Lead Social Researcher

Job description

Our team in CDDO is seeking a Lead Social Researcher to lead a team working on a high-profile project to evaluate service improvements to government services. The successful candidate will be responsible for designing and implementing effective, technically feasible evaluations to measure the impact of service improvements on the UK citizen. This is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference in people's lives and play a key role in shaping service improvement for government. 

Key Responsibilities:

• leading the design and implementation of evaluations of government service improvements, including developing evaluation frameworks, identifying appropriate methodologies, and collecting and analysing data
• managing and mentoring social/user researchers (3FTE), providing guidance and support to ensure high-quality work
• developing data collection tools, such as surveys, interviews, and focus groups, and ensuring data quality
• conducting data analysis, drawing insights and recommendations and presenting them stakeholders
• building relationships with stakeholders and collaborating with other team members

Person specification

• experience of leading, overseeing and motivating researchers to deliver high impact research and of managing its technical direction
• experience of designing, leading and delivering research, from a relevant discipline such as a behavioural scientist or a social scientist
• excellent analytical and critical thinking skills, with the ability to synthesise complex information and draw insights from data
• the ability to engage and influence others at various levels of seniority to maximise the impact of research studies
• considerable knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research design, methods and analysis
• an ability to work collaboratively and across disciplines, and maintain strong working relationships with a broad range of individuals
• the ability to communicate research for varied audiences, using different media/ formats e.g. technical reports; presentations; web-based tools