We are recruiting for an Analyst(A Healthy Life)!

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 this mission: A Healthy Life

We want to increase the number of years lived in good health for all, and particularly those most affected by health inequalities.

The poorest people in the UK experience ill-health almost 20 years earlier than their more affluent counterparts. COVID-19 has exacerbated this disparity, but also generated public demand and political will to address it. We are focusing on tackling two of the biggest drivers of lost years of healthy life: obesity and loneliness. Today, nearly one in three adults in the UK is obese, while some 9 million people report ‘always’ or ‘often’ feeling lonely. Our primary focus currently is on reducing obesity through improving our food environments i.e. making healthy food more available, accessible, affordable, appealing and convenient for all.

The role 

The following list sets out the core tasks an Analyst in the team will be expected to participate in. We don’t expect you to be an expert at this stage, but we want you to come to Nesta with a growth mindset where you are ready to experiment and learn.

• Support on the delivery of projects. This means working on the end-to-end project cycle, for example:

  • Conducting primary research. For example: interviews, observations, data analysis, case studies.

  • Conducting secondary research. You should be able to critically and accurately appraise and summarise existing evidence on the problem and potential solutions. This means you should be able to interpret common research reporting statistics, critique research designs and undertake literature reviews.

  • Conducting analysis. You should be familiar with quantitative methods, comfortable working with data and able to conduct statistical analysis.

  • Contributing to the explanation of how an intended outcome could be achieved through a particular solution.

  • Helping to devise novel solutions to problems, pilot or prototype these before implementation, and evaluate whether or not they worked.

  • Working closely with stakeholders throughout, keeping in mind what is important to them and why, and keeping the project moving by proactively resolving issues and mitigating risks.

• Get to grips with new areas, topics and contexts that the range and variety of your projects take place in.

• Support project coordination and management, including liaising with partners, preparing agendas and minutes for meetings and coordinating updates.

• Communicate and disseminate the team’s work externally, which may include producing reports and slide decks for partners, writing blogs, public speaking, stakeholder engagement and leading new and creative ways to communicate ideas to different audiences.

• Support development of new work, including project idea generation, project scoping, research and writing bids and proposals.

The person

Essential

• Quantitative research and analysis skills: you understand the fundamentals of exploratory research and evaluation and can develop hunches or take a well evidenced position based on such research. For example, 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 in particular, you can analyse data sets to pull out key summary statistics and trends.

• Ability to quickly build contextual competence in unfamiliar topics (e.g. learn what key jargon means, be credible in conversations with stakeholders, understand what is measured and what is important).

• Project/ programme management skills: you can plan work and execute against that plan; identify and act on risks and issues; ensure that key stakeholders are engaged throughout; keep track of spend against budget.

• Presentation skills: you can report back on research findings in a range of settings, including presentations, slide decks, research reports and blog posts.

• Some knowledge or experience in the practice, policy or research context of the Healthy Life mission that may be derived from a wide variety of contexts including campaigning, study, work experience, or a mixture.

• Knowledge or practical experience of policy around the National Food Strategy agenda, or having worked in the food industry, health or wellbeing sector.

Desirable

• Research experience on obesity or food environments, or in an adjacent area like nutrition.

• Experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams making use of mixed research or innovation methods.

• Facilitation skills, e.g. running workshops.

• Excellent writing skills to tailor content to different audiences.

• Visual communication skills (e.g. advanced PowerPoint, data visualisation).

What we offer

Salary: £31k - £42k plus array of benefits, including health cash plans, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more  

Location: This role is based in Blackfriars, Central London, but we offer flexibility for our people to work remotely 

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: Mission Manager

Making an application 

To apply for this role, please submit your application before 8:00am on the 17th of January 2022.

Interviews will take place w/c the 24th of January 2022.

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.