Senior Research Analyst

Senior Research Analyst

Job Description

Location: Hybrid (Home and London office) Tenure: Permanent, Full time Salary: £40,000 to £60,000 Closing Date: Rolling recruitment

About the Role

We are looking for an impact-oriented researcher with excellent quantitative research, data science, and/or data engineering skills to deliver and expand our research work with clients and research partners.

As part of our policy and research team, you will contribute to and lead on projects and insight that gain national coverage and influence. Our report on £24 billion in unclaimed benefits is shaping the national narrative; our benefit take-up campaigns are delivering significant returns, including unlocking over £75 million for users of our banking app. We work with leading funders and partners including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Nuffield Foundation, the Bevan Foundation, universities, and research organisations.

Our current portfolio combines operational delivery with academic-practice partnerships to support robust research and evaluation using administrative data. We are working with partners including the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the University of Manchester on NIHR-funded work evaluating strategies to increase Pension Credit take-up through a multi-arm randomised outreach campaign. We also work with Kingston University on Nuffield Foundation-funded research linking household benefits data with financial precarity and childrens social care involvement.

We are also contributing to pilots with local authorities and organisations such as Nesta, including work with Camden Council and the NHS to deliver the Family Hubs Pregnancy Grant. These collaborations enable partners to work with administrative datasets embedded in live local authority systems, making it possible to evaluate interventions and observe outcomes in real-world policy settings.

Our work is delivered to the highest standards with a strong focus on improving financial resilience for low-income households.

Key Responsibilities

You will work with the Head of Research and the rest of the research team focusing on the design and delivery of research projects. While also supporting the Policy Director and Policy and Data Analysts with your methodological expertise, you will have the opportunity to lead your own research, collaborating with our data engineers to expand and improve our analytical capabilities.

As part of a growing team, you will:

• Conduct high-quality research on welfare and poverty-related policy areas such as employment, healthcare, social care, and wellbeing. Youll contribute to projects at every stage from inception and implementation to publication.
• Improve our internal research processes by developing innovative methodologies, enhancing the quality of indicators, and refining how we measure and analyse key concepts in the welfare sector.
• Provide methodological expertise and conduct quantitative analysis for a variety of projects. These may include partnerships with academic institutions, commissions from local authorities, and other public or third-sector organisations.
• Support policy-focused analysis in response to policy changes, combining publicly available data with our core administrative datasets. This includes triangulation, validation, and contributing to policy modelling, particularly for Council Tax Reduction schemes and other welfare policies.
• Work closely with data engineering and product teams to ensure research insights inform product improvements. You will liaise with engineers and other team members to translate research needs into robust, scalable solutions and support improvements to data pipelines and analytical tools.
• Develop research proposals for public tenders, grants, and consultancy projects, often in collaboration with academic and third-sector partners.
• Help deliver research dissemination plans. This includes co-authoring peer-reviewed articles, policy briefs, research reports, blogs, and social media content. Youll also present findings at conferences, seminars, and events, tailoring communications to engage diverse audiences including policymakers, administrators, and frontline staff.
• Expand our reach and impact by building connections within relevant networks, identifying new research opportunities, and forming partnerships that drive future projects and funding.

The Ideal Candidate

Essential Skills

• Experience either conducting quantitative research or in a data science role at post-graduate level or equivalent in a non-academic sector.
• A strong interest in social policy and a passion to make change happen.
• Advanced training in a discipline with a strong quantitative focus (e.g., quantitative social sciences, economics, statistics, data science) and an interest in applying their research skills to inform policy design in the welfare sector.
• Demonstrable expertise in experimental/quasi-experimental approaches and causal inference methods.
• Experience analysing longitudinal/panel data and conducting statistical analyses using R.
• Proven ability to manage multiple research projects and stakeholders and deliver high-quality outputs on time.
• A good understanding of quantitative methods employed in evaluative research, experience in project management, and team leadership in academic or professional settings, ideally in contact with organisations or representatives in the public sector or local government.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate data into compelling narratives for diverse audiences.
• Knowledge of welfare policy or a strong interest in influencing policy design.
• Leadership experience fostering collaboration and teamwork while driving individual contributions.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience using public sector administrative data for policy analysis and evaluation.
• Familiarity with data linkage methods or experience applying them in research.
• Experience writing proposals and bidding for research funding (e.g., public procurement, research grants, consultancy projects).
• Proficiency in additional programming languages/software (in order of importance): SQL, Python, Stata, Tableau.
• A strong understanding of welfare policy and its implications for low-income households.

About Policy in Practice

Policy in Practice believes data and technology have the ability to empower people and change lives. Our goal is to be the single point of access for all people on means-tested benefits and enable effective public services through citizen-centred services. We aim to reach as many households as possible across the UK. We will do this via growth of existing products in public and private sector organisations and through expansion into new markets.

Policy in Practice is at a pivotal point as we continue to move from start-up to scale-up. We have invested in our capability, and development has moved from ideas to prototypes and, in some cases, to production.

Policy in Practices Vision and Mission

• Vision: We believe data and technology have the ability to empower people and change lives.
• Mission: Empower people via proactive integrated support. We will help more people to live better lives using our expertise in social policy, data, and technology. We are transforming the way society supports low-income families through citizen-centred approaches. We focus on improving how all policy areas, sectors, and journeys combined can have an impact on people and their outcomes.

Values

• Purposeful and passionate: We push for opportunities to improve not just for our clients or for ourselves but also for the people who need our help. We take responsibility. Details Matter. We have a genuine passion to help people with a willingness to take action.
• Insightful and impactful: We go beyond straightforward analysis to get to the So What, driving our policy insight and services to deliver impact. We think deeply and communicate simply in a way that helps people make the right decisions.
• Respectful and supportive: We are willing to discuss and debate openly, listening to both sides and relying on evidence and strong relationships to reach shared positions. We have each others back.

Why Work Here

Working at Policy in Practice is not just about maximising our own profit and product performance. It is also about what is right for people in the UK and the system supporting them. We are a team of professionals with extensive knowledge of the welfare system who are passionate about making social policy work. We love what we do, have fun, and while we recognise the importance and impact of our work, we take life-work balance seriously.

• Working in a thought-leading organisation where you can empower people and change lives.
• Flexible working arrangements with hybrid and remote working available.
• Opportunities for quick career progression.

What Colleagues Say

• "Everyone is lovely and we do such impactful work. There is a very caring employee culture and a drive to share expertise."
• "I appreciate how our work helps shape policies and the supportive team environment here encourages everyone to grow. Flexible working options make it easier to balance life and work and our inclusive culture makes this a welcoming place to be."
• "The work is extremely meaningful and translates directly into tangible benefits."

How to Apply

Please send your CV with a cover letter that clearly outlines your suitability and your interest in the post to jobspolicyinpractice.co.uk as soon as possible.