Senior Evaluation Manager (12 month maternity cover)

M·E·L Research; Birmingham; Remote; GBP 40,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working arrangements

Pension contributions

33 days leave incl bank holidays

Life assurance

Health cashback

Profit bonus

Annual pay reviews

Job summary

M E L Research Limited is seeking a Senior Evaluation Manager for a 12-month maternity cover. This remote role with occasional Birmingham office visits offers a salary between £40,000 and £45,000, 37.5 hours per week, and a comprehensive benefits package.

The candidate will lead client-facing evaluations, oversee staff, and deliver reports and recommendations across public sector and third-sector projects. The role requires strong experience in designing evaluations (including Theory of Change),

Qualifications

• Over 5 years’ experience in managing and delivering evaluation and research projects from start to finish
• Experience with public sector/third sector clients
• Experience in bidding and pitching for new work
• Experience in developing logic models and Theories of Change
• Ability to translate data/evidence into narratives for clients

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of evaluation projects, overseeing support staff and delivering consultancy reports and presentations to clients
• Design various evaluations (Theory of Change, evaluation frameworks, research tools) and manage data collection and analysis
• Apply diverse evaluation paradigms and participatory methods appropriately to different contexts
• Attend conferences and promote the organisation’s reputation
• Win new business commissions and contribute to sales targets

Skills

Project management

Evaluation design

Research methods

Theory of Change

Qualitative methods

Quantitative methods

Public sector experience

Business development

Client management

MS Office

Tools

PowerPoint

Excel

Word

Job description

Senior Evaluation Manager (12 month maternity cover)

Employment type: Full-time

Hours of work: Mon - Fri, 9am to 5.00pm

Place of work: Remote with occasional working in Birmingham City Centre

M·E·L Research is a social research agency, with expertise in research, evaluation and behavioural insights. With 40 years’ experience in working for the UK’s public services, we have a very strong focus on what we want to achieve as a business.

We believe that all businesses have a duty to be socially responsible to re‑invest in society, be active contributors to the local community, and to minimise their environmental impacts. We push for social value – in why we work, how we work and who we work with. Click here to see our recently published Social Value report.

You can read more about what it is like to work at M·E·L Research here .

Our history and journey

Formed in 1985, M·E·L Research has grown steadily to a core in-house team of over 30 research and evaluation staff, plus many more telephone interviewers and external CAPI interviewers and support staff. We are on an exciting growth journey, expanding our research and insights capabilities, enhancing our evaluation services, and embedding our data visualisation tools alongside recognised quality accreditations.

Joining M·E·L Research means becoming part of a confident and forward-looking company, ambitious about the future and committed to broadening the expertise and solutions we offer our clients. At the heart of everything we do is our social purpose: to make a meaningful and lasting difference to society, to the communities we serve, and to our own people.

Full details on what it is like to work for M·E·L Research can be found here .

We offer employees a wide range of generous benefits including:

• Flexible working arrangements based around the needs of the employee (such as family commitments/needs/childcare). We are a very family-orientatedbusiness and encourage flexible hours and homeworking.
• Provision of employer contributions to Royal London personal pension scheme starting from a 4% contribution and rising to 8% (subject to employee contributions that meet theauto-enrolmentrequirements)
• In addition, paid annual leave allowance of 33 days per annum, including bank holidays (pro-rated forpart-timehours), and your birthday
• Life assurance policy at 3x basic annual salary
• Health cashback medical care scheme and employee benefits scheme inc. retail discounts
• Eligibility for annual company profit and performance bonus scheme dependent on company performance
• Annual pay reviews and cost-of-living pay increases (also subject to the company’s financial performance).

Post:Senior Evaluation Manager

Job Location:Remote (with a requirement to occasionally come into the Birmingham office)

Reporting to:Senior Evaluation Lead

Salary Range:£40,000-£45,000depending on experience (37.5 Hours per week)plus potential profit bonus,pensionand other benefits.

