Evidence and Impact Lead

Job summary

In January the government announced the creation of the National School of Government and Public Services to support its ambitions for a world-class, professional Civil Service. The new School will:

• Align Civil Service training with government priorities like AI, ensuring the Civil Service is properly skilled for a more digital approach to government.
• Design and deliver more training in-house, removing duplication and reducing expenditure on external providers over time to provide better value for the taxpayer.
• Introduce a new, streamlined curriculum for civil servants - giving them clarity about what skills they are expected to learn.

The transformation to the new National School is being delivered by Government Skills, which was created in 2020 to improve the coherence and quality of learning and development in government through better training, knowledge and networks. This is an exciting time of growth for Government Skills with new positions being created to support the future operating model.

A centre for evidence is being created to embed an evidence-led and impact-based approach to the new National School. The centre will build on and expand the existing capabilities of the Evidence and Impact team in Government Skills. We use a combination of analytical methods to understand what works in government skills interventions. These include: monitoring/data analytics, social research, evaluation, statistics, behavioural and user research, and economic analysis to provide robust, purposeful insights to inform business decisions. Our evidence supports the creation of effective policy and strategy on the future skills needs of the government and wider public sector workforce, and supports effective design, commissioning and delivery of the interventions required to achieve this.

You can find more information about Government Skills on our GOV.UK page: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/government-skills-and-curriculum-unit including about our evidence team: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/evidence-based-learning-and-development

Job description

As Evidence and Impact Lead you will lead a diverse portfolio of research and evaluation projects which contribute programmatically to the evidence base on ‘what works’, for who, in what conditions, and why, when building the capability and skills of the civil service and public sector workforce. As part of a diverse, and expanding, analytical team you will work in partnership with other analysts, and with policy and delivery colleagues, to build capacity across the system to develop and mobilise high quality evidence to develop the government and public sector workforce we need to deliver the Government’s Missions and other key priorities.

You will apply your social research knowledge, skills and relationships to manage a broad portfolio of social research projects, including process, impact, and economic evaluations. Your portfolio will include evidence reviews, mapping exercises, and research projects, as well as evaluation work, to help us design interventions that really shift the dial on skills, and work in the varied contexts of the civil service and public sector, including working on Government Major Projects. This role will also include a focus on strengthening how evidence (both developed by the E&I Team, and from external sources) is disseminated and used across Government Skills, the Civil Service and with public sector leaders.

You will also be involved in strategic work across the E&I Team, to help shape the future of our work, including as our Team develops to play a leading role in driving forward the evidence-base on skills across both Government and the public sector. The E&I Team is currently growing and changing as part of wider exciting changes in the way we develop Civil Service and wider public sector capability within the Government’s commitment to a productive and agile state. As part of this, you will manage staff, supporting them to ensure that they can develop both individually and as part of our team.

You will report to the Head of Evidence and Impact and will:

• Lead a complex portfolio of research and evaluation on a thematic area, potentially including evaluation of complex and/or high-profile strategic projects, ensuring commissioning, delivery and reporting are robust, purposeful, efficient and aligned with relevant policies, including the Magenta Book.
• Lead work to strengthen monitoring, evaluation and impact of skills, learning and development interventions in Government Skills (and, where required, across the Civil Service and with public sector leaders), working across the full cycle of intervention design and delivery.
• Work closely with internal stakeholders, including Deputy Directors, to identify, prioritise and thematically connect longer term and immediate evidence needs and identify and implement robust approaches to address them, using and developing your own knowledge of the evidence base and drawing on appropriate external evidence and expertise.
• Reports complex and often conflicting research information to senior non-specialists/customers; and can evaluate and integrate research information from a variety of sources to come to logical conclusions
• Lead the production of high quality written briefings, business cases and other written outputs, and provide clear and purposeful verbal briefings, to senior leaders, Ministers and policy and delivery colleagues.
• Contribute to and, as/if required, lead work on knowledge mobilisation and engagement. This may include work developing and maintaining networks of key stakeholders (e.g. academics, peer evaluators/researchers across Government), and developing approaches to ensure our work is disseminated to meet the needs of all Government stakeholders, including teams across Government designing and delivering learning interventions
• As a member of the Evidence and Impact leadership team, take on a corporate contribution for enabling great evidence and impact work right across the Directorate and with our partners across the Civil Service and public sector.
• Lead a team to deliver high quality research and evaluation, including line management (and task management) staff, and support their development.

As our team is currently developing, there will be opportunities for growth and development opportunities within the team, and means that you can expect some flexibility around your role description and portfolio of analysis as the team evolves.

Person specification

Successful candidates must be badged into the Government Social Research (GSR) profession at G7 level, as detailed later. Candidates who are not badged are still eligible to apply but would be required to complete the GSR knowledge test.

Essential:

• Strong technical knowledge of relevant evaluation and social research methods including knowledge of experimental and quasi-experimental evaluation designs, other quantitative and qualitative methods and approaches to evidence synthesis. In particular, the ability to evaluate complex programmes or interventions.
• Established trac