Senior Researcher

Citizens Advice; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Citizens Advice in Birmingham is seeking an experienced senior researcher to ensure our research is impactful and credible. You will work with policy teams to choose research methods across diverse policy areas and manage external research partnerships.

You will support colleagues to design and commission innovative research within tight budgets, and help translate findings into advocacy that reflects client experience across national and local networks.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and commissioning innovative social research across policy areas.
• Ability to support others to design and commission research within tight budgets delivering value for money.
• Excellent oral and written communication, ability to engage and influence internal and external stakeholders.

Skills

Social research design

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Job description

Location: Blended between office and home (England and Wales). Time in office negotiable

The role you’re applying for is in the Partnerships and Advocacy directorate, in the Research, Innovation and Impact team.

You will make sure our research is impactful and credible. You will work closely with each of our policy teams to choose the best research method for a multitude of policy areas - ranging from qualitative research with Universal Credit claimants, to large quantitative surveys with energy customers.

As research projects progress, you will work with agencies and think tanks to shape our externally commissioned research, keeping a close track on both quality and value for money. You will work closely with policy teams to make sure researchers have the right skills to commission and carry out primary research, by designing and delivering the training, guidance and resources required

You will also have a vital role to play in ensuring that our Advocacy work is equally informed by frontline insights from our network of local Citizens Advice by overseeing existing key research tools, such as our monthly network panel survey and working with the wider team to create innovative research and engagement tools to ensure that our Advocacy is as informed as possible by client experience. Dissemination will also be key - you’ll have an important role to play in ensuring that our research, data and insights are communicated effectively across Policy and Advocacy, as well as more broadly across national and local Citizens Advice.

We are looking for people with a wide range of skills, including great research skills, judgement and stakeholder management.

Please provide details in your cover letter to evidence the following essential criteria. Please make sure your cover letter provides evidence for the essential criteria succinctly.

• Experience of designing and commissioning innovative, impactful social research using a range of techniques and methodologies across different policy areas.
• Experience supporting others to design and commission innovative, impactful research which supports influencing objectives within tight budget frameworks, delivering value for money
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, and the ability to engage and influence internal and external stakeholders.

Citizens Advice offers confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. Through our national network of charities, we give people the knowledge and the confidence they need to find their way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem.

Do you want to work for an organisation that makes a difference, every single day, to people from all walks of life? The people that turn to Citizens Advice need help overcoming an obstacle in their lives – from debt to evictions to trouble at work – and you can be key to them getting the support they need in the quickest, easiest, and most effective way.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is of strategic importance within the organisation and recognised as integral to all we do as a service.

Central to pursuing our EDI mission is building diverse and inclusive teams in which everyone has a sense of belonging. We believe inclusion is a social justice issue - a principle that underpins our all EDI work. To that end, we particularly welcome applications from people we would like to see better represented in our organisation and sector - people of colour, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people. We follow the social model of disability. We will offer an interview to disabled candidates who indicate they wish their application to be considered under our Disability Confident Interview Commitment where they meet our selection criteria in their application. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances where it is not practicable or appropriate, we may limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates. We will provide reasonable adjustments as needed.

We’re a flexible employer, so this role may suit anyone who’d prefer a flexible arrangement to help their work/life balance, many of our colleagues spend most of their time working remotely. Whilst we prefer a blended approach between a local office, if one is near you, and home we’re open to being flexible on location, occasionally a role may require you to be based in a certain location if that’s the case it will be detailed in the advert or job description. This can be discussed in more detail during your interview.

The National Citizens Advice operates from offices in England and Wales, with 4 regional offices based in Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Leeds, therefore all successful applicants must be based within England or Wales.

Please be aware that Citizens Advice is not a sponsoring organisation. Therefore the successful applicant must already possess the right to work in the UK or be able to secure the right to work in the UK independently.

We have been awarded the top charity in Third sectors' employer index, where it's recognised that Citizens Advice is an organization that not only prioritizes the people we serve but also values the wellbeing of its employees.

Citizens Advice seeks to redeploy internal staff who are at risk or under notice of redundancy and will prioritise them in the recruitment process where necessary. If you have been confirmed as at risk or under notice of redundancy please ensure you indicate this in the at-risk box in your application.

Please note, in the event of a high number of applications, we reserve the right to close the application early.

This vacancy closes at 23.59 on the closing date.

For more information about the organisation, our values and benefits please see the following link - Information, values and benefits

Need help with your application, see our useful how to guides on the following page - Guidance notes for applicants