JOB SUMMARY

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the department for economic growth. We operate in an increasingly dynamic international environment, with a range of forces rapidly reshaping the global economy. For the UK to navigate this environment successfully, we need to understand how the world is changing.
To meet this challenge, the Government launched a new Modern Industrial Strategy on 23 June. This 10-year plan is central to the Government’s Growth Mission and aims to make the UK one of the best places in the world to do business.
The Strategy is designed to shape the kind of growth the UK pursues, leveraging UK wide strengths in services and manufacturing, while enabling leadership in emerging industries. It also supports key national priorities including Net Zero, regional growth, and economic resilience.
To underline the government’s commitment to certainty, stability and long-termism, the Government has established the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council (ISAC). This independent, evidence-led body has advised on the development of the Strategy but will now be moving into an exciting new phase monitoring the Strategy’s implementation, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders and conducting its own analysis to build a strong evidence base that will underpin its recommendations. The Council will be placed on a statutory footing in due course, reinforcing its long-term role in ensuring the Industrial Strategy delivers sustained, inclusive economic growth.
The ISAC will be supported by a Secretariat of around 25 FTE, comprising analytical and policy expertise. The secretariat is headquartered in Manchester, with a second office in London. The Secretariat’s role is to support the Council in its mandate to monitor delivery of the Industrial Strategy, build capability to evaluate its impact and build the evidence base to support future industrial policy development.
Headed by our Chief Analyst, we are establishing a multi-disciplinary Analysis function within the Secretariat. We are seeking highly motivated, creative, flexible and proactive analysts to join the team. It is a great time to join the ISAC Analysis Function to help shape the vision, objectives and culture of the new team.
We aim to establish an inclusive team environment where ideas are welcomed and innovation and new ways of doing things encouraged and supported. We recognise that there is strength in diversity and having people from different backgrounds (e.g., gender, race, sexuality, socio-economic, educational, geographical, family circumstances) make us better in every way; we welcome applications from everyone.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The role-holder will lead the Economic Research team within the Analysis Function. This is a multi-disciplinary team of approx. 6 analysts. The team is responsible for designing and delivering the ISAC’s long-term economic research programme which includes delivery of portfolio of internal and externally commissioned analytical projects to build the evidence base to inform and shape industrial policy. The team’s high-quality research will be included in ISAC reports and discussion papers and underpin the actionable insights and recommendations agreed by the Council.
The research agenda of the team is broad covering areas of relevance to the implementation and development of the Industrial Strategy. Projects may include economic research and modelling, primary research such as business surveys and the application of data science techniques. Team members deliver projects via multidisciplinary teams of policy leads and analysts, partnering with and drawing in expertise where appropriate.

QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum qualifications for the GES: To hold full or associate GES membership, you must:

• Have a first or upper second-class honours degree in economics (or international equivalent), or a postgraduate degree in economics. If it is a joint degree, at least 50% of the course modules must be in economics.
• Have studied both macroeconomics and microeconomics.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Effective communication (Government Economic Service)

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

Responsibilities include:

• Leading the team to shape and deliver a broad range of high-quality and strategic economic research projects commissioned by government and the ISAC.
• Communicating the research findings in discussion papers and supporting the development of actionable recommendations.
• Building capability and supporting innovation in the application of cutting-edge analytical techniques.
• Commissioning external research and fostering partnerships to draw on external expertise to deliver.
• Being a proactive and collaborative member of the Secretariat’s Senior Management Team