Senior Analyst (Food Retail Sector, Commercial) - 2yr FTC - A Healthy Life mission

About Nesta

We are Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start, help people live healthy lives, and create a sustainable future where the economy works for both people and the planet. 

For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation. We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with frontline organisations to design and test new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early stage businesses, and as a system shaper creating the conditions for innovation. 

Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better. Find out more at nesta.org.uk.

Whatever it takes

Everyone works at Nesta because we are driven by a deep commitment to our missions. A guiding principle of our culture is that we do whatever it takes to achieve them, bringing our best to all our work.

About this mission: A Healthy Life

We are seeking a senior commercial analyst to work in Nesta’s ‘A Healthy Life’ mission. We want to increase the number of years lived in good health for all and our focus is on tackling one of the biggest drivers of lost years of healthy life: obesity. Our priority is improving our food environments i.e. making healthy food more available, accessible, affordable, appealing and convenient for all. We work across sectors - with businesses, national policymakers, local government, academics and other charities - in order to drive the changes we need to see to improve health. 

The role 

This role will support the delivery of projects across the mission, with a key focus on a programme of work around implementing a Healthy food standard for large food businesses. This policy was announced by the UK Government and is based on a Nesta policy proposal for health targets for supermarkets. It has the potential to reduce national obesity rates by up to 20%. 

This role will suit someone with a strategic, quantitative and business savvy mindset, who has experience of the food retail sector. You might be a consultant within this sector or have worked within a food retailer. You will be curious, proactive and eager to work on a wide range of activities. One day you might be providing advice on policy design based on your experience of how food retailers operate; another you could be modelling the financial impact of different scenarios; or another drawing critical insights from senior expert advisors.

Required experience:

• Food retail expertise: Experience working within the food retail sector, either as a business/ strategy consultant or a commercial/ business role within a food retailer 

• Commercial acumen: Strong understanding of business drivers, commercial models, and financial performance within the context of a food retailer

• Strategically minded: Extremely good at identifying the ‘so what’ and can translate information, data and research into policy-relevant insights 

• Quantitative Skills: High level of proficiency in working with data, including analysis, interpretation, and high-level modelling. Demonstrated ability to extract meaningful insights from complex quantitative information and communicate findings to both technical and non-technical audiences

• Research Skills: Experienced in conducting academic and industry research, including literature reviews, qualitative and quantitative synthesis, and the interpretation of evidence. Skilled in identifying relevant data sources and distilling key insights to inform decision-making

• Project management skills: Proven capability to plan work and execute against that plan; identify and act on risks and issues; ensure that key stakeholders are engaged throughout

• Verbal communication skills: Strong verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate confidently and clearly e.g. to present to audiences, engage with external stakeholders and communicate effectively within the team

• Writing skills: Excellent written skills, with the ability to communicate insights in a digestible way tailored to a range of different audiences

The core activities include: 

• Domain knowledge: Being the ‘go to’ person for various mission projects on the food retail sector, based on experience of the sector; as well as getting to grips with new areas quickly

• Project management: Lead on the scoping, design and delivery of a workstream or project, ensuring it’s delivered effectively

• Research, analysis and modelling: Conduct primary research, secondary research, data analysis and data modelling, including interpreting research findings and translating this into actionable next steps

• Stakeholder management: Own relationships, understand how to get the best out of others and ensure they love working with Nesta

• Communication: Have the ability to communicate in both written and verbal form clearly and concisely, and to make complex or technical issues and ideas easy to understand, adapting your communication to suit different audiences

What we offer

Salary: £49,200 - £65,800 (offers are expected to be made towards the bottom of the band) plus array of benefits, including private medical insurance, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more.

Location: This role is based in London, Blackfriars, hybrid working arrangement with a minimum of two days in the office.

Term: 2 year fixed term contract.

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do. 

Making an application 

Please submit your CV and answer to the following question: tell us about a time when you delivered a project within the food retail sector that drove measurable impact e.g. improvements in sales, customer satisfaction, operational efficiency or behavioural outcomes. In your answer, you may want to cover your role, the research and analysis you used, and how you communicated the findings.

To apply for this role, please submit your application before Monday 27th October at 8am.

The next stage of the application process will be a task to be completed and interview in early/mid November. Exact dates to be confirmed. 

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results. 

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop. 

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful. 

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.  

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.