Evidence and Data Lead

Job Description

We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and are committed to celebrating and supporting diversity. We know we will thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products and services, and our community.  We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from people with experiences of homelessness.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Centre for Homelessness Impact is looking for two Evidence & Data Leads who will help to continue growing our Evidence, Data and Value for Money work.

The ideal candidates will have a range of tools and methods that they can deploy flexibly depending on the question at hand. This could include designing, managing and quality-assuring robust evaluations using different methods (impact, process and economic evaluations), critically assessing and summarising evidence (rapid evidence assessments, systematic reviews), and analysing data to identify insights and opportunities for improvement (time series, geographical data, financial data).

Candidates might not have experience in all these areas so we are looking for a couple of profiles: 

• A candidate well-versed in impact evaluation methods, particularly designing and overseeing Randomised Controlled Trials, but also with a good understanding of quasi-experimental methods (A focus on Impact Evaluation)
• A candidate with a strong understanding of data analysis, including scoping projects,  and gathering, analysing and presenting their analyses to a policy audience (A focus on Data Analysis)

In your application, please let us know if you would prefer a focus on Impact Evaluation or Data Analysis.

Candidates will have a knack for translating their findings into simple, yet meaningful messages for policy, service design, innovation and improvements on the data infrastructure.

Evidence and Data Leads work in close collaboration with the Director of Evidence and Data to scope opportunities for our evidence and work and capitalise on opportunities for collaboration with other organisations in this space.  

We are a small and focused team with great ambitions. We are looking for people with an entrepreneurial spirit - a self-starter who gets excited by uncovering insights and sees how they can be used to unlock new opportunities. 

We work with multiple partners on a variety of projects - so it is crucial that the Evidence and Data  Leads are capable of prioritising effectively and devoting resources to the activities that are likely to generate the greatest impact. 

WHY IS THIS ROLE IMPORTANT FOR THE CENTRE’S WORK?

At the Centre, we help people harness the power of evidence and data to improve policies and interventions to support people experiencing homelessness. 

You will help shape the direction of our evidence work. This is a crucial stage of our journey as we expand our data and VFM work, and sustain momentum around our portfolio of evidence generation, particularly the delivery of the Test & Learn and Systems-Wide Evaluation programme. 

Working under the oversight of the Director of Evidence and Data, you will work across a portfolio of projects using different methodological approaches helping scope, oversee and run in-house analyses and briefing notes, as well as working on larger studies in collaboration with our academic partners. You will be responsible for guaranteeing methodological excellence and policy relevance, and pushing the boundaries for how we identify insights from research findings. 

Most importantly, you will ensure those lessons are captured and fed into all the other streams of our work. Your skillset is critical to our work because you have the ability to both cultivate relationships with stakeholders and support the development of world-class researchers.

WE’RE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO CAN

Focus on Impact Evaluation:

• Manage the day-to-day development of our primary studies (particularly Randomised Controlled Trials but also other Quasi-Experimental projects) providing technical quality assurance at every stage of the project, ensuring the policy relevance of any commissioned research, and managing stakeholders sensitively and effectively;
• Play a key role in scoping new primary studies 

Focus on Data Analysis:

• Manage data projects from beginning to end including designing the scope, and then compiling, manipulating and analysing data from national and local governments (including levels of homelessness and financial data) to produce briefings and identify opportunities for improvement in the data infrastructure. 
• Play a key role in scoping and delivering opportunities to improve the data on homelessness (including the development of our Ending Homelessness Framework)

All candidates:

• Write concise and actionable summaries of insights for policymakers and practitioners that distil what we know works (Evidence Notes, blogs, and others); and take an active role in the dissemination of findings in multiple formats (presentations, social media, etc);
• Manage the day-to-day development of some of our Evidence Tools (Intervention Tool, Evidence and Gap Maps, Evidence Finder), providing technical quality assurance at every stage of the project;
• Work in close collaboration with the Director of Evidence and Data to help develop and shape the Centre’s research agenda, contributing to scope, plan, and deliver new research ;
• Work closely with members of the Implementation Team to engage with homelessness practitioners to use evidence and data and with members of the Comms Team to support the dissemination of findings to our wider audience.
• Manage multiple projects and diverse stakeholders’ needs effectively and sensitively; with the capacity to build and nurture good relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Flexibility to contribute to CHI’s other strands of work in a small, focused team; with openness to critique from other disciplines and curiosity to learn from the spectrum of perspectives represented by different members of the team and other stakeholders.

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE AND BEHAVIOURS

We need a self-starter, capable of scoping and delivering evidence-and-data-led projects and articulating effectively how these are aligned with our strategic priorities and the needs of decision-makers.

Your experience includes:

• Mastery in a social science discipline, e.g. economics, statistics, social research methods, public policy or related discipline
• Experience in designing and quality-assuring impact evaluations, particularly Randomised Controlled Trials (but also other Quasi-experimental designs) as well as the practical challenges of implementing these in practice. (Focus on Impact Evaluation)
• Experience analysing publicly available data, including financial data (Focus on Data Analysis)
• Experience in complex Project Management involving working with a substantial range of stakeholders at pace
• Experience working in applied quantitative research including in a What Works Centre, evaluation consultancy or an organisation with a similar mission
• Experience writing and communicating: drawing insights from research findings and communicating them to decision-makers.
• An entrepreneurial approach and an ability to work effectively and flexibly at pace in a lean, diverse and agile organisation with big ambitions. 

Nice to have:

• Experience using a range of economic evaluation methods such as Cost-Benefit, Cost-Consequences, Value for Money Frameworks, etc
• Experience in systematic reviews and rapid evidence assessments.
• Nuanced understanding of homelessness policies across the UK.
• Nuanced understanding of local authorities' financial data.

You will be able to demonstrate the following:

• Ability to push the boundaries for how data and evidence can generate insights and contribute to designing intelligent services and systems to improve the lives of people experiencing homelessness or a risk.
• Ability to set clear priorities and work to tight deadlines
• Capacity to build and nurture good relationships with diverse stakeholders
• Commitment to both the aims and values of the Centre.
• Openness to critique from other disciplines and curiosity to learn from various perspectives.

‍Working here

As a member of the team, you will have access to a wide range of employee benefits including:

• Interest-free loans for travel season ticket, cycle to work, and deposit to secure a tenancy
• Pension scheme with an employer contribution of 8.5%
• 30 days’ annual leave which increases with service to 33 days
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, shared parental, and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme

TERMS OF APPOINTMENT

Permanent role. Full and part-time considered.

Salary: £35,000 to £45,000 (pro rata if part-time) depending on experience and location. 

Location: Flexible, remote or hybrid for London-based staff.

Staff outside London work remotely from home, and we offer a hybrid working environment for staff based within commuting distance of our central London offices, usually with at least two office-based days in an average week.

This role will require some travel with overnight stays.

HOW TO APPLY

Please apply on our dedicated site here. Note that we are recruiting for both profiles in parallel, so please let us know your preference.

Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment process.  This means that our hiring team does not know your name, your details or see your whole application in one go. 

Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions.  For example, they will review all candidates’ responses to the first question, rather than seeing all candidate’s responses together.

Deadline: Sunday 24 November, 10 pm.

Interviews: w.c.02 December

We reserve the right to close applications at any point, and thus encourage applications at your earliest convenience.

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