Overview of the role

The Behavioural Insights Team is looking for an exceptional Research Advisor for Predictiv, our online experimentation platform (www.predictiv.co.uk).

The role will involve conducting a range of experiments looking at behaviour across the policy spectrum, from investment and savings decisions, to trying to understand gang related crime. There will likely be a growing focus on financial decision-making. Alongside devising the tests, the successful candidate will help to project manage the growing range of experiments being conducted on the platform.

The role will involve working closely with Predictiv’s Head of Product and alongside the newly appointed Head of Growth.You will also be working with colleagues inside of BIT and external clients. The experiments you work on will be linked to specific policy challenges and will be conducted as standalone pieces of work or in conjunction with field experiments. You will likely have a strong background in laboratory and/or online experiments, for example as part of your academic training. And you will also be comfortable in managing multiple projects simultaneously.

The Behavioural Insights Team

The then Prime Minister created BIT in 2010 to apply behavioural science to public policy in the UK. In February 2014 we became a social purpose company, owned by the Cabinet Office, Nesta (an innovation charity) and our employees.

BIT works with governments around the world in almost every area of policy. Whilst the subject and output of our projects varies considerably, there are common threads: we try to understand the contexts in which people make decisions; we notice small details; we find out what has and hasn’t worked before; we come up with innovative ideas for solving policy problems and we measure everything we do as robustly as we can.

As well as displaying professional excellence, BIT selects staff on the basis of our company values: always prioritising social impact; empiricism and humility; fresh thinking; collaboration; and public service.

Predictiv, BIT’s Online Experimentation Platform

Predictiv is currently experiencing rapid growth, which is why we are building out the team to support the growing range of experiments being undertaken on the platform.

Predictiv generates insights via the use of short, online behavioural tests designed and validated by BIT. It allows for the quick but still large-scale testing of behavioural interventions/stimuli, allowing us to rapidly prototype our interventions, testing them for various characteristics, to learn quickly and adapt them accordingly. They are also generally cheaper than other statistically valid research methods, and provide robust data complementing the depth of insight gained through traditional qualitative methods.

Predictiv has been created within BI Ventures, a relatively new team that uses behavioural science to build scalable digital products with a social impact. It is a relatively new team, led by the Head of Ventures and reporting into the Behavioural Insights Team’s Managing Director. BI Ventures is at the heart of BIT’s 3 year strategy. There is therefore an opportunity for the successful candidate to progress to a more senior role as BI Ventures grows.

Role and Responsibilities

The role and responsibilities of the successful candidate are likely to include:

• Working alongside policy colleagues at BIT and with client organisations to design studies, particularly focused on implementing tests of hypotheses provided by clients;
• Cleaning data outputted from Predictiv and conducting analysis in line with trial protocols;
• Supporting Predictiv’s Head of Product to build and validate various test templates (comprehension, consideration set, risk preferences), and modifying those templates to reflect the needs of specific experiments;
• Reporting on results to clients internally and externally. This may sometimes involve presenting your findings to clients;
• Working with the Head of Product and third party developers (contractors, agencies or offshore) to help guide the development of new features for the platform in response to BIT and client demand; and
• Supporting Predictiv client development e.g. by presenting case studies to potential clients.

Essential

The Behavioural Insights Team brings people together with different skills sets. You must be able to demonstrate a balance of skills across those listed below, but we do not expect you to be exceptional in all the areas listed;

• Experience constructing online tests using platforms such as Qualtrics, Survey Monkey, or laboratory platforms such as zTree;
• Understanding of experimental methods from either economics or psychology;
• Experience or training in using and analysing experimental data sets (such as administrative data) for the purposes of evaluation or predictive modelling;
• Experience in visualising data and the results of analysis in a way that makes complex findings accessible and useful to an audience of policymakers and practitioners;
• Experience presenting data or summaries of findings to an audience;
• Experience in programme and project management, in particular managing several projects at the same time to time and budget;
• Creative thinking and pragmatism, challenging existing assumptions and thinking of solutions to implementation problems; and
• Experience using statistical software (ideally Stata).

Desirable

Finally, it would be desirable if you have:

• A Masters or PhD in a relevant subject area (including, but not limited to, economics or psychology);
• Experience working in a startup environment or on a small product team;
• Experience in client development; and
• Knowledge of the literature pertaining to financial decision making/ behavioural finance.

Please note:

• If you do not already hold the right to work in the UK and/or require sponsorship in order to continue working here, you should think carefully before applying. This is because we will be unable to sponsor you unless there is no other suitably qualified settled worker available to fill the role or your current immigration status means that the resident labour market test will not apply in your case.
• To find out more about the organisation and the type of people who work in the team visit: http://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk
• The Behavioural Insights Team is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and is determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable