Evidence and Learning Manager - (2 year FTC)

Comic Relief

Location London and Currently Remote
Salary £36,750 - £40,000
Team Impact and Investment
  • Closing: 12:00pm, 31st Jan 2022 GMT

Perks and benefits

Flexible working hours
Work from home option
Life Insurance
Wellness programs
Employee Assistance Programme
Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
Paid emergency leave
Sabbatical Opportunities
Professional development
Mentoring/coaching
Paid volunteer days
Payroll giving
Salary sacrifice
Team social events
Extracurricular clubs
Cycle to work scheme
Free fruit

Candidate happiness

8.53 (8169)

Job Description

The Evidence and Learning Manager is responsible for the design and delivery of monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) for selected portfolios linked to our unrestricted and social change approaches (Sport for Change and Social Tech) work. Working internally and with the partners we fund (in the UK and internationally), the successful candidate will be someone who has experience of commissioning, managing and/or undertaking a variety of evaluations, evidence reviews, research and/or more informal learning projects. You will be familiar with the challenges and opportunities for getting evidence into use. Although you have technical MEL experience, you will also be someone who is interested in understanding sector-level drivers of change, and how the organisations that Comic Relief funds can use MEL in a way that is meaningful for their work and which supports learning and adaptation. The postholder is likely to be pragmatic, able to develop practical, accessible support within a restricted budget, and is able to adapt to new contexts, approaches and ways of working quickly across a broad portfolio.

Key responsibilities:

  • Design and manage monitoring, evaluation and learning activities related to issue-specific funding portfolios, with a strong focus on participatory, collective learning approaches

  • Creatively find ways to ensure that learning is participatory and inclusive. We want learning ambitions to be defined by the organisations we fund and, where practical, consider how people with lived experience are actively engaged in evidence and learning activities

  • Engage with Portfolio Managers to define, develop and meet learning ambitions for existing and new funding programmes, ensuring that evidence and learning are used to inform strategic decision making

  • Support Comic Relief’s funded partners (collectively and sometimes individually) to monitor, evaluate and learn from their work

  • Prepare inputs to reports, meetings and strategic planning, ensuring that learning is well documented and shared internally and externally where relevant. Consider opportunities for making learning more engaging for specific audiences, through creative formats and products

  • Support the development of the Evidence and Learning Team, by inputting on our overall approach to evidence and learning and considering where we can be more efficient, focussed or creative.

  • Recruit, onboard, guide and closely manage external consultants to deliver specific evaluation and learning projects across a range of context-specific funding programmes.

Person specification

Essential criteria

  • Experience and a strong understanding of equitable and inclusive processes, approaches, tools and methodologies that facilitate formal and informal monitoring, evaluation and organisational learning practice, in the UK and/or internationally

  • Understanding and experience of working in one or more of the following thematic areas: Gender justice/women and girls’ empowerment; housing and shelter.

  • Experience of commissioning and managing external consultants to deliver evidence and learning outputs

  • Excellent facilitation skills, with a proven ability to promote critical thinking and reflective practice and encourage learning at all levels

  • Exceptional analysis and sense-making skills, underpinned with sound judgement under pressure, and the ability to identify solutions to address delivery risks and issues. 

  • Experience of successfully supporting organisations to plan and implement quality improvements, including through monitoring, evaluation and learning

  • Effective relationship builder, with strong emotional intelligence and experience of working in collaborative, multicultural and cross-sector environments alongside individuals and organisations with diverse perspectives 

  • Strong planner with outstanding attention to detail and the ability to manage and prioritise a diverse workload

Desirable criteria

  • Experience of working in a grant-making or funding organisation and/or meeting funders’ MEL and reporting requirements

  • Understanding and/or experience of sport for change/sport for development approaches and MEL in this sector.

  • Understanding and/or experience of social technology approaches and MEL in this sector

  • Experience of designing and delivering interventions using any of the following: human centred design; behavioural insights; adaptive management; user participation and co-design. 

  • Understanding and experience in collective learning approaches and how to surface and articulate meaningful learning with a ‘community of interest’.

  • A track record of surfacing and sharing learning with target audiences in engaging ways, through creative formats, products and events.

Travel: Occasional Travel may be required within this role in the future, subject to travel restrictions and Comic Relief’s travel policy, given the COVID-19 context.

Salary:  Successful candidates will be made an offer within the advertised salary range. The final offer will be guided by whether the candidate meets some or all of the desirable criteria.

Why we love working in Comic Relief’s Evidence and Learning Team

  • Flexible working – We offer flexible working hours and the opportunity to work condensed hours. We encourage and enable home-working, we are a trusting employer and we actively promote work-life balance.

  • We are a small, well-coordinated team of supportive MEL professionals – many of us have come to Comic Relief from roles where we were one MEL expert in a varied team. Here, in a team of five, we can define and share best practice in MEL, shape our own purpose and approach and engage externally with forums made up of other MEL experts. Newer team members have fed back that there is a great culture in our team: We are supportive, progressive and committed.

  • Each member of the Evidence and Learning Team works across a variety of programmes. The successful candidate will have opportunities to work with co-funders, a diversity of funded partners and consultants, and across different contexts, approaches and social issues. The breadth of work requires an ability to adapt and understand new ways of working quickly – there are busy points throughout the year but this is a rare opportunity to work across varied UK and international programmes.

  • Members of the team support/lead on special research projects and reviews which aim to improve on our own practices. In 2022, we are reviewing our team’s approach to equity, diversity and inclusion in MEL and we are internally reviewing our approach to collective learning. These are important pieces, with opportunities to guide our future work and share our findings and recommendations with other funders and the MEL sector more widely.

Inclusivity Statement

We recognise diversity and inclusion are a source of strength in achieving our mission. We therefore welcome everyone, trusting what makes us different brings creativity, styles and experiences to help us collectively do our best work. That’s regardless of your gender, age, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and cultural identity. We especially welcome those from under-represented groups in modern grant-making and fundraising. We are on a journey, but if you join our team you will be part of a community that is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment where we want you to

·         Be valued for being yourself

·         Do your best work, and be supported to break down barriers so you can succeed

·         Be heard, respected, and treated as an equal, whatever your level, experience or background

·         Be part of a team that is committed to making this happen – with our colleagues, partners, and contributors.

Comic Relief is committed to preventing and protecting all people from harm in their interactions with us. We expect all those that act in our name to uphold our approach to doing no harm.

Removing bias from the hiring process

Applications closed Mon 31st Jan 2022

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Removing bias from the hiring process

  • Your application will be anonymously reviewed by our hiring team to ensure fairness
  • You’ll need a CV/résumé, but it’ll only be considered if you score well on the anonymous review

Applications closed Mon 31st Jan 2022