Permanent: Full-time (39 hours). Flexible working options include flexible start and finish times, home working and compressed hours.
Based either in Central London or Manchester (Working remotely until government guidelines change). 

Salary range: London - £29,285 - £34,500 & Manchester - £26,357 - £31,050 per annum, plus benefits. Starting salaries are typically offered towards the beginning of the band.

Are you looking for a new challenge and want to join a successful and rapidly growing organisation? Do you have a passion for exploring new ways to change people's lives at a national scale through government policy? If so, we want to hear from you.

What does an Associate Research Advisor do?

This role is in The Behavioural Insights Local Government team. The successful applicant will work on a range of projects in a wide range of policy areas including: adult and child social care, housing and homelessness and local sustainability.

We work with local and central government to answer a range of questions across these areas, with a particular interest in vulnerable populations. The work you do with us will focus on answering key questions like:

• How can we support people experiencing homelessness to find homes?

• How can we support young people as they navigate transitions in the social care system? 

• How can we help different parts of the public sector (health, social care, police, etc) to deliver joined-up services? 

• How can we encourage people to walk and cycle more? 

This role is at Associate Research Advisor level which means you will be involved in things like:

• Supporting the design of evaluations which may include qualitative or quantitative methods to understand how an intervention is implemented and experienced

• Helping to plan and organise evaluations including randomised controlled trials, pilots and process evaluations; 

• Helping clients devise logic models or theories of change during project set up

• Supporting project activities such as sampling and recruitment, data management, and analysis

• Generating discussion guides and stimulus materials (e.g. for prototyping)

• Working with a variety of participant groups and having strategies to apply to different levels of vulnerability/need, including an understanding of ethical research; 

• Managing and analysing small and large qualitative datasets

• Preparing project deliverables (e.g., evidence summaries, final reports) with a clear understanding of the overall project objectives.

• Use a variety of qualitative research methods and techniques, including:

• You will get regular exposure to a range of senior stakeholders and be expected to actively contribute to company development. 

If this sounds interesting to you, why not apply for this role?

What makes a great Associate Research Advisor at BIT?

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.

• Qualitative research design. 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. You know how to spot patterns, as well as highlight where there is a range of experiences. 

• 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. 

• Quantitative research design. You will have a foundational understanding of a range of evaluation methodologies, research methods and options for trial design and their relative limitations and merits.

• Clear and convincing communications. You can explain complex topics in simple terms. You have good presentation skills and can write clearly and concisely.

• Managing tasks. You can manage your own time to produce high quality work within a reasonable time frame, with some experience of helping to coordinate research projects or working in research teams

• 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.

Who are we and what can we offer you?

The Behavioural Insights Team is the world leader in applying behavioural science to public policy challenges in order to strengthen communities and improve lives. 

We design and rigorously test new ideas across a range of areas such as health, crime and education, to establish what works and what doesn’t. We have helped Tuberculosis patients take their medicine; reduced police susceptibility to cyberattacks; and helped organisations close their gender pay gap.

We are looking for a passionate and imaginative individual who understands behavioural science and shares our thirst for evidence-based solutions to join our dynamic and growing team.

BIT really is a great place to work:

• We encourage flexible working and have a culture which enables this; for example flexible start and finish times and an IT set up which allows for easy working from home options

• Employees have part ownership of the company through membership of the Employee Benefits Trust.

• We have regular team lunches with inspirational guest speakers. 

• We have a flexible benefits programme which currently includes things like gym memberships, cycle to work schemes and the ability to buy extra annual leave at the start of the year.

• We’re a social bunch and have a variety of interest groups including Film Club, BIT Kids for our parents & 5-a-side team to name a few.

• We have a great office in Westminster, which has an amazing coffee machine and fridges stocked full of soft drinks!

How to apply

We use a great platform called Applied to reduce bias in the recruitment process. You will need to answer a few work-based questions which will be anonymously marked by members of our team. Our selection is based on performance in these questions, rather than looking at your CV. 

Candidates with the top scoring answers will be invited to a structured interview where you get to meet some of the team. At the interview stage you will be asked questions that reflect the role and also to complete a work-based task, so you have the chance to demonstrate your skills. It’s at this stage we first see your CV. We always give all applicants feedback, no matter what stage your application reaches.

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.

Some of the personal data you provide to Applied when you apply for a role with The Behavioural Insights Team will be passed on to The Behavioural Insights Team for the purposes of (a) reviewing your application; (b) inviting you for interview; and/or (c) offering you a job and getting you set up as an employee/contractor. For full details on how BIT collects and uses your personal data please visit our website - https://www.bi.team/bit-global-recruitment-privacy-notice/ 

If your application is not successful, any personal data provided to us by Applied (including any personal data relating to equal opportunities monitoring as set out above) will be retained by The Behavioural Insights Team for no longer than 6 months after the application deadline has passed (other than in exceptional circumstances where we may need to retain your personal data for longer), at which point your personal data will be securely deleted. We only keep your information for that period in order to allow us to comply with relevant legal obligations.