The Ada Lovelace Institute (Ada) is recruiting to the new role of Research Portfolio Lead, to ensure that its research is conducted with integrity, within a culture of care and support, to support Ada’s mission for data and AI to work for people and society. 

The role 

As Research Portfolio Lead you will apply your research management experience to support high-quality evidence building and a critical, rigorous and relational approach to research culture. You will bring strong project management skills with a warm, empathetic and relational approach to ensuring Ada maintains standards and supports its mission of making data and AI work for people and society. 

You will work with colleagues to develop a system to manage projects through Ada’s ‘Research Pathway’, ensuring organisational oversight and quality assurance are present at every stage of research design, delivery, analysis, reporting, evaluation and learning, including co-developing relevant documentation as needed.  

This will include ensuring that agreed sign-off requirements are defined at the outset and communicated to researchers so that they can work with autonomy through each project phase. The role will support researchers to maximise the quality and impact of each research project through collaborative identification and management of risks, provision of timely advice and coordination of input from colleagues, connecting researchers to additional support where required and escalating issues as appropriate. 

The Research Portfolio Lead also plays a key role in the ongoing development of Ada’s research culture, including ethics approval processes (ensuring alignment with broader Nuffield Foundation-wide requirements), contributing to a culture of continual assessment and learning, and the development of ongoing development of ethical and accountable research practices and processes that centre equity and inclusion.  

About you 

You will be excited by the opportunity to be at the heart of Ada’s research and work closely with colleagues to deliver research in a fast-moving environment, and to maintain and improve practices and processes. You will be curious about Ada’s core areas of work in the societal impacts of AI, data and technology (including public sector, policy, industry and public participation), and have experience in a comparable role and context (such as public research organisations, charities, think tanks, universities, libraries archives or museums, public sector or the civil service). 

With proven experience of leading the management of multiple projects, programmes or a research portfolio from inception to evaluation you will also be able to demonstrate your ability to lead the management of research design and methods, and a good understanding of developing and maintaining research cultures or research production in science, data science, social science, and/or arts and humanities research areas.  

You will have experience of leading or contributing to change programmes aimed at embedding principles and processes into the work of an organisation, for example research integrity, evaluation, or equity and inclusion, and a solid understanding of theory of change; monitoring, evaluation and learning practices; and/or impact frameworks. 

Strong analytical skills, including understanding research design strengths and weaknesses and analytic use of evidence in framing a debate, and developing or assessing approaches to impact are essential, as are excellent verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to write clearly and accurately for different audiences. 

You’re excited about the opportunity to work with some autonomy in a fast-paced and fast-growing organisation, and you take responsibility for your own work, but enjoy collaboration and welcome diverse perspectives and expertise.  

For further information about the role, please download the full job description (PDF). 

About us 

The Ada Lovelace Institute is an independent research institute funded and incubated by the Nuffield Foundation since 2018. Our mission is to ensure data and artificial intelligence work for people and society. We do this by building evidence and fostering rigorous debate on how data and AI affect people and society.  We recognise the power asymmetries that exist in ethical and legal debates around the development of data-driven technologies and seek to level those asymmetries by convening diverse voices and creating a shared understanding of the ethical issues arising from data and AI. Finally, we seek to define and inform good practice in the design and deployment of AI technologies.   

The Institute has emerged as a leading independent voice on the ethical and societal impacts of data and AI. We have built relationships in the public, private and civil society sectors in the UK and internationally. Please find details of our 2025-2028 strategy here.  

Our research takes an interconnected approach to issues such as power, social justice, distributional impact, and our team have a wide range of expertise that cuts across policy, technology, academia, industry, law and human rights.   

As part of the Nuffield Foundation, we are an Institute with the practical support of an established organisation that cares for its employees. We value diversity in background, skills, perspectives and life experiences. Further information on the Foundation’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion work can be found here. 

Further information and how to apply 

The closing date for applications is 09:30AM (GMT) on Monday 1st December 2025, with interviews anticipated to take place on the 15th and 16th December 2025.

If you have any questions about the role ahead of applying (or need to make an application in a different format), please email recruitment@nuffieldfoundation.org and a member of the Nuffield Foundation’s HR team will respond to you.  

We use the Applied platform to reduce potential cognitive biases in our hiring process.  You will be required to complete some questions as part of this application process, and you are also required to upload an up-to-date copy of your CV. The Applied platform lets you save an application and resume it ahead of submitting before the application deadline.  

The Nuffield Foundation and its Centres think deeply about the role of emerging technology in society. All recruitment decisions are made by a person (we do not use AI tools to rate or reject applicants). We ask applicants to respond to the questions using their own experience, thinking and opinion, writing in their own tone of voice rather than using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. The use of generative AI can result in generic responses to individual questions which stand out less to reviewers.

Please note that for vacancies which receive a high volume of applications, we may undertake an initial screening of CVs.

We are committed to inclusive working practices and during the application process we will:  

• As a Disability Confident employer, we will offer an interview to a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the essential criteria for the job. 

• Make any reasonable adjustments – for example providing documents in different formats, arranging for a sign language interpreter for interviews etc   

• Reimburse reasonable travel costs for interviews where in-person attendance is required   

Our benefits package includes:    

• Genuine flexibility - we are open to requests for part-time hours, compressed working weeks, or job shares. 

•  28 days holiday per annum and all public holidays, with the option to buy or sell up to 5 days (prorated for part time staff). 

• A salary exchange pension scheme that offers employer contributions of up to 11%.    

• Life assurance scheme.    

• Family leave policies that provide an enhanced level of pay.    

• Cycle to work scheme and loans towards season tickets.    

• Regular opportunities for learning and development – including coaching, mentoring, and dedicated reading weeks to recharge and reflect. 

• Support with your physical, mental and financial wellbeing including an employee assistance provider, a private GP service, personal health reviews with Bupa, a will and funeral planning service and a staff network of trained Mental Health First Aiders. 

• A warm and welcoming workplace culture, with active peer groups and social networks to help you connect and belong.