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 a Senior Advisor do?

This role is in our Economic Policy team. Key questions your work may answer are:

• How can we support consumers through the cost of living crisis?

• How can we test ways to reduce online harms such as misinformation and sludge?

• How can we design markets to deliver more for consumers and businesses?

If you want to answer these questions, why not apply for this role?

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

• Managing projects across a range of areas, making sure they are delivered on time and to a high standard. You will be responsible for signing off deliverables before being shared with clients, for example. 

• Line managing Advisor(s) and/or Associate Advisor(s) including supporting their growth and development.

• Managing and working with clients to deliver work and develop proposals.

• Leading the development of proposals and bids with people across BIT as well as other collaborators. 

What makes a great Senior 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.

• Behavioural science. You can explain the implications of theoretical concepts such as defaults, loss aversion and social norms.

• Public policy design. You can see both sides of an argument, for example, on Universal Basic Income, and you think about what makes some policies effective and others impractical.

• 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.

• Clear and convincing communications. You can explain complex topics in simple terms. You can lead a workshop or presentation and write clearly and concisely.

• Managing projects and clients. You can manage your own time, and where appropriate that of your colleagues, to produce high quality work within a reasonable time frame.

• Supporting and developing others. You can nurture talent and energise people to perform at their best. You care about the success, development and wellbeing of others and can have meaningful (and sometimes difficult!) conversations.

• Scoping projects and winning work. You are able to lead business development by spotting opportunities with new and existing partners and then develop the relationships required to form positive ongoing partnerships.

• 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

• 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 (soon to be Blackfriars) 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.

Key dates

• Role closes: Monday 17th October 2022 at 12:00pm BST (midday)

• Interviews and task completion: w/c 24th October 2022

• If necessary, second round interviews: w/c 31st October 2022

Please note that all dates are subject to change (but we’ll do our best not to change them!)

Please note:

You will need to have the right to work in the UK in order to be able to undertake this role. We will ask all applicants short-listed for an interview to provide evidence of their right to work during the recruitment process.  If you do not have the right to work for BIT but are the most suitable person for the role we will explore with you whether sponsorship may be an option. However, this may not be possible for all roles.

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.