Deputy Director – Research and Evaluation – CSA Centre

Barnardo's; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A child welfare organization is looking for a Deputy Director, Research and Evaluation to lead a team focused on improving policies and practices surrounding child sexual abuse. This role requires strong leadership skills and significant experience in research project oversight. You will work with various professionals and stakeholders to ensure evidence-informed practices are accessible and impactful. Join us in driving vital changes in child protection efforts in England and Wales.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in designing and overseeing research projects.
• Expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.
• Knowledge of the child sexual abuse research landscape.

Responsibilities

• Lead the research and evaluation team at the CSA Centre.
• Develop and oversee research and evaluation plans.
• Engage with governmental departments and senior stakeholders.

Skills

Leadership

Quantitative research

Qualitative research

Project management

Policy engagement

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity to join the friendly, dynamic, multi-disciplinary team at the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) as our new Deputy Director, Research and Evaluation. This is a key leadership role within the CSA Centre, central to our ambition to raise awareness of the true scale and nature of sexual abuse and to drive evidence-informed improvements in policy and practice.

About the role:

The CSA Centre aims to inform and improve policy and practice at local and national levels by identifying, generating and sharing high quality evidence on the current scale and nature of child sexual abuse and what works to prevent and tackle it, and our extensive research, evaluation and monitoring activity is central to that mission.

Leading our highly skilled and experienced research and evaluation team, you will play a key role in developing and overseeing the CSA Centre's research and evaluation plans over the immediate and longer term, helping us to ensure that our publications, practice resources and policy and communications activity are robust, evidence-informed and accessible to a wide audience, driving real change in the response to child sexual abuse across England and Wales.

As a member of the CSA Centre's Senior Management Team, you will have a leadership role across our multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team, enabling you to draw on expertise from a wide range of different professional backgrounds. You will lead our strategic engagement with research and evaluation leads from across Government departments and key stakeholder groups, and contribute to our wider influencing activity with senior leaders at local, regional and national level.

We are looking for an experienced manager and leader with strong skills and significant experience of designing, planning and overseeing research projects and programmes of monitoring and evaluation on child sexual abuse, or closely related issues, using a wide range of methodologies. You will have demonstrable expertise in qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation, an in-depth knowledge of the current research landscape in relation to child sexual abuse, and experience of translating organisational objectives into a strategic and cohesive research and evaluation plan.

As Deputy Director, Research and Evaluation, you will play a role tackling child sexual abuse alongside the work of our colleagues across practice, policy, communications and training. This is important work - the CSA Centre conservatively estimates that one in ten children will experience some form of child sexual abuse before age of 16, and our ambitious programme seeks to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of professionals (social workers, teachers, social workers, nurses etc.) in identifying and responding to child sexual abuse. We have already made great progress, but there is much more to be done – and your leadership is essential to help us do it!

If you would be interested in joining the team and shaping change, please visit our website for more details: http://www.csacentre.org.ukt/about-us/opportunities/

CSA Centre roles are currently funded until 31 March 2027, in line with our current grant funding arrangements. This will be reviewed in late 2026, as future funding for the CSA Centre from 2027/28 onwards is confirmed.