Deputy Director of Analysis and Evidence, UKRI
Salary: £91,943 - £99,000 per annum, depending on skills and experience
Hours and Contract: Full time (37 hours), Open ended – however flexible, secondment and job share arrangements will be considered
Base Location: Swindon – other UK base locations will be considered on an individual basis – hybrid working is available with regular travel to UKRI locations in addition to occasional international travel
Closing Date: 8 January 2025, interviews are expected to be held in London across 3 & 6 February 2025.
Please note, we will have reduced staff during the Christmas period, therefore, any questions related to the role should be emailed to SeniorRecruitment@ukri.org and we will respond as soon as possible.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is the UK’s main research and innovation agency. As the largest public funder of Research and Innovation in the UK, we are a strategic partner to Government, and foster the thriving research and innovation ecosystem needed for effective investment from a wide range of other funders, and unique globally in bringing together all research disciplines, a national innovation agency and University research and knowledge exchange into a single funding body.
Following the creation of the new department, now with new Ministers, and looking ahead to upcoming fiscal events, this is an exciting time to join the UKRI Investment Planning and Strategy Group, a chance to make a major contribution to the whole of UKRI and a significant impact through research and innovation on citizens' lives, national prosperity, and the environment.
The Deputy Director of Analysis and Evidence will, working across the nine Councils and UKRI teams, ensure UKRI’s strategy and decision making is based on the best possible evidence and analysis, to maximise impact, as well as ensuring it is properly monitored and evaluated to evidence impact and learn from performance. They will lead on building a comprehensive, trusted evidence base to inform decision making and justify taxpayer funding for UKRI and work closely with our communications function to tell the story of UKRI’s success.
Role Purpose
The Deputy Director of Analysis will be an integral member of the UK Research and Innovation senior leadership team, helping to set the strategy and direction for the whole organisation.
The post holder will work closely with the senior team across UKRI, including CEO, CFO, CIO and Executive Chairs and play a key role in helping lead the Investment Planning and Strategy Group.
Key Responsibilities
* Lead, manage and inspire the analysis profession, creating a culture of professional excellence, innovation and flexibility. In all areas, deliver high quality, timely and robust advice, effectively combining the need to make and implement long term strategic plans with the ability to react to urgent issues.
* Work across the whole organisation, as a head of professional analytical expertise and Chair of Analytical Leadership Group, to optimise analytical methods and values across UKRI, bringing together and learning from different ways of working and capabilities to ensure that the organisation’s use of analysis and evidence as a whole is outstanding.
* Set strategy for analysis and evidence and convene distributed experts to collectively achieve it. Lead analysis to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of UKRI’s strategy and key programmes, and build the evidence base on specific research and innovation policies, such as place, talent, and mission-oriented policy.
* Lead analysis to inform, shape, and justify UKRI’s Spending Review bid and any future fiscal event, allocation rounds and investment planning.
* Build a compelling picture of UKRI’s impact to support fiscal events and communicate our value to stakeholders.
* Promote, enable and deliver robust appraisal and evaluation, to ensure UKRI bases funding and policy decisions on clear evidence of impact and what works, and leads by example for our community and public sector in understanding what works and applying analytic research methods to R&I funding.
* Develop UKRI’s data assets, working closely with UKRI’s CIO and CDO, to promote and facilitate a consistent overall approach to capturing, interpreting and using data across UKRI.
* Provide compelling and comprehensive evidence and analysis to the Board, Executive Committee, DSIT and Cross-Whitehall officials and Ministers on behalf of UKRI.
* Act as the key interface between DSIT, Other Government Departments, and international peers and UKRI on analytical issues, ensuring a strong partnership, coherence and consistency and that any issues are addressed in a collaborative fashion.
* Lead in the production and publication of UKRI analytical documents, ensuring that they are clear and comprehensive, and align to best practice standards in the publication of data and analysis.
* Play a central role in the leadership of the Investment Planning and Strategy group, making an effective corporate contribution and helping to shape the future of UKRI.
Other Key information
* Budget: Accountable for budget of up to £3.7m staff costs and £0.6m other costs
* Reporting to: The UKRI Chief of Investment Planning and Strategy
* Management: Direct line management of 4 senior analysis professionals with a team of up to 45 staff
Person Specification
The following criteria will be assessed throughout the recruitment process:
* Degree, relevant qualification, or equivalent experience, in an analytical profession (e.g., economics, statistics, social or operational research)
* Proven ability to develop and lead analytical work programmes and portfolios to build knowledge, solve problems, and inform investment decisions in policy-relevant contexts, including experience using evidence and analysis to shape and drive strategy in complex organisational environments
* Expertise in building trusted relationships with diverse internal and external stakeholders across sectors and organisational boundaries
* Ability to set strategic direction for analysis and evidence development and a track record of delivering high-impact analysis and evidence to inform decisions, challenge the status quo, develop innovative solutions and model curiosity and thought leadership
* Demonstrable ability to build, develop and lead high-performing teams, able to provide strategic direction and motivation to distributed professionals and display the resilience and flexibility to thrive in complex changing environments, and ability to act decisively under pressure
* Politically astute with excellent interpersonal skills, able to influence and maintain relationships across organisational levels and Whitehall and communicate clearly with influence on senior audiences and generate buy-in
* Strong understanding of the research and innovation sector, central government, and working with analytical professions
About UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
UKRI launched in April 2018, UKRI is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
Our organisation brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England, which is responsible for supporting research and knowledge exchange at higher education institutions in England, and the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK. Together we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. More information can be found at www.ukri.org.
Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. For more details, visit Benefits of working for UKRI.
The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.
How we support EDI in the workforce
At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations, and the wider community. For further information, please visit ‘How we support EDI in the workforce’.
Disability Confident Employer
As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy/ies. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.
How to apply
Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter/statement of suitability of up to 2 pages per document. Your statement of suitability should provide specific information about why you believe you would be suitable for the role and a flavour of what you would want to do in this role, if successful. Think about your knowledge, skills, experience, personal attributes, and vision for the role/organisation, and take full advantage of the space available. Use practical examples where possible and ensure you refer to the essential criteria for this role.
Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter/statement of suitability and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application/the careers portal.
Should you have any problem with submitting your application via the UKRI Careers Portal, please do send an email to SeniorRecruitment@ukri.org and a member of our team will then be in touch.
UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion – a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us.
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