Senior Economist (Economic Evaluation) UK and EU

Ecorys is an international world-class research-based consultancy that helps our clients make a positive impact on society. We are leaders in research and evaluation, project management and communications providing the evidence and advice that our clients need to tackle the issues that affect communities around the world. Our staff are justifiably proud of our innovative and thought-provoking contributions to policy and programme delivery. We are passionate about our environmental and social impact, donating profits to the Charity of the Year, volunteering days, and are committed to being carbon neutral by 0.

What you will be doing

We are looking for skilled and experienced quantitative researchers or economists. You will have a background and interest in social policy or economics and will work on a variety of exciting research and evaluation projects across our UK and EU markets. Our UK clients include mainly central government departments whilst our EU clients include the European Commission and various EU-level agencies and bodies. Depending on your knowledge and policy interests, you would lead or contribute to projects in the policy areas of employment, education, social inclusion, equalities, environment, digital, and children, young people and families. Your work will make a real and meaningful difference in tackling key social issues across these policy areas.

You will take responsibility for designing and implementing technical elements of large-scale (typically mixed methods) research and evaluation projects. You will also be involved in work winning by leading or contributing to the quantitative and economic elements of our tenders to help secure new work.

As a skilled and experienced quantitative researcher, evaluation expert or economist, you will be confident in designing and implementing research and evaluation projects. This includes assessing the feasibility and appropriateness of different designs (experimental, quasi-experimental, theory-based), sampling, data collection (including tool design), and data analysis and reporting. Experience in cost-benefit analysis and value-for-money assessments is desirable.

Whilst consultancy and work winning experience is desirable, we are most interested in your ability to design and implement proportionate and rigorous approaches to help evaluate and understand the impact of different policies, programmes and interventions. Being able to explain the rationale for (and limitations of) different methods and report the findings to non-technical audiences is also a key skill we are looking for.

What we will need from you

You should hold a first degree in a relevant subject (e.g. economics, data science, maths, or social policy with a strong quantitative focus) and hold a post-graduate qualification in a relevant subject (or be able to clearly demonstrate professional experience to an equivalent level).  Demonstrable experience in the development and delivery of quantitative/economic research or evaluations for economic and social policy interventions either in the UK and EU Strong, applied quantitative/economics research skills are an essential requirement, including experience of designing, collecting/accessing and analysing quantitative data. This should include experience implementing experimental (randomised controlled trials, natural experiments) and/or quasi-experimental (e.g. propensity score matching, difference-in-differences) designs. Experience of triangulating qualitative (e.g. stakeholder engagement) and quantitative data to develop/understand intervention logic (e.g. developing Theories of Change) and context is highly desirable. Good proficiency of MS Office suite and quantitative analysis software (e.g. R, SPSS, Stata) is expected. Experience and ability to win new work through tender writing is also desirable. Experience of managing people, including having the capability to build and develop team knowledge and skills is desirable.

A thorough induction and on-boarding is supported by training and ongoing professional development based on a needs assessment conducted with the line manager. 

Our team of + researchers is based across our offices in London, Brussels, Birmingham and Leeds. Due to the nature of research, this role requires a DBS check and some EU and UK travel.

We offer a highly competitive benefits package including variable pay (bonus), private health care, share scheme and buying and selling annual leave. The role can be based in any of our UK offices or in our Brussels office. Colleagues based at our London office will also receive an additional £3, London Weighting per annum.