Research Associate (Evaluation Manager)

King's College London; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job summary

King's College London, within the Policy Institute, seeks a Research Associate (Evaluation Manager) to lead impact evaluations across education and policy areas. The role involves managing partners, funders, and delivering rigorous evaluations using quantitative methods and trial designs.

The candidate should have experience in commissioned research, be highly organized, and work across multiple projects in a fast-paced research environment, with a focus on producing robust policy-relevant

Qualifications

• Experience designing and delivering impact evaluations using experimental and quasi-experimental approaches.
• Training in quantitative research methods (statistics, econometrics) and experience using R.
• Experience delivering commissioned research within a research organisation, consultancy, or academic setting.

Responsibilities

• Deliver ongoing and new evaluation projects across education and related policy areas.
• Manage relationships with delivery partners and funders throughout an evaluation lifecycle.
• Design evaluations responsive to changing delivery environments and articulate clear impact results.

Job description

As part of the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy, the Policy Institute at King's combine the rigour of academia with the agility of a consultancy and the connectedness of a think tank. This role sits within the Evidence Development and Incubation Team (EDIT), a dedicated evaluation specialist team within the Policy Institute. EDIT partners with government departments, public bodies, charities and other organisations to understand the impact of their work. Our activities include:

• Designing and delivering impact evaluations to assess the impacts of interventions on key outcomes, using experimental and quasi-experimental approaches
• Conducting implementation and process evaluations to explore how interventions operate in practice and how they are experienced by those involved.
• Supporting organisations to develop robust internal evaluation capacity, including the systems, skills and processes needed to embed evaluation in their work.

Beyond individual projects, EDIT advocates for the use of evidence in policy and practice, and works closely with members of the What Works Network to strengthen the wider evaluation ecosystem and promote the adoption of evidence-based interventions.

The Research Associate (Evaluation Manager) will play a key role in delivering EDIT's ongoing and new evaluation and research projects. Current work spans evaluations of programmes across primary, secondary, and further education; interventions aimed at reducing homelessness; and initiatives supporting young people into employment. The role has a strong focus on impact evaluation design and delivery.

The ideal candidate will have experience working with service delivery organisations to design and deliver robust and feasible impact evaluations. This would include, for example, working with a programme delivery partner to set up an impact evaluation or trial, managing relationships with delivery partners and funders throughout an evaluation lifecycle, and designing evaluations that are responsive to changing delivery environments. As this role has a particular focus on impact evaluation, the ideal candidate will also have training in quantitative research methods (for instance statistics, econometrics, or similar subjects), and experience using R. We are particularly interested in candidates with experience working with the What Works Centres, and of delivering commissioned research within a research organisation, consultancy, or academic setting. We also welcome candidates who bring subject-matter expertise from working in relevant policy areas, such as education, employment, youth violence reduction, homelessness, or related fields. The successful candidate will be highly organised, analytically rigorous, comfortable working collaboratively across multiple projects, with the flexibility and adaptability to thrive in a fast-paced research environment.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), offered on a two-year fixed-term contract.

Research staff at King's are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7.

This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service clearances.

Grade and Salary : £45,031 - £52,514 per annum including London Weighting Allowance Job ID : 160625

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