Experiential Insight Lead Researcher - York/London/Hybrid

Experiential Insight Lead Researcher - York/London/HybridSalary: £37,546.60 per annum

Permanent, Full Time (35 hours per week)

Here at Joseph Rowntree Foundation, we are looking for an experienced qualitative specialist to join our Insight Infrastructure team and take on responsibility for the day-to-day management of the Grounded Voices research programme.

About the role

You will work alongside JRF’s Qualitative Insight Manager and a newly appointed Experiential Insight Research Officer. Grounded Voices team members aim to work in a non-hierarchical way as they undertake key project tasks including designing research materials, recruiting participants, conducting the different elements of this online research programme (interviews, focus groups, diaries), and analysing the findings.

Specific responsibilities are as follows:

• Manage relationships with external project partners e.g. recruiter, providers of online systems

• Lead on day-to-day programme management including monitoring of participant engagement, utilising online systems effectively for data collection and programme administration, and communicating with participants at key points of the programme

• Take ownership of data management and safeguarding policies, ensuring the research is conducted in a way that is ethical as well as legally compliant
• Lead on internal comms, ensuring colleagues are kept informed of key findings
• Work alongside the Qualitative Insight Manager to develop the programme and maximise its internal and external impact

More detail about the team and the programme can be found here .

About you

As our Experiential Insight Lead Researcher, we would like you to have experience of conducting research on sensitive topics with a robust understanding of how to work with confidential data.

With extensive knowledge of the key elements of ethical and inclusive research practice and how they apply to researching financial hardship, you will have an appreciation of the issues impacting the different groups of people who might experience financial hardship and potential solutions. With advanced understanding of qualitative research methods, including virtual methods, you will have solid understanding of qualitative data analysis techniques and appreciation of how qualitative evidence can be used to create social change.

Able toIf you have any additional needs and need reasonable adjustments to be made to the interview process, please let us know. think critically and creatively, analyse and problem solve, and contribute to the generation of new ideas and alternative ways of approaching an issue, you will be a strong communicator, both written and verbal, able to communicate confidently in accessible ways with different audiences. With a proven warmth and professional approach to building and sustaining collaborative relationships with research participants, colleagues, external research partners and other stakeholders, you will have a track record of being an excellent team player, actively contributing to team objectives and supporting less experienced members of a research team to develop their knowledge and skills.

How to apply

If you share our passion and this role sounds like you, then we’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Please submit your CV and supporting information via our online application platform.

The closing date for applications is 22nd September 2025.

Interviews are expected to take place weeks commencing 6th October or 13th October 2025.

Additional Information

Applications are welcome from all, regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or socioeconomic background.

We positively encourage applications from people from marginalised backgrounds, including but not limited to those with experience of living in poverty.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and operate an anonymised recruitment process so that bias is eliminated from the shortlisting process.

In support of our approach to flexible working, we are happy to receive applications from those seeking full-time employment, as well as those who may want to share the role on a part-time basis. When making your application, please state whether you want to be considered for either full or part-time work and, if part-time, the number of hours per week you would be looking for.

At JRF we’re at our best when we’re continually building on trust, showing we care and making a difference – and hope others will do the same. So, for those roles which allow it, we’re developing a more blended approach to how and where you work. This means you can expect to work flexibly between the office and home (with an expectation of two days a week in your home office).

We encourage you to read our EVP, which is located here:

We are a Disability Confident Employer . This means that we are committed to the recruitment, progression and retention of disabled individuals. We shall also offer interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the job. If you have a disability, please tell us if you would like to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.

If you have any additional needs and need reasonable adjustments to be made to the interview process, please let us know.