About BIT

BIT is a social purpose company. It exists to improve people’s lives and communities. It works in partnership with national, regional and local governments, businesses, foundations and charities, to tackle major policy problems, often through testing and implementing simple yet powerful changes. 

It has about 200 staff based in 8 countries across Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific, and has run more than 1000 projects to date, including over 700 randomised controlled trials in dozens of countries. In addition to its own interventions, it openly shares expertise and helps others build capacity and skills to apply behavioural science for social good.

What does a Qualitative Research Advisor at BIT do?

This role is in our Research  team. Key questions your work may answer are:

• What hidden barriers to hospital discharge does ethnographic observation uncover that clinical protocols fail to account for?

• Based on in-depth interview data, what behavioral barriers prevent high-risk gamblers from using safety features during live betting?

• What do longitudinal qualitative case studies tell us about how real-world adaptations to a mentoring programme impact a young person's long-term journey back into education or training?

This role is at Research Advisor level which means you will be involved in supporting the design and execution of qualitative research to: 

• Understand more about people’s experiences, opinions and how they see the world

• Explore barriers and enablers to behaviour change 

• Obtain feedback on early solutions to support people to take up specific behaviours

• Evaluate the implementation, reach and perceived impact of these solutions (often as part of a larger, mixed-methods impact evaluation). 

This will include tasks such as:

• Helping clients devise theories of change during project design

• Sampling and recruiting for qualitative research

• Drafting discussion guides (e.g. for focus groups or deliberative workshops) and stimulus materials (e.g. for interviews or prototyping)

• Conducting, supervising and training colleagues in interviews, focus groups and observations

  • This might be for exploratory research, prototyping/ usability testing or evaluations

  • This might include research with vulnerable groups

• Leading or collaborating on the analysis of qualitative data, including the systematic management of data and the application of appropriate qualitative analytical techniques, such as thematic analysis

• Reporting and presenting findings from qualitative studies to internal and external audiences

• Being an active member of BIT and Nesta’s Qualitative Community of Practice, sharing knowledge and experiences of qualitative methods

• Contributing to Behavioural Insights projects more widely, e.g. by

  • Developing solutions informed by exploratory research and the behavioural science literature

  • Preparing project deliverables (e.g., evidence summaries, final reports) with a clear understanding of the overall project objectives

  • Presenting to and communicating with a range of senior stakeholders

  • Supporting colleagues to develop their qualitative research skills

  • Contributing to company development, including our continuing pursuit of producing high-quality applied research. We are interested in your own experiences of what works in qualitative research and welcome innovative solutions to make sure we deliver the best work for social impact.

What makes a great Qualitative Research Advisor at BIT?

We are looking for a passionate and imaginative individual with experience in designing and conducting high-quality, but pragmatic qualitative research. We are looking for someone who understands what we do, shares our values and is keen to learn and develop their expertise. 

Specifically, we are looking for candidates with the skills and interests listed below.  

• Deep understanding of qualitative research principles. You understand that people might experience the world differently depending on their context. You can identify who best to talk to in order to generate deep and varied insights. You know how to spot patterns across people’s experiences and understand what links these patterns together while identifying unique meaningful differences. 

• Practical experience delivering qualitative research. You have applied your theoretical understanding of qualitative research to practical challenges. You have a minimum of two years’ experience running or contributing to  qualitative research projects outside of your undergraduate degree. This includes experience across the following activities: sampling and recruitment, drafting discussion guides, conducting data collection such as interviews and focus groups, and analysis and reporting of resulting data. As well as proficiency in core qualitative methods, including interviews, focus groups and observations, you have an interest and working understanding of newer or more advanced qualitative methods such as diary studies, participatory and deliberative approaches, theory-based evaluation methods and AI-assisted qualitative research. You don’t need to have applied these methods before but you will be keen to learn more about them and support opportunities to use them in BIT’s work.

• An openness to working across the wide range of policy areas BIT specialises in, including education, home affairs, the economy, health, energy and sustainability and our diverse international portfolio. As part of the Research team, you will support across the full range of BIT’s work rather than specialising in a particular policy area. You are passionate about public policy and programmes aimed at improving the lives of people at scale across the diverse areas we work on. You can see both sides of an argument, and you can think about what makes some policies effective and others impractical.

• A solid understanding of causality and impact evaluations. You know that just because sales of sunglasses and ice creams increase at the same time, one does not cause the other. You also have an understanding of how qualitative methods can support quantitative approaches to strengthen our understanding, and vice versa. 

• An interest in the behavioural sciences and applying qualitative research methods to behavioural insights projects. You don’t necessarily have an academic background or previous experience in behavioural sciences/ insights, but you are keen to learn more and broaden your skills set. You are interested in finding new ways to use qualitative approaches to deliver high quality behavioural insights projects. 

• Ability to communicate clearly and convincingly. You can explain complex topics in simple terms. You have good presentation skills and can write clearly and concisely. You are able to communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders and adapt style and tone to their needs. You are able to deliver training on qualitative methods to internal staff on a range of methods and project stages.

• Ability to manage your own work and develop yourself at work. You are organised and can manage your own time to produce high-quality work within a reasonable time frame and across several projects. You demonstrate high self-awareness and regularly self-reflect. You are aware of the impact that your actions and words have on those around you. You are resilient and accept responsibility for decisions whether they achieve the desired outcome or not. You are committed to conducting research ethically and safely and to keeping data secure. 

Desirable: 

• Note that we do not require candidates to bring the following skills/ experience - but it’s great if you do have previous experience in one or two of the following areas: 

  • Conducting research with vulnerable groups, e.g. children, victims of violence, ex-offenders

  • Using Human Centred Design approaches to develop solutions to complex problems

  • Managing and / or coordinating people conducting tasks on qualitative research projects, e.g. a team of analysts, interviewers or facilitators

  • Preparing and managing applications to institutional review boards (IRBs)/ ethics committees. 

BIT really is a great place to work:

• Bonus scheme

• Generous pension scheme with 7% employer contribution

• A flexible benefit pot of £1,100 to spend on our flexible benefits programme which currently includes things like the ability to buy extra annual leave at the start of the year, gym membership, cycle to work scheme etc or just take as cash.

• 25 days of annual leave (in addition to public holidays) for full-time employees, rising to 27 days after 2 years continuous service

• We offer enhanced parental leave payments

• We encourage flexible working and have a culture which enables this; for example flexible start and finish times and an IT set up which allows for easy working from home options

• We have regular team lunches with inspirational guest speakers. 

• We’re a social bunch and have a variety of interest groups including Film Club, BIT Kids for our parents & 5-a-side team to name a few.

• We have a great office, which has a fabulous roof terrace overlooking the Thames river, an amazing coffee machine and fridges stocked full of soft drinks!

Application process

• Submit your application before 8 April 2026 at 11:59am (BST).  

• The hiring team will then review applications.

• Interviews and tasks will be arranged from 13 April 2026 onwards.

Please note:

You will need to have the right to work in the UK in order to be able to undertake this role. We will ask all applicants short-listed for an interview to provide evidence of their right to work during the recruitment process.  If you do not have the right to work for BIT unfortunately we will not be able to provide sponsorship for this role.

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. For full details on how BIT collects and uses your personal data please visit our website - https://www.bi.team/bit-global-recruitment-privacy-notice/ 

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.