Senior Researcher

Senior Researcher

Department: Policy Research Centre

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: London, UK

Compensation: GBP 30,000 - GBP 43,109 / year

Description

NatCen's social policy and programme evaluation portfolio is growing, and we are looking for an exceptional Senior Researcher to join us, with a focus on statistical impact evaluation. The successful candidate will contribute to the design and analysis of randomised controlled trials and quasi-experimental evaluations, with the support of Research Directors and working with colleagues from across the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and external partners.

We deliver impactful, large-scale evaluations that are used to inform national policies. Policy areas are varied, including education, crime and justice, transport, and health. Our clients include UK government departments (e.g., DCMS, DWP, Home Office, Ministry of Justice) and What Works Centres (e.g., Education Endowment Foundation, Youth Endowment Fund).

Key Responsibilities

Specific Duties & Responsibilities:
• Contribute to designs of randomised controlled trials and quasi-experimental evaluations.
• Implement statistical analysis of data from large randomised controlled trials and quasi-experimental evaluations, including survey and administrative data, and interpret the results within a policy evaluation context.
• Be part of the tendering process for research projects by contributing to the writing up of proposals.
• Contribute to drafting research reports and preparing other outputs for clients.
• Advise other researchers on evaluation methods.
• Contribute to teaching on short courses in statistical impact evaluation methods.
• Disseminate findings via conferences and written reports/papers.
• Undertake continuing personal development to enhance research skills, keeping up to date with recent developments in evaluation methods and relevant policy areas.
• Maintain and promote high ethical and information security standards.

Skills Knowledge and Expertise

Specific Duties & Responsibilities:
• Contribute to designs of randomised controlled trials and quasi-experimental evaluations.
• Implement statistical analysis of data from large randomised controlled trials and quasi-experimental evaluations, including survey and administrative data, and interpret the results within a policy evaluation context.
• Be part of the tendering process for research projects by contributing to the writing up of proposals.
• Contribute to drafting research reports and preparing other outputs for clients.
• Advise other researchers on evaluation methods.
• Contribute to teaching on short courses in statistical impact evaluation methods.
• Disseminate findings via conferences and written reports/papers.
• Undertake continuing personal development to enhance research skills, keeping up to date with recent developments in evaluation methods and relevant policy areas.
• Maintain and promote high ethical and information security standards.

Essential
• Qualifications: An undergraduate degree and/or postgraduate degree in a relevant subject, such as social science, economics, or statistics.
• Statistical skills: Technical knowledge and practical experience of statistical analysis. Knowledge of basic statistical concepts, regression modelling, and interpreting statistical results. Experience of counterfactual impact evaluation design and analysis, including randomised control trials and/or quasi-experimental
designs such as synthetic controls, difference-in-differences, matched statistical designs, propensity score weighting, and regression discontinuity design.
• Data handling: Ability to manage complex administrative and survey data, including cleaning, linking, creating derived variables, quality assuring and preparing data for analysis. • Statistical packages: Familiarity, and ability to write syntax, with the statistical software R and/or Stata.
• Project management: Ability to work on more than one project at a time; work well under pressure and to strict deadlines delivering high quality output.
• Communication skills: Good written and oral communication skills. This includes the ability to write technical reports, contribute sections for a research report, and to explain complex issues in a clear manner. Ability to write statistical/methods sections for research proposals.
• Inter-relational skills: Ability to form positive relationships with colleagues, clients, and external researchers, and to liaise effectively with them to deliver projects.

Desirable • A postgraduate degree involving quantitative analysis or equivalent experience.
• Experience analysing administrative and large survey datasets in fields such as health and wellbeing, education, employment, or crime and justice.
• Familiarity with a wider range of evaluation methods such as process evaluations, theory-based evaluation, and/or value for money analysis.

NatCen Requirements:
• Maintain high ethical standards
• Demonstrate knowledge and awareness of all responsibilities in relation to maintaining confidentiality with both written and oral communication
• Actively conform to the legislative and procedural requirements in relation to the collection, management, storage and destruction of data
• Follow the requirements of our Operating Standards, and also to meet the requirements of all our ISO standards
• Other duties which may be required from time to time

This job description may be changed from time to time at the discretion of management

Benefits

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Holiday 25 days' holiday (three of which must be taken during Christmas closure) plus 8 bank holidays. Leave increases to 30 days after 3 years' employment.

Pension
All new employees will be automatically enrolled on the pension scheme 3 months from their start date unless stated otherwise. The minimum employee contribution is 3% and the maximum employer contribution is 5% of salary. If the employee does not wish to contribute to the pension scheme, there will be a process that will be in place for them to follow to opt out of the scheme for a limited period.
Staff can also join our defined contribution pension scheme. The minimum employee contribution is 4% and the maximum employer contribution is 7.5% of salary. You can join this pension from when you start working with us.

Life Insurance All employees are eligible for a lump sum benefit payable to the named beneficiary (this does not have to be a spouse, partner or dependent, and can be split between beneficiaries) on the employee's death of 5 times their annual salary. Beneficiary form must be completed - further details can be found when you start working with us.

NatCen Rewards This is an online employee benefits scheme featuring discounts at over 800 retailers and service providers in the UK, both online and in store.

Health Cash Plan Employees can sign up to healthcare cash plan which lets you claim back the cost of treatments, such as laser eye treatment, dental treatment, physiotherapy, hospital scans etc. You can pay as little as GBP 1.20 per week, and when you receive treatment, you send the details to the provider and it reimburses you, depending on the terms of your cash plan.

Professional Subscriptions We will pay the cost of one professional membership subscription per individual per annum, where that subscription is required for the job.

Cycle to work scheme This is a government initiative which allows NatCen to provide bikes and associated safety equipment to employees to use as a means of transport for work purposes.

Season ticket loan We offer an interest free loan to buy annual season tickets for travel to work. This is available once you have completed your probation period.

Eye care vouchers NatCen will contribute up to GBP 30 per year for an eye test. If the glasses/contacts are solely for VDU use then NatCen will contribute up to GBP 100.

Flexible working Flexible working is supported where it helps to meet the aims of the company, as it increases motivation and reduces the level of stress. Examples of this include home working and job sharing. Some flexibility in working hours may be possible. Core hours of work are 10am - 4pm.

Parental leave Employees who meet the qualifying criteria can claim up to 18 working weeks unpaid leave per child under 5, or up to 18 years of age if the child has a disability. Employees can take parental leave in blocks of one week and no more than 4 weeks per year.

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) EAP is a confidential helpline designed to help you deal with personal and professional problems that could be affecting your home life or work life, health and general wellbeing.

Career Development We are passionate about learning and the value it brings to the organisation and our clients.
Everyone has access to training and development which supports them in the work they do and personal learning & development plans are tailored to help develop individuals and teams achieve our goals. We aim for a culture of continuous improvement which includes active reflection on development needs and goals.

We support continuing professional development in a number of different ways through our:

• e-learning site which is packed full of a wide range of short modules covering a range of topics including IT skills, data protection and management. E-learning is freely accessible to all staff and can be used as part of a formal development path or simply as a quick refresher on key skills
• Research Professional Development programme which offers a comprehensive learning and development framework for our researchers, providing state of the art training and development ensuring that we are continually expanding and renewing our research capability
• Core Skills programme for all staff offering a range of activities from one-to-one coaching, team building activities and business skills workshops
• On-the-job coaching and development, peer and action learning, mentoring
• Work placements and shadowing opportunities
• Knowledge exchange and communities of practice - many of our staff belong to informal communities of practice where they come together to share the latest developments in their professional field and to learn from each other, we also have a thriving seminar series.