WHATEVER IT TAKES

Everyone works at Nesta because we are driven by a deep commitment to our missions. A guiding principle of our culture is that we do whatever it takes to achieve them, bringing our best to all our work.
We are seeking a Mission Manager (Trials and Behavioural Science) to work in Nesta’s ‘A Healthy Life’ mission. We want to increase the number of years lived in good health for all, and particularly those most affected by health inequalities. We are focusing on tackling one of the biggest drivers of lost years of healthy life: obesity. Our primary focus currently is on improving our food environments i.e. making healthy food more available, accessible, affordable, appealing and convenient for all. We work across sectors - with businesses, national policymakers, local government, academics and other charities - in order to drive the changes we need to see to improve health.

ESSENTIAL

We are looking for people who understand what we do, share our values and are keen to learn and develop their expertise. We are looking for candidates with the skills listed below. We expect to provide training and development support in some of the areas; applicants are not expected to be expert in all of them but to have some relevant experience.

• Experience leading projects and partnerships. You can lead and manage projects, think strategically, coordinate a team and communicate expertly with stakeholders/ partners to produce quality work within a reasonable time frame and budget. You are seen as a strong project manager.
• Experience running and evaluating trials. You have a good understanding of trial design and have been involved in running and evaluation of trials. You have a good practical understanding of statistical reasoning. You have good analytical skills including data manipulation and interpretation.
• Practical experience of using behavioural science approaches. You have applied theoretical understanding to several practical challenges in the past, running projects from start to finish. You can explain the implications of theoretical concepts such as defaults, loss aversion and social norms. You have worked to apply behavioural theory in real world settings.
• Experience with statistical Programming Languages, at a minimum be able to import, clean and wrangle data in Python or R.
• Managing and developing others. You can nurture talent and energise people to perform at their best. You care about the success, development and wellbeing of others and can have meaningful (and sometimes difficult!) conversations.
• Scoping projects and partnerships. You are able to spot opportunities within the mission and with new and existing partners and persuade others of the impact we could have.
• Clear and convincing communications. You can explain complex topics in simple terms. You can lead a workshop or presentation and write clearly and concisely.
• Managing and developing yourself at work. You demonstrate high self-awareness and regularly self-reflect. You are aware of the impact that your actions and words have on those around you. You are resilient and accept responsibility for decisions whether they achieve the desired outcome or not.

THE ROLE

Nesta is looking to appoint a Mission Manager (Trials and Behavioural Science) into our A Healthy Life mission.
The work of the post holder could include working across all stages of the work of our teams, from shaping ongoing strategy developments, to scoping, designing and leading projects that contribute to our impactful portfolios of work.

This role is in Nesta’s A Healthy Life team. Projects may involve:

• Designing and evaluating interventions to promote healthier food and beverage purchasing
• Supporting central and local governments to design behaviourally informed policies aimed at promoting healthier diets.
• Supporting partners to develop a robust evaluation methodology including quantitative impact evaluations (e.g. RCTs, QEDs) and mixed method implementation and process evaluations.
• Preparing policy notes for government officials or partner organisations about how to promote health behaviours based on the best available behavioural science evidence