Director of Research, Data & Insights

Ambition; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 68,000 - 84,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days’ annual leave

Employer pension contribution 11%

Hybrid, agile working culture

Job summary

Ambition Institute in Birmingham seeks a Director of Research, Data & Insights to lead strategy, build partnerships and secure funding, and oversee our Data & Insights function to deliver high-quality evidence for education outcomes.

You will inspire a multidisciplinary team, shape Ambition’s external voice, and collaborate with communications to promote evidence-based practices across early years, schools and colleges.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading diverse portfolio of high-quality research.
• External profile and ability to communicate as an authoritative voice in education research.
• Deep expertise in research design and methodology with publication record.
• Experience building research partnerships and securing external funding.
• Strategic leadership to data, insights and/or evaluation.

Responsibilities

• Set Ambition’s research agenda and strengthen the quality and distinctiveness of our research.
• Develop strategic research partnerships, secure external funding and ensure our research reaches and influences practitioners, policymakers, funders and the wider research community.
• Communicate our evidence, ideas and impact through speaking, writing and relationship-building with colleagues in communications and public affairs.
• Oversee Data & Insights function, ensuring high-quality data, evaluation and insight to understand reach, quality and impact.
• Provide senior sponsorship of significant data projects to improve infrastructure and use of data.

Skills

Lead research portfolio

External funding experience

Stakeholder engagement

Team management

Education policy knowledge

Research leadership

Education

PhD in education/research

Job description

Director of Research, Data & Insights

Application Deadline: 2 November 2026

Department: Data & Insight

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Birmingham

Reporting To: Executive Director, Strategy and Impact

Compensation: £76,000 / year

Description

At Ambition Institute, we believe a great educator changes the future every day – especially for those who have had a tough start in life. Our mission is to help professionals serving disadvantaged communities keep getting better, so every child can thrive. The Research, Data & Insights team sits at the heart of this work, uncovering what makes a real difference and guiding our decisions with robust evidence.

We are seeking a Director of Research, Data & Insights who shares our belief in the power of education. This is a unique opportunity to lead Ambition’s research strategy and build our reputation as a trusted voice across education settings – including early years, schools and colleges.

You will set Ambition’s research agenda, provide intellectual and methodological leadership, and develop partnerships to secure external funding. You will oversee our Data & Insights function, making sure we have high-quality data and evaluation to understand our reach and impact. You will champion the use of evidence across Ambition, helping colleagues use data to make decisions that benefit pupils.

As a senior leader, you will inspire a multidisciplinary team and play an active part in shaping Ambition’s wider strategy. We are looking for someone with deep expertise in research design and methodology, experience of leading high-quality research and securing funding, and a passion for improving education for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This is a unique opportunity to lead Ambition’s research & insights strategy and build our reputation as a trusted voice across education settings. Together, we’re shaping the future of education to give every child the best start in life.

Please note - this role is full-time, 37.5 hours per week. Part-time options available.

Who are Ambition Institute?

A great teacher changes the future every day. Especially for children who have had a tough start in life, a teacher can be the critical factor in their success.

At Ambition Institute we help schools tackling educational disadvantage to keep getting better and help their teachers and school leaders to become more expert over time.

That’s how we’ll make sure every child gets a great education and the best possible start in life.

• We train teachers and leaders at all levels to get better at the things that make the biggest difference: what you teach, how you teach it, and how you create the conditions for schools to thrive.
• We share what works. Everyone can benefit from evidence of how great teaching and leadership can improve schools and change lives, so we connect people to the latest research and best practice.
• We champion every teacher and school leader’s potential to develop, as the driving force for sustainable school improvement.

We would like you to:

As Director of Research, Data & Insights

• You will be Ambition’s senior research leader, responsible for setting our research agenda, strengthening the quality and distinctiveness of our research, and building Ambition’s reputation as an authoritative voice in education research.
• You will develop strategic research partnerships, secure external funding and ensure our research reaches and influences practitioners, policymakers, funders and the wider research community.
• You will also be an active contributor to Ambition’s external voice, communicating our evidence, ideas and impact through speaking, writing, commentary and relationship‑building, in partnership with communications and public affairs colleagues.
• You will also oversee Ambition’s Data & Insights function, ensuring we have high quality data, evaluation and insight to understand our reach, quality and impact and to support effective organisational decision‑making.
• You will contribute to the development of our data capability and provide senior sponsorship of significant data projects that improve our infrastructure, systems and use of data.

