The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute was set up by Martin Lewis in 2016. We are working towards a world in which the vicious cycle of money and mental health problems is broken, so that we all have an equal chance of financial security, regardless of our mental health; and everyone’s mental health can flourish, regardless of their financial circumstances. We aim to be a world-class centre of expertise, but we don’t produce research to just sit on shelves. We develop practical policy and solutions, working in partnership with those providing services, those who shape them, and those using them, to find out what really works. We campaign, build, test and innovate until our research leads to real change. 

The Role

We are currently looking for a Senior Research Officer and a Research Officer to join our outstanding Research and Policy Team. You may apply for either role, or ask to be considered for both as part of the application process. The successful candidates will play a vital part in producing top-quality research and practical, transformative recommendations.

Our roles don’t require a degree or any particular qualifications. The most important qualities we want to see in applicants are:

• Strong qualitative and quantitative research skills

• Excellent written skills

• Strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to work as part of team 

Passion for the cause and a drive to improve the lives of people with mental health problems

Job Description

Research and Policy  

We are recruiting for both a Senior Research Officer and a Research Officer. The successful candidates for each role will drive forward research projects, taking responsibility for producing high-quality written outputs, and representing the organisation externally. Except where noted below, these roles have the same job description, but the Senior Research Officer will have increased responsibilities, taking the lead on more complex projects, developing our contacts and networks, as well as building their own personal profile.

• Work collaboratively with colleagues on multi-disciplinary research projects, including working concurrently on multiple projects

• Design, organise, and conduct quantitative research, including secondary analysis of national datasets, and design and analysis of in-house surveys and externally commissioned polling

• Design, organise and conduct focus groups and interviews; analyse and summarise qualitative data generated

• Undertake literature reviews

• Develop frameworks for presenting research results internally and externally 

• Develop and maintain relations with key stakeholders and counterparts in partner organisations  

• Develop and maintain knowledge of policy matters relating to our work

• Produce a wide range of written outputs including high-­quality, well-targeted research analysis, online content and other outputs 

• Draft and edit responses to government and other consultations on our behalf 

• Support day-to-day management of the Research Community, including editing communications, designing research tasks and monitoring performance

• Contribute to the development of research and policy team plans

• Organise, contribute to and lead team discussions on policy development

• Support the Mental Health Accessible team by undertaking specialist research activities on a project by project basis.

• (At Senior Officer level only) Manage projects through designing and updating timelines and key task lists

• (At Senior Officer level only) Build a personal profile and represent us at external events and in the media 

Organisational

• Working with colleagues, develop and submit funding or partnership proposals 

• Work closely with the External Affairs team on the development of advocacy and outreach materials to promote research results  

• Help monitor and analyse the political and policy environment and to identify opportunities for us to have impact

• Contribute to the organisation’s growth and planning   

• Provide support for any other Institute activities as required by the Research and Policy Manager

Person Specification

We are looking for a Senior Research Officer and a Research Officer. Although we will expect the Senior Research Officer to have more advanced research capabilities, we don’t have minimum expectations in terms of education or subject matter knowledge. We’re looking for candidates who have strong research and presentation skills, are great at working with others and are thoughtful about their work. A passion for improving lives is the biggest prerequisite.

Below are some of the experiences and skills that we’re looking for. If you don’t have all of these, don’t let that put you off applying. You may apply for either role, or ask to be considered for both as part of the application process.

• Intellectual curiosity, the ability to think creatively and develop innovative policy and practice solutions, with an understanding of strategic opportunities to create change 

• The skills and emotional intelligence to work cooperatively and collaboratively with team members on projects 

• Strong organisational skills to meet deadlines reliably and plan work effectively

• Excellent skills in qualitative research - ability to organise and conduct interviews, focus groups and surveys, to design research materials and to analyse and summarise qualitative data

• Strong skills in quantitative research -  confident ability to locate, understand, analyse and interpret data, including secondary analysis of national data

• Exceptional communication skills, including the ability to construct compelling written narratives and deliver polished presentations.

