Director of Research, Data & Insights

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

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

25 days’ annual leave

Employer pension contribution 11%

Agile, hybrid working culture

Wellbeing and support line (24/7)

Job summary

Ambition Institute seeks a Director of Research, Data & Insights to lead our research strategy, guide methodological excellence and build external partnerships. This senior role oversees Data & Insights, ensuring high-quality data and evaluation to inform decisions that improve education for disadvantaged learners.

The post is based in Manchester with hybrid working and opportunities to shape policy and practice.

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading varied portfolios of high-quality research across topics and methods.
• Established external profile with ability to influence education practitioners and policymakers.
• Deep expertise in research design and methodology with publications.
• Proven track record building partnerships and securing external funding.
• Experience leading data, insights and/or evaluation to inform decisions.
• Experience guiding multidisciplinary teams and managing resources.
• Strong knowledge of the English education system and educational disadvantage.

Responsibilities

• Set Ambition’s research agenda and strengthen the distinctive quality of research.
• Develop strategic research partnerships and secure external funding.
• Communicate evidence and impact through speaking, writing and relationship-building.
• Oversee Data & Insights function ensuring high-quality data, evaluation and insight.
• Provide senior sponsorship of major data projects to improve infrastructure.

Skills

Strategic leadership

External profile

Research design

Funding partnerships

Data capability

Team leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Education

PhD in a relevant field

Job description

Director of Research, Data & Insights

Application Deadline: 2 November 2026

Department: Data & Insight

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Manchester

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?

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 be 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.

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 in the first instance. 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.