We are recruiting for a Behavioural Scientist (A Sustainable Future)

About Nesta

We are Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start, help people live healthy lives, and create a sustainable future where the economy works for both people and the planet. 

For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation. We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with frontline organisations to design and test new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early stage businesses, and as a system shaper creating the conditions for innovation. 

Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better. Find out more at nesta.org.uk. 

About the Sustainable Future mission

Our Sustainable Future mission focuses primarily on reducing carbon emissions from the UK’s homes. Working with and alongside a range of partners, we are developing, testing and investing in solutions that could speed up adoption of heat pumps and other low-carbon technologies, support households in using their existing heating systems more efficiently and help people across the income spectrum use energy more flexibly. We are also doing some exploratory work on the relationship between net zero policies and productivity.

The role

Nesta is looking to appoint one Behavioural Scientist into our A Sustainable Futuret mission. 

The role could include working across many different stages of our work, from collaborating on the scoping, design, implementation, and evaluation of projects, to contributing to the strategy of our team, including how we shape our portfolio to ensure we are providing impact. 

As a Behavioural Scientist you will:

• Provide a behavioural science perspective, as part of a multi-disciplinary  team, on a variety of projects in your mission or policy area. You will work alongside Designers, Data Scientists and other Qualitative and Quantitative experts;

• Deliver projects, including helping to set up and track project plans, carrying out day-to-day work on a variety of projects and updating team members on progress;

• Conduct mixed methods research and analysis, including qualitative and quantitative research, interpreting research findings, analysing and summarising relevant evidence and carrying out analysis. You may use any of the following techniques in a desk or field setting: interviews, observations, literature reviews, data deep-dives using statistical techniques. ; 

• Develop and suggest practical policy solutions or intervention ideas to address social issues, informed by behavioural science; 

• Help to plan and organise evaluations including randomised controlled trials; 

• Support development of new work, including scoping, research and writing bids and proposals;

• Play a key role in partner engagement and project management, including helping establish and sustain partner relationships (e.g. preparing agendas, minuting meetings and coordinating project updates); and 

• Prepare project deliverables (e.g., theories of change, interview guides, logic models, evidence summaries, final reports) with a clear understanding of the overall project objectives.

Candidate Criteria

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.

• An understanding of behavioural science. You can explain the implications of theoretical concepts such as defaults, loss aversion and social norms. A relevant degree is welcome (behavioural economics, social psychology or related fields).

• Practical experience of delivering projects using behavioural science approaches. You have applied theoretical understanding to practical challenges in the past, running projects from start to finish.

• Public policy design. You are passionate about public policy and programmes aimed at improving the lives of people at scale. You can see both sides of an argument, and you can think about what makes some policies effective and others impractical.

• A solid understanding of ‘causality’ and statistical reasoning. You know that just because sales of sunglasses and ice creams increase at the same time, one does not cause the other. You can also describe how to run a test to prove this. You can interpret research findings of others, understand common statistics (such as standard deviation, confidence intervals, p values, and correlation coefficients), assess the strength of evidence for something, understand good practice for key research activities (such as interviewing) and analyse data sets to pull out key summary statistics and trends.

• Experience and understanding of mixed methods research. You appreciate the complementary value that quantitative and qualitative research approaches bring. Perhaps you also have experience of taking iterative and human centred design approaches to research projects. You understand that people may experience a problem differently depending on their context. You can identify the types of people to talk to to understand the range of experiences more deeply. You will understand the needs of different types of people, including the most vulnerable, and will adapt your approach accordingly.

• Ability to manage workloads from multiple projects simultaneously. You can manage a workload of several projects and deliver to a high standard on a tight deadline. You can work across different project teams and are aware of the importance of, and apply, regular, clear and concise communication with your team members. 

• 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.

Desirable

• Awareness and experience of qualitative research approaches to understand research contexts deeply or human centred design to develop solutions to complex problems. 

• Experience studying or working in a policy-relevant area, which for this hiring round includes reducing household carbon emissions. 

• Experience designing and delivering a programme of work with partners and/or clients that have generated social impact.

• Strong project management skills and experience.

The Team

We are appointing to open roles in Nesta’s A Sustainable Future mission.

As well as providing behavioural science solutions, we think critically about our social impact. This consists of thinking about who is affected when designing a project and how, assessing the tradeoffs between short and long term project outcomes and the values that are promoted through our work.

Learning and development is a top priority in the team. There are opportunities for collaborative and individual learning available both inside and outside the organisations covering behavioural science and beyond. 

What we offer

Salary: from £35,000pa plus array of benefits, health cash plan (specifically private medical and/or dental insurance at Nesta), the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more

Location: The role can be based in London, Cardiff or Edinburgh. All of our employees work in a hybrid model, expected to work from the office a minimum of two days per week. 

Term:  Permanent

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do. 

Reports to: Senior Researcher

The role will start on 1 April 2024 or later.

Making an application

To apply for this role, please submit your application before 8:00am on 4th March 2024. Please submit a CV and answer the questions on Applied.

Successful candidates will be invited to a first round interview. If successful, this will be followed by a short task and a second round interview. 

Interviews will take place w/c 11th March 2024, although early applicants may be invited to interview before this date. 

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results. 

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop. 

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful. 

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.   

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.