• The ability to think creatively and develop innovative policy and practice solutions, with an understanding of strategic opportunities to create change

• Project management abilities 

• Knowledge of at least some of the areas in which Money and Mental Health works, including mental health, essential services (energy, water, telecoms and financial services), income, employment and social welfare policy, consumer finance 

• The ability to develop and maintain strong networks with external stakeholders

• Experience of statistical software packages or programming languages such as Stata or R desirable  

  What it's like to work here

  Our head office is based in central London and we operate a hybrid work model. The majority of our team work in the office at least two days a week. We also have a number of non-London-based staff - from as far as the Isle of Wight and Sheffield - who primarily work from home, but who come to the office twice monthly. 

  The wellbeing of our staff is the most important thing to us, and we have a flexible work culture, allowing employees to be flexible with their hours and location. In our 2023 staff survey, 100% of staff agreed they’d recommend Money and Mental Health as a great place to work.

  We are still relatively small team, with 23 employees, but as an organisation we punch above our weight and have significant impact. The team work across five main functions: Research & Policy, External Affairs & Income, the Gambling Action Lab, Partnerships, which includes our Mental Health Accessible programme, and Finance & Operations. 

  Across those teams, we’re all passionate about putting the voice of lived experience at the heart of everything we do. We welcome team members who have personal experience of mental health problems and/or financial difficulty. We’re proud of the environment we’ve already developed, with a high proportion of our team with personal experience of mental health problems. And we’re committed to employees’ professional growth and development.

  We’re working to improve employment opportunities in the charity sector for people from under-represented communities and are particularly keen to receive applications from people from minoritised ethnic groups. We’re currently developing a new Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategy and are working to become a more inclusive workplace.

  Other Info

  Annual salary: £33,745 (Research Officer) £42,323 (Senior Research Officer)

Location: We welcome applicants from across the UK. We are based in central London, but this post can be offered on a remote-working basis with twice monthly travel to the office. The salary is the same for both London and remote applicants, who are expected to fund their own travel costs to the office. The office is wheelchair accessible - additional information about the building’s accessibility can be found here.

Hours: Full-time (37.5 hours per week) or part-time (30 hours minimum over 4 days a week)

Contract type: Permanent

Reporting to: Senior: Research and Policy Manager; Officer: Senior Research Officer

Line management responsibilities: None

Holidays: 28 days per year plus bank holidays, calculated pro-rata over the period of the fixed-term contract.

Pension: Opportunity to be enrolled in the work pension scheme (subject to meeting standard auto-enrollment qualifying criteria). After auto-enrolment the charity will make a monthly contribution to the scheme equivalent to 5.5% of the monthly gross salary you receive, subject to you making a minimum contribution of 2.5% of the monthly gross salary you receive.

Other benefits include:

• Mental Health Awareness training

• Cycle To Work Scheme (up to £1,000 loan for bike)

• Season Ticket Loan Scheme

• An Employee Assistance Programme

• Free flu vaccinations

• Rent deposit loan scheme

The charity has a flexible working policy with core hours of 10am - 3pm with remaining contracted hours distributed throughout the week flexibly. We are open to discussing other flexible arrangements, such as accommodating school runs etc

Applications Process

Closing date for applications: 6 January 2025

Interviews: Scheduled for week of 13 January 2025 (ideally in person at our central London office but can also do them online as required)

Start date: As soon as possible

We are committed to reducing unconscious bias in our recruitment process. To help with that, we use a platform called Applied which allows us to review applications without seeing details such as names and education details. You will be asked to answer a few questions specifically designed to test the skills we are looking for in the person specification. Your answers will be anonymised (all identifying information will be removed) and randomised. Reviewers will score each answer against the skills specified for each question. You will also be asked to upload your CV as part of the application process, but reviewers will only see your CV if your score are high enough to be shortlisted. You can read more about the principles behind the blind review process here.

We are an equal opportunities employer and a Mindful Employer, and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds. In particular, we are keen to hear from candidates with lived experience of a mental health condition and/or financial difficulty. We are also committed to improving employment opportunities in the charity sector for underrepresented groups and encourage applications from people from minoritised ethnic groups. We are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments individuals may require in the recruitment process or once in post.

Any questions? Please get in touch at contact@moneyandmentalhealth.org