Role Overview

Ipsos UK Public Affairs are leaders in social research. We bridge the gap between government and the public, providing robust research, evaluation, and analysis.

We are looking for a Senior Economist to join our highly successful Policy and Evaluation Unit. The team works with public institutions to assess the effectiveness, impact and Value for Money of policies and programmes and to improve public services. The team is multi-disciplinary and includes economists and social policy researchers that work across all areas of public policy.

This role will focus on the evaluation of government and society policies, including cultural, heritage and sport policy aimed at producing tangible and intangible benefits to society, as well as generating economic benefits in job creation, business growth, skills, access to the economy, infrastructural improvements and research, innovation and development.

What will I be doing?

As a Senior Economist, you will be responsible for the day-to-day management and delivery of economic Value for Money analysis and quantitative evaluations of government & society policy-related programmes. You will be supporting an established team of economists, evaluators and policy specialists to advance the use of key methodologies, such as quasi-experimental designs, social cost benefit analysis (SCBA), non-market valuation and other mixed methods approaches. Many economic evaluations are complex and will require a mix of secondary data analysis including data linking and of primary data collection and analysis.

• Application of technical evaluation skills:Applying a strong understanding of evaluation techniques, leveraging previous experience to appraise techniques in different contexts, and developing specialist expertise in a policy or methodological area.
• Report-writing / drafting:Managing the analysis and reporting of quantitative and economic data, including effectively managing junior and senior input and to identify key findings, conclusions and recommendations for clients.
• Project management:Managing economic evaluation projects through the full project cycle, from evaluation design, to data collection and analysis, through to developing conclusions and recommendations or work package of a complex project (e.g. value for money assessment, social cost benefit analysis, econometric analysis) – depending upon skills. These will be for projects size ~£500,000 with low-medium levels of political sensitivity.
• Client management:Act as main point of contact for clients on project-related matters and co-ordinate delivery of medium scale evaluation projects to timescale and to budget.
• Proposal-writing:Contributions to business development and proposals (£200,000 – 300,000 in gross value terms). Ideally you will also put yourself forward to manage and write methodology sections on bids of appropriate size.
• Business development:Proactively supporting the development of key client relationships (e.g. through interactions with clients, and at external events), keep abreast of bid opportunities and contribute to decision-making on bidding, and contributing ideas at team business planning. Manage development of entire evaluation reports, taking lead on reporting, co-ordination of inputs, and review process as required.
• Team development:Support to junior members to develop and extend their economic knowledge and skillsets (e.g. through mentoring, briefing them on tasks in projects, and delivering occasional knowledge sharing sessions at monthly team meetings and as part of the Economists and Econometricians Working Group).
• Opportunities for Skills Development:Continuing to develop quantitative and economic expertise through application of SCBA; non-market valuation techniques like Stated Preference survey design and Revealed Preference Travel Cost and Hedonic modelling, Wellbeing Valuation; advanced analytics using Artificial Intelligence; and quasi-experimental; analysis of long-term impacts through longitudinal datasets.

What do I need to bring with me?

• A strong academic background in economics, quantitative methods or social sciences (e.g. economics, statistics, behavioural psychology, non-market valuation, spatial geography).
• Proven experience of designing and delivering evaluation in a commercial environment – i.e. to timescale, budget, quality and external (e.g. client) requirements - or equivalent experience in a policy, third sector or academic environment.
• Ability to apply critical thinking and problem-solving approaches to the design/delivery of complex evaluations.
• Knowledge of policy in one or more of the following areas: culture, heritage and sport; politics & society; education, employment welfare & skills.
• Strong skills in drafting accessible and concise reporting outputs of evaluation and Value for Money findings.
• Good attention to detail and the ability to self-review and review the outputs of others.
• Curiosity and drive to support a business to move into new areas and experience of contributing to winning evaluation proposals.

Highly desirable:

• Knowledge of statistical or econometric methods for conducting impact evaluations using quasi-experimental designs and social cost benefit analysis.

What is in it for me?

Ipsos UK offer an attractive basic salary and a rewards package including 25 days annual leave, a pension scheme and a great range of flexible benefits to suit your personal needs. For roles at Research Manager level and above we also offer private healthcare.

In addition to this we have a fantastic Learning & Development offer delivered through a mix of face to face, online or on-demand; you can read more by clickinghere.

We realise you may have commitments outside of work and will consider flexible working applications - please highlight what you are looking for when you make your application.

Ipsos is committed to equality, treating people fairly, promoting a positive and inclusive working environment and ensuring we have diversity of people and views. We also recognise that this is important for our business success - a more diverse workforce will enable us to better reflect and understand the world we research and ultimately deliver better research and insight to our clients.

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