Full job specification & key responsibilities

This is a client-facing consultancy role responsible for managing a portfolio of evaluation projects, overseeing support staff, and providing clients with consultancy advice, reports and presentations on evaluation findings and opportunites for improvement.

You will need to have experience in designing different types of evaluations, including Theory of Change, evaluation frameworks, research tools, secondary research activities, analysis, and reporting.

You will have a good understanding of a range of evaluation approaches and participatory methods, such as Outcome Mapping, Outcome Harvesting, Appreciative Inquiry, Most Significant Change, and / or Ripple Effect Mapping, and know when and how to apply them effectively.

You will also be familiar with different evaluation paradigms and frameworks, including Realist, Developmental, Empowerment, Participatory and other Theory-based evaluations, and be able to select and adapt approaches to suit different contexts, stakeholders and learning needs.

Ideally, you will have experience of both quantitative and qualitative research methods and be confident in integrating multiple sources of evidence to generate robust and actionable insights.

You will be used to working in a fast-paced environment and managing a number of evaluations at the same time for different clients across the country.

You will also be required to win new business commissions within our evaluation team, contributing to reaching our annual sales targets in excess of £3 million.

You will have the opportunity to attend conferences and present papers on relevant topics to help promote the reputation of M∙E∙L Research amongst key audiences.

The field in which your experience lies is less important, although broadly speaking we would like someone with public sector/third sector experience, government policy and programme evaluation experience.

Person specification

This person specification details the experience, knowledge, skills, ability, training, education and qualifications that are considered to be essential to fulfilling the requirements of this post.

Please demonstrate in your covering letter, using appropriate examples where possible, that you have the skills and experience to meet the following criteria for the post. Your ability to meet the criteria will be assessed using a number of methods including your CV, covering letter, interview, and where applicable presentation or work-based tests.

• Applicants must be UK residents with the right to work in the UK
• Over 5 years’ experience in managing and delivering evaluation and research projects from start to finish e.g. designing an evaluation project, undertaking literature reviews and other desk/secondary research, implementing qualitative and quantitative research methods as required, analysing and interpreting data, and preparing and presenting client reports
• Experience of working with public sector/third sector clients
• Experience of bidding and pitching for new work.
• Experience in developing logic models and Theories of Change.
• Experience in developing evaluation frameworks and utilising different evaluation
  approaches.

Your knowledge and skills

• In-depth understanding of both qualitative and quantitative research, evaluation projects and ability to recommend most appropriate evaluation design to meet a client brief.
• Ability to interpret a client brief and prepare compliant evaluation proposals.
• Ability to translate data/evidence into narratives (storytelling) and present findings that are engaging and visually appealing.
• Excellent client management and communication skills (written, verbal and presentational).
• Excellent MS Office skills, including Word and PowerPoint, Excel and / or Access knowledge.
• Excellent organisational and operational project management skills, and ability to plan and deliver work accurately, on time and to budget.
• Ability to interpret a client brief and prepare compliant research proposals.

Your values and attitudes:

• Good team player but also ability to take responsibility for projects and work independently.
• Demonstrates a strong sense of ownership and accountability, taking responsibility for delivering high-quality. work and following through on commitments.
• A collaborative and relational style – able to build productive relationships with colleagues, clients and stakeholders.
• Demonstrates a clear commitment to our social values – you can find out about our values by clicking here: Social Value report 2025 .
• Shows a strong commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging for all in their work and approach.
• Demonstrates commitment to continuous learning and professional development.
• Commercial skills in developing sales leads and achieving sales targets.
• Understanding of behaviour change theory and models.
• Knowledge of advanced statistical analytical techniques, economic evaluation, Social Return on Investment, Quasi-experimental design and Value for Money.
• Full UK driving licence and access to own car.
• Able to work evenings and weekends when required.

Equal opportunities

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age. We are committed to ensuring that our recruitment process is fair, transparent and free from discrimination or bias. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the application process or have any questions about our approach to diversity and inclusion, please do not hesitate to contact us.