Working in a hybrid way, you’ll be attached to either our Birmingham, London or Manchester office and will report to Executive Director, Strategy & Impact. In line with our current ways of working, you’ll be expected to in the office at least 2 days a month, in addition to team days and this may be reviewed by Ambition.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

To succeed in this role you'll have proven experience in

• Significant experience of leading a varied portfolio of high quality research, with the intellectual credibility and methodological breadth to guide research across different topics, methods and types of project.
• An established external profile, communication skills and appetite to develop an authoritative voice on teacher development, school leadership and wider education workforce issues.
• Deep expertise in research design and methodology, supported by a PhD in a relevant field or an equivalent record of high quality research and publication.
• A strong track record of building successful research partnerships, contributing to wider collaborative research and securing external funding.
• Significant experience of providing strategic leadership to data, insights and/or evaluation, including using data and evidence to strengthen organisational decision-making and impact.
• Experience of leading and developing multidisciplinary teams, managing significant resources and contributing to organisation-wide strategy and change.
• Strong knowledge of the English education system and educational disadvantage, with excellent judgement and communication skills and the ability to influence senior internal and external stakeholders.

What’s in it for you….?

• Competitive annual salary
• Professional development for all staff
• 25 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays and 'winter shut down’ at the end of December/beginning of January
• Employer pension contribution of 11%
• Agile, hybrid working culture, so you can manage when and where you work
• Staff affinity networks that help keep equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
• Blind recruitment process to ensure equality and fairness in our hiring
• Enhanced maternity pay after a year’s service
• Shared parental leave package
• Access to free, confidential 24/7 wellbeing and support line
• Comfortable and collaborative workspaces in the city centres of Manchester, Birmingham and London
• Work-from-home technology package to support hybrid working
• Interest free season ticket / bike loans

We don’t expect the person we hire to have all of the following, but this should give you a sense of what would enable you to thrive in this role and in our organisation:

• You care deeply about educational disadvantage and being part of an organisation that challenges inequality
• You have a good work ethic and strive to make a difference in the job you do
• You always give maximum effort to understand and meet the needs of our partners and participants
• You always have a great attitude so we “can do” for all our colleagues, partners and participants
• You are open to feedback and learning because we want to keep getting better
• You work with your initiative to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective
• You are well organised and can prioritise work that will have the greatest impact

• You want a career with a person-centred organisation with a cause at its heart.
• You have a collaborative work ethos, bring warmth and good humour to work and constructive outlook to every situation
• You enjoy working in a fast-moving workplace, with a great support structure around you
• You would like to grow with an ambitious organisation as it progresses over time
• Want flexibility in how you work – splitting your time between one of our offices and remote working and managing your own working patterns to get the job done.

Applications will be accepted for all office locations.

All applications must be received by the closing date 09:00am on 2 November 2026. First stage interviews are expected to take place 9 November 2026. Second stage interview dates are to be confirmed.

We recognise that AI function tools (such as ChatGPT or other generative AI tools) are here to stay and can be helpful for applications including to assist in researching for application responses and to shorten your first draft. However, we are observing a growing trend in the use of AI, and we would caution applicants against relying too heavily on such tools when drafting responses.
The pitfall of such tools is that they produce generic responses that don’t showcase individuality, specific experiences or real‑life examples. This usually results in applications being unsuccessful. We want to evaluate your response, and we will be looking for answers that use examples and experiences that are clearly specific to you. You are more likely to successfully demonstrate your soft skills like communication and teamwork when preparing answers to application questions yourself and this helps mitigate the unintended consequences of AI-generated responses.

If we suspect you have used AI inappropriately, the panel reviewing your application may adjust how your response is rated. For more details of what we consider to be acceptable use of AI function tools in our application process, please review our FAQS on our careers page.
Ambition Institute is proud to be a Disability Confident Committed employer. We welcome applications from disabled people and, as part of our commitment, offer an interview to applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role (although where we receive a particularly high number of applications through the scheme, we may not be able to interview everyone who meets the criteria). We are committed to making reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process and encourage you to let us know if there are any adjustments that would help you participate fully.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and the most vulnerable in our society and, as such, we are unable to employ individuals with relevant convictions, including the following: a conviction for an offence involving violence or dishonesty, of a sexual nature or against minors, or for any other offence that is relevant to the nature of the services provided by our organisation.

For any questions or queries please review our FAQs | Ambition Institute Careers (pinpointhq.com). If we've not addressed your question in this section, please email us at [e-mail]

As an employer, we have a responsibility to prevent illegal working in the UK by ensuring that our employees have the right to work in the UK. Therefore, as part of the recruitment process to verify your eligibility you will be required to produce relevant documentation.