Senior Analyst

UK Shared Business Services Ltd; Bristol; On-site; GBP 47,000; Full time

Job summary

A public sector organization is seeking a Senior Analyst to design and deliver analytical processes that support the allocation of £2 billion of strategic research funding. The successful candidate will have experience in R programming and a strong background in data analysis. Responsibilities include supporting funding operations, engaging with stakeholders, and ensuring quality assurance in analytical outputs. The position is full-time and based in Bristol with a fixed-term contract of 12 months.

Qualifications

• Degree in mathematics or similar subject with numerical content.
• Experience in R programming for large datasets.
• Strong background in data analysis and presentation.

Responsibilities

• Support allocation of public funds through quality analysis.
• Ensure compliance with quality assurance processes.
• Investigate data gaps and propose solutions for updates.
• Provide robust support to stakeholders and respond to queries.

Skills

R programming

Data analysis

Quality assurance

Communication skills

Project management

Education

Degree in mathematics or related field

Job description

Job Details

• SALARY: £46,743 Per Annum
• HOURS: Full Time (Minimum 0.8 FTE)
• CONTRACT TYPE: Fixed Term (12 Months)
• LOCATION: Research England, Bristol
• GRADE: UKRI Band E
• POSITIONS AVAILABLE: 1
• CLOSING DATE: 16 January 2026
• PROPOSED INTERVIEW DATE: Planned for week beginning 9 February

Purpose

As a Senior Analyst at Research England you will design and deliver analytical processes that directly support the allocation of £2 billion of strategic institutional research funding (SIRF) and knowledge exchange funding to higher education providers in England. Working as a member of a fast‑paced team committed to innovation and continuous improvement you will be responsible for managing work areas from design and development, through the crucial quality assurance processes, to delivery. These work areas cover the effective and timely delivery of funding operations, providing analysis and dashboarding to support senior and executive leaders in their decision making, and liaising with internal and external stakeholders to identify the data needed to support these tasks.

A sound understanding of an analytical product development cycle is crucial for this role, including significant experience of coding, analysing data and presenting findings. Equally important is experience of quality assurance processes, and an awareness of how these minimise errors in analytical outputs.

Main Outputs and Activities

• To support the algorithm‑driven allocation of public funds to higher education providers by:
• developing a sound knowledge of the Higher Education sector data used by the analyst team to underpin the funding allocations
• developing a sound knowledge of the algorithm‑driven (also referred to as formula‑based) funding methods used by Research England and collaborating with colleagues to develop, maintain and implement funding models
• synthesising datasets from partner organisations – collating and processing the required subsets for each funding stream
• engaging with quality assurance and publication processes for disseminating the funding outcomes
• To assist with quality assurance checks when required:
• ensuring that the team QA process is always followed
• making sure that QA approvals are escalated as necessary
• To investigate solutions to data gaps and process data updates:
• by identifying and establishing solutions for data gaps in the underlying data
• by processing updated data for the calculation of potential grant adjustments and subsequent amendment to existing datasets as required
• produce financial reports to be completed by institutions as part of an annual exercise
• validate and summarise the information within the completed financial reports
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• To provide support to stakeholders, responding to queries and providing advice:
• By addressing internal and external queries as required – including creating technical documentation and providing subject‑matter expertise to executive and council briefing papers.
• Including liaison with the Office for Students, Jisc (HESA) and higher education providers
• In the audits of data used within algorithm‑driven funding

Assessment Criteria

• Degree in mathematics or another subject with significant numerical content or equivalent professional experience (S)
• Experience of coding in R language to manipulate large complex datasets (S & I)
• Significant experience of analysing data including identifying relevant data sources and presenting analytical findings (S & I)
• Able to provide significant input into technical or process development (S)
• Experience of quality assurance processes, and an awareness of how these minimise errors in analytical outputs (S & I)
• Strong written communication skills, including clarifying policy questions and guiding policy colleagues in interpretation of data (S)
• Strong verbal communication skills, and able to explain technical details clearly, concisely, and tailored to the audience (I)
• Able to plan and manage a varied and demanding workload and respond to changing priorities (I)