Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

EDUCATION POLICY INSTITUTE; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 125,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading educational research organization seeks an experienced Chief Executive Officer to provide strategic leadership while promoting high-quality education outcomes. The ideal candidate will be passionate about education and social justice, with the ability to influence policy at high levels. This is a permanent, full-time role based in Central London, offering a salary range of £125,000-140,000 and flexible arrangements.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for the Education Policy Institute.
• Ensure the organisation delivers world-class research and influences policy.
• Drive initiatives that promote education and social justice.

Job description

EPI’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will provide strategic, intellectual, and operational leadership for EPI—ensuring the organisation continues to deliver world‑class research, influence policy at the highest levels, and operate sustainably and effectively.

We want to recruit an experienced leader with a passion for education and social justice. We need to make the case ever more powerfully and to a wider audience, and with ever greater impact.

Key information:

• Location: Central London / Hybrid (2–3 days office-based per week)
• Salary range: £125,000-140,000
• Reports to: Chair of the Board of Trustees
• Contract: Permanent, full time, but flexible options can be discussed
• Closing date: 9 January 2026 (not as stated in details above)
• Interviews: London, early February 2026

For a detailed overview of the position, responsibilities, person specification, and application process, please review the candidate information pack here.

About the Education Policy Institute

The Education Policy Institute is an independent, impartial and evidence‑based research organisation dedicated to promoting high‑quality education outcomes for all children and young people—regardless of their social or economic background. Our mission is to improve education policy and practice by producing rigorous research and analysis that influences government decisions, informs practitioners and enhances public understanding of the education system.

EPI is a decade old, but in that decade it has established itself as the pre‑eminent policy think tank on English education. At root, EPI is driven by a moral purpose to

• Ensure that every child and young person in the UK has a world‑class education, positive mental health and is able to contribute to a thriving society and economy; and
• Close the gap between disadvantaged pupils (including those with SEND, looked after children and other aspects of vulnerability) and their peers – a gap which is currently over 18 months (on average) by the age of 16 but which varies significantly across the country.

To realise our mission, we undertake research of the highest quality, and work hard to embed the research in policy and practice. Quality is critical: we know that in education policy, so much is contested that work needs to be of genuinely exceptional quality to command respect and extend influence. Over the last decade, through hard work and a gifted team, we have set the highest standards, and the result has been that the EPI is universally respected for the work it does. Over the next decade, we want to grow our work, to extend our influence and to accelerate progress towards realising our mission.