JOB SUMMARY

As Senior Evidence and Impact Research Officer you will lead and manage research and evaluation projects which contribute programmatically to the evidence base on ‘what works’, for who, in what conditions, and why, when building the capability and skills of the civil service and public sector workforce.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Government Skills, formally Government Skills and Curriculum unit, was created in 2020 to improve the coherence and quality of learning and development in government through better training, knowledge and networks. It is the backbone behind The Campus, a term used to unite all the locations, on and offline, where over 450,000 Civil Servants across Government develop the skills, knowledge and networks they need.
The aim was to accelerate the development of the skills, knowledge and networks of all civil servants, reaching across the wider public sector and delivering better public services for citizens across the country.
As we move into a new era under a new Government the aim is to reduce the cost of learning and improve the quality of outputs by moving to a new operating model. This is an exciting time of growth for Government Skills with new positions being created to support the future operating model.
The Evidence and Impact team within Government Skills is responsible for ensuring that hundreds of millions of pounds of annual spend on developing the skills, knowledge and relationships of the Government workforce is evidence-based and impact-led. We use a combination of analytical methods covering monitoring/data analytics, social research, evaluation, statistics, behavioural and user research, and economic analysis to provide robust, purposeful insights to inform business decisions. Our evidence supports the creation of effective policy and strategy on the future skills needs of the government and wider public sector workforce, and supports effective design, commissioning and delivery of the interventions required to achieve this. The team has a reputation as a centre of expertise supporting the whole of government on these issues, and is expanding as part of plans for the next spending review period 2025-26.
You can find more information about Government Skills on our GOV.UK page: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/government-skills-and-curriculum-unit including about our team: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/evidence-based-learning-and-development and our current Evaluation Strategy: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-campus-evaluation-strategy
As Senior Evidence and Impact Research Officer you will lead and manage research and evaluation projects which contribute programmatically to the evidence base on ‘what works’, for who, in what conditions, and why, when building the capability and skills of the civil service and public sector workforce. As part of a diverse, and expanding, analytical team you will work in partnership with other analysts, and with policy and delivery colleagues, to build capacity across the system to develop and mobilise high quality evidence to develop the government and public sector workforce we need to deliver the Government’s Missions and other key priorities.
You will apply your social research knowledge, skills and relationships to develop robust and purposeful monitoring and evaluation approaches for specific programmes, supporting innovation through ‘test and learn’ by striking the right balance between speed of evidence and rigour. You will lead evidence reviews and mapping exercises to ensure we are making best use of existing evidence, and make recommendations for new research and evaluation projects based on this. You will design and deliver research projects which help us to understand the capability, learning and development landscape across Government, and help us design interventions that really shift the dial on skills, and work in the varied contexts of the civil service and public sector. You will work proactively across the whole Civil Service to support policy, delivery and investment teams working on civil service and public sector workforce capability, ensuring they have the evidence and tools they need to make decisions.
You will report to the Evidence and Impact Lead, and will work on a range of projects across our varied business areas. These are likely to include Fast Stream and emerging talent programmes; leadership and management development; core and priority workforce skills like policy or digital, data and innovation; National Security capability; and priority projects, including digital and data transformation projects and Government Major Projects.

SKILLS

• Candidates must have the skills required to be eligible to be badged into the Government Social Research (GSR) profession at SRO level. If you are a Civil Servant already badged into GSR at SRO level please be prepared to show evidence of your badging as part of the process.
• Being part of an analytical profession supports you to build your professional networks, develop your career and stay in touch with best practice. Please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-for-government-social-research-profession-membership/government-social-research-membership-and-eligibility-guidance#introduction to check the eligibility requirements for GSR professional membership and https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-government-social-research-competency-framework to ensure you meet the requirements for an SRO role within the GSR technical framework.
• Badging will be undertaken as part of the selection process, unless candidates are already badged into GSR at SRO level.
• We are currently recruiting to a range of other analytical roles at HEO, SEO and Grade 7. If you are not eligible for membership to the GSR profession, but are eligible to be badged as a Government Statistician or Economist please consider applying for those roles.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

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

• Aligned with the Government Social Research framework at SRO grade, including the Technical Skills outlined in the essential criteria

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 WILL INCLUDE:

• Lead specific research and evaluation projects, ongoing monitoring activity, and thematic strands of our research programme to strengthen the existing evidence base on government and public sector skills, working across the full cycle of intervention design and delivery. As part of this work, design and deliver impact, process and economic evaluation of interventions; systematised evidence reviews; and research projects.
• Develop and implement appropriate monitoring processes and reporting tools, supporting the Government Skills team to make full use of data to facilitate appropriate interpretation and decision-making.
• Alongside the Evidence and Impact Team leads, work closely with internal stakeholders to identify, prioritise and thematically connect longer term and immediate evidence needs (including understanding user needs and implementation contexts for Government Skills’ work).
• Promote innovation in social research methods through applying your existing knowledge and skills, and proactively upskilling yourself, for example, on ethical and robust use of AI within social research, or participatory research methods.
• Manage internal and external commissioning of research and evaluation projects, and project manage these once in delivery.
• Contribute towards our (externally commissioned or internal) evaluation or research projects being robust, purposeful, efficient and aligned with the Government Campus Evaluation Strategy and other relevant policies, including the Magenta Book.
• Contributing to the effective development of the Evidence and Impact Team by leading on at least one cross-cutting work area, for example, developing shared resources to support high quality research and evaluation methods and processes across the team.