At The Brilliant Club, we mobilise the PhD community to support students from less advantaged backgrounds to access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there. We work with students who, because of their family income, parental history or the postcode they live in, are at risk of missing out on the life-changing opportunities linked to higher education.

We are delighted to be hiring a Senior Research and Evaluation Officer to join The Brilliant Club. This pivotal role will support the charity’s research and evaluation consultancy work through Brilliant Consulting. Through our consultancy work, we have partnered with a range of universities and education organisations, such as the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) and The Sutton Trust. The Senior Research and Evaluation Officer will contribute to improving the evidence base for what works to drive fairer education outcomes and social mobility. They will do this by supporting mission-aligned organisations to conduct robust evaluations of outreach and education programmes.

The Senior Research and Evaluation Officer will join a small consultancy team and will be managed by the charity’s Director of Research and Impact. The team is also supported by several colleagues from across the organisation who work on specific projects based on their areas of expertise. The consultancy team is part of the charity’s wider research and impact team, who collectively have two areas of responsibility: evaluating and reporting the impact of the charity’s programmes and providing research and evaluation consultancy and strategy support to education organisations.

The successful candidate will have strong research skills, including in quantitative research, and will be able to communicate technical information and findings to university access and success practitioners and educators. They will also demonstrate professional skills in relation to stakeholder management and project management and will champion the charity’s values and embody them in interactions with colleagues and partners. While this role can be based at any of our offices throughout the UK, some travel will be required (mainly to London) to attend in-person meetings.

About you

The role will best suit someone who

• Has a degree in a subject involving applied research (e.g., economics, education, policy, psychology, sociology, statistics).

• Has quantitative research skills, ideally with experience of constructing comparison groups and running statistical models to understand impact.

• Has experience of mixed methods approaches, including qualitative research methods (e.g., focus groups and interviews).

• Has knowledge of the UK education landscape, including higher education.

• An organised and methodical approach, with excellent attention to detail and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.

• Has excellent written and verbal communication skills, including being able to communicate with a range of external stakeholders.

• Will adhere to information security policies included in the charity’s ISO 27001 manual and complete information security training.

• Has a demonstrable passion for furthering The Brilliant Club’s mission.