Term: Permanent 

Hours: Full-time 

Salary: £55k - £65k 

Location: London - 2 days per week in the office. You must also be prepared to travel across the UK with potential overnight stays, as required. 

Reporting to: CEO 

Closing Date: Thursday 3rd March 2022, Midday 

Interview Dates: 

Preliminary interviews: 17th or 18th March 2022 (online) 

Final panel interviews: 29th or 30th March 2022 (in London)* TBC 

About the role 

We’re looking for a Head of Research and Impact to join us at Mission 44 and shape our strategy, build our expertise and knowledge about the needs of young people from underserved communities, and help us to deliver on our ambition to fund world-class, high impact initiatives. This role will lead our understanding of the impact of our programmes, advocacy and partnerships and keeping young people at the heart of our research and evaluations. 

This is a critical role for Mission 44 and the successful candidate will be responsible for building our organisation-wide strategy, research, evaluation, and impact function. You will be instrumental in the designing of a best-in-class, participatory approach to understanding our impact and gathering findings, providing insight to shape Mission 44’s strategy, programme design and funding decisions. You will work collaboratively with our funded partners, external evaluators and researchers, and young people to design innovative evaluations and research projects. The Head of Research andImpactwill ensure that all of our activities are anchored by our strategic objectives and informed by evidence, data and insights from young people and our key stakeholders. 

About Mission 44

Mission 44 is a new charitable foundation launched by Sir Lewis Hamilton MBE to boost social mobility in the UK.  It aims to support, champion and empower young people from underserved communities to succeed through narrowing opportunity gaps in education, employment and wider society. Through grant-funding, research, partnerships and advocacy, Mission 44 is committed to driving long-lasting, transformative change to the lives of young people facing disadvantage and discrimination. To find out more about Mission 44, visit join-mission44.co.uk. 

Diversity matters at Mission 44

We offer a working environment that values and respects every individual’s unique contribution. We want to attract the broadest range of talented people and are committed to equality of opportunity and anti-discrimination practices. We positively encourage applications from all sections of society and are particularly interested in candidates from diverse and underrepresented groups.

Key responsibilities 

Research, Evaluation and Impact 

• Design and lead Mission 44’s strategy and processes for evaluation and learning for partnerships, programmes, and funding 

• Lead on research and evaluation development and commissioning, and build and lead research projects 

• Develop and deliver a programme of participatory research with young people from Mission 44’s target groups 

• Provide expertise, set standards, and guide colleagues and external evaluation teams on the design and development of measures, metrics and data systems that are rigorous and consistent 

• Develop a research and evaluation function that builds the evidence base beyond individual programmes and across all of Mission 44’s work 

• Contribute to programme design, partnership and funding decisions, based on evaluation and impact findings and relevant data

• Share research findings through relevant conferences and events, blogs and, articles 

• Manage Mission 44’s impact, research and evaluation budget and provide timely reporting and analysis 

• Ensure Mission 44’s activity is compliant with all relevant legislation, including GDPR, safeguarding, charity guidelines and best practice 

Strategy Performance and Impact Analysis 

• Work closely with the CEO ensure that an ambitious and innovative strategy is effectively developed, implemented and monitored across the organisation 

• Ensure that innovative strategy development approaches are taken that keep Mission 44’s strategic decision-making informed by systems thinking.

• Working with colleagues across the organisation to identify activities to be supported, scaled up or stopped in line with Mission 44’s objectives and changes in the external environment (I.e. horizon scanning) 

• Seek opportunities for cross-sector collaboration and participate in relevant cross-organisation projects 

About you 

1. Knowledge and experience 

• Significant experience designing and managing large research and evaluation projects effectively through the full life cycle of concept, implementation, delivery, completion and post-project review 

• Demonstrable track record of innovative thinking and delivery in the evaluation and learning for large social projects/programmes 

• Interdisciplinary thinker with expertise in quantitative, qualitative and participatory methods, and the demonstrated ability to design and implement real life evaluations and research project 

• Experience of designing, managing and analysing evaluation frameworks, systems and methodologies 

• Excellent knowledge of the issues affecting underserved young people and the organisations working with them, particularly with regards to education, employment and skills, social action, and representation 

• Experience of using evaluation findings and analysis to inform operations, strategy, and/or funding and partnership decisions 

• Experience developing effective and collaborative relationships with senior colleagues, board members, and external partners 

• Experience of gathering and interpreting data 

• Experience in designing and implementing cross-organisational monitoring and reporting solutions. (Desirable) 

• Proven experience in utilising a range of strategy development theories. (e.g. Systems thinking, Blue Ocean Strategy, Design thinking etc) (Desirable) 

2. Skills 

• Ability to make sound judgements about data and research findings 

• Excellent analytical and presentation skills, and the ability to build compelling report and communications content 

• Complex, cross-organisational project management and organisational planning

• Excellent organisational and time management skills, including planning and prioritisation to meet competing demands 

• Relationship and collaboration skills, with an ability to engage and foster networks with a

• wide range of stakeholders, from young people to grantholders to corporate partners 

3. Personal qualities 

This is an exciting opportunity in a newly forming organisation. As such, many of the systems and processes that are present in an established organisation either do not exist or are newly forming. To be successful in this role, you will be: 

• Flexible and creative; you thrive in an evolving and dynamic organisation.

• Highly collaborative; your default is to work in a cooperative and supportive way to deliver results. 

• An analytical and critical thinker. 

• Able to work independently, displaying strong initiative in solving day-to-day problems with limited direction. 

• Committed to embedding the values of equity, diversity and inclusion in everything that you do. 

• Passionate about supporting and empowering young people from a diverse range of backgrounds to flourish and succeed. 

• Able to role model Mission 44’s values and bring them to life in all of your work.