We are looking for a Research Officer to join the team.

The role involves playing a key part in every stage of our research process. That includes feeding into our planning, carrying out literature reviews, writing survey questions, facilitating focus groups, analysing data, sharing emerging findings with the rest of the team, developing policy ideas, drafting reports and presenting the results publicly.

While you don’t need to have experience of all those tasks, the ideal candidate will have great research skills to diagnose a problem and the ability to dig into the issue to come up with the best policy response. How we communicate those findings and recommendations is also vital, so we’re looking for someone who writes clearly and compellingly.

Research and Policy   

• Work collaboratively with colleagues on multi-disciplinary research projects, including working concurrently on multiple projects 

• Design and conduct quantitative research, including secondary analysis of national datasets, and design and analysis of in-house surveys and national polling

• Organise and conduct focus groups and interviews, designing research materials for these and analysing and summarising qualitative data 

• Undertake literature reviews

• Develop and maintain relations with key stakeholders and counterparts in partner organisations  

• Develop and maintain knowledge of policy matters relating to the work of the Institute

• Produce a wide range of written outputs including high-­quality, well-targeted research analysis, online content and other outputs 

• Draft responses to government and other consultations on behalf of the Institute

• Contribute to the development of research and policy team plans

• Organise and contribute to team discussions on policy development.

Organisational

• Work closely with the External Affairs team on the development of advocacy and outreach materials to promote research results  

• Help monitor and analyse the political and policy environment and to identify opportunities for the Institute to have impact

• Contribute to the organisation’s growth and planning   

• Provide support for any other Institute activities as required by the Head of Research and Policy

Essential skills and qualities

• Strong research skills, using qualitative and/or quantitative methods 

• Exceptional written communication skills, including the ability to construct compelling narratives

• Intellectual curiosity, the ability to think creatively and develop innovative policy and practice solutions, with an understanding of strategic opportunities to create change 

• The skills and emotional intelligence to work cooperatively and collaboratively with team members on projects 

• Strong organisational skills to meet deadlines reliably and plan work effectively

• Passion for the issues Money and Mental Health works on

• Ability to take ownership of a policy area and keep the rest of the organisation informed about developments and opportunities

Desirable skills and qualities

• Knowledge of at least some of the areas in which Money and Mental Health works, including mental health, essential services (energy, water, telecoms and financial services), income, employment and social welfare policy, consumer finance 

• Experience using Stata or similar statistical software/programming languages 

• Good communication and presentational skills 

• The ability to develop and maintain strong networks with external stakeholders

Other info:

• Location: This role will be London-based, meaning the successful candidate will be expected to work from Money and Mental Health’s central London office for at least two days each week.

• Hours: 5 days a week. The charity has a flexible working policy with core hours of 10am - 3pm and remaining contracted hours distributed throughout the week flexibly.

• Contract type: Permanent

• Holidays: 28 days per year (including 3 days of annual leave between Christmas and New Year when the office is closed) plus bank holidays

• Pension: Opportunity to be enrolled in the work pension scheme (subject to meeting standard auto-enrollment qualifying criteria). After auto-enrollment the charity will make a monthly contribution to the scheme equivalent to 5.5% of the monthly gross salary you receive, subject to you making a minimum contribution of 2.5% of the monthly gross salary you receive.

• Other benefits: Every member of the team has a personal training budget with many internal training opportunities too. We offer cycle to work and season ticket loan schemes. The charity provides enhanced maternity/paternity/parental leave terms at an equal rate. All employees eligible for Statutory Maternity/Paternity/Shared Parental Pay receive 90% of their earnings for up to 12 weeks. 

• Interviews: week commencing 26 September at our central London office