateo, CaliforniaPacific Time