The then Prime Minister created BIT in 2010 to apply behavioural science to public policy in the UK. In 2014 we became a social purpose company, owned by the Cabinet Office, Nesta (an innovation charity) and our employees.

The Behavioural Insights Team works with governments around the world in almost every policy area. Whilst the subject and output of our projects varies considerably, there are common threads: we try to understand the contexts in which people make decisions; we notice small details; we find out what has and hasn’t worked before; and we measure everything we do as robustly as we can.

BIT selects staff on the basis of our organisation’s values: always prioritising social impact; empiricism and humility; fresh thinking, collaboration; and public service.

The successful applicant will likely work across the policy areas of the International Programes and Justice and Security team initially but will develop a focus depending on their background, interests and skills.

Within Justice and Security, we work with a range of partners, including the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and several Police forces. Some examples of previous projects include, finding a way to reduce re-offending by examining the potential for ‘teachable moments’ within an offender’s journey through the criminal justice system, or designing scalable interventions to increase trust between communities.

In International Programmes, we work with UK government departments, NGOs and international governments to develop and test behaviourally informed policies that achieve social impact overseas. The successful applicant would support our work on capacity building, international development, peace building and anti-corruption outside of the U.K.

You must be confident in your ability to apply behavioural science to come up with interesting and practical policy interventions. You will think on your feet in meetings with senior partners and suggest workable solutions to complex policy challenges. You can also spot potential issues with public policy interventions and identify how behavioural science can address them.

This role will support a range of projects, providing advice and project management. You will lead aspects of projects, working to a Senior or Principal Advisor. You will also undertake discrete pieces of work (such as literature reviews, quantitative analysis or qualitative field work). Broadly speaking, you will work on two types of projects: field trials, where you will support the design and implementation of large-scale randomised controlled trials with partners; and policy advice at a more strategic level where you will not lead on the implementation of an impact evaluation.

• An understanding of the behavioural science literature and the ability to apply it to domestic or overseas public policy issues;
• Strong project management skills;
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, for example, the ability to write concisely for government ministers or senior officials;
• Strong teamwork skills;
• Strategic thinking, challenging existing assumptions and thinking of creative solutions to problems;

Finally, it would be desirable if you have:

• Knowledge of or experience in the UK criminal justice system and/or security infrastructure;
• Knowledge of issues and research relating to cyber security;
• Competent analytical skills and an understanding of mixed methods of research and evaluation;
• Experience working on the development or delivery of policy in government, academia, industry, or for a consulting firm or a design agency;
• Knowledge of UK foreign policy and international affairs;
• A Masters in a relevant subject area (including, but not limited to behavioural economics, psychology, design thinking, international development, evaluation methods, criminology) or work experience in a relevant field.

• If you do not already hold the right to work in the UK and/or require sponsorship in order to continue working here, you should think carefully before applying. This is because we will be unable to sponsor you unless there is no other suitably qualified settled worker available to fill the role or your current immigration status means that the resident labour market test will not apply in your case.

• The Behavioural Insights Team is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and is determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

• 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.

• 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.