Research Manager – Fixed Term Contract to 30 November 2025

Contents

• Location
• About the job
• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

London, Westminster

About the job

Job summary

Do you want to make a tangible difference to the lives of children across England? Can you use your skills to be a catalyst for creating meaningful change? Are you ready to join a committed team dedicated to giving children and young people a voice on the issues affecting them?

Now is the perfect time to join the Children’s Commissioner’s office (CCo) following the publication of ‘The Big Ambition’, a campaign hearing directly from children and young people across England about what they need to make their lives better. The Children’s Commissioner wants to take children’s thoughts, opinions and ideas to decision-makers, to ensure that the Government reflects children’s voices in the decisions that will affect them in years to come.

What children want and need underpins all the work we do, with the Children’s Commissioner working across sectors, Government, and the civil service to deliver for their needs.

You should have a passionate and proven commitment to delivering for children and championing their voices in research and data. You will need in-depth and up-to-date knowledge and experience of quantitative and qualitative social research and statistical methodology and techniques, proven management experience in a research or data analytical role, experience of translating evidence into public policy, and the ability to deliver complex research to schedule and provide ad-hoc research and analysis to tight deadlines.

Joining the team is a chance to be involved in shaping children’s policy, making sure children’s voices are heard and be part of an exciting environment which puts children’s needs at the heart of everything they do.

We are working to make the changes children said mattered to them. And we’re looking for dedicated, highly skilled people to join the team.

We are looking for a wide variety of people to take on our roles, however we would particularly welcome applications from care leavers or individuals with experience of being ‘looked after’ by the state. We are also actively encouraging applicants from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds to join our team.

We welcome applications from both inside and outside the Civil Service.

Job description

Job Purpose

The Children’s Commissioner’s office (CCo) use government administrative data, national survey data, cohort studies, and commissions and runs new surveys and fieldwork to capture the voices of children and young people to ensure that their experiences, rights and interests are heard and shape policy and practice. 

As part of the senior management team, the Research Manager will work to support CCo’s strategy, research and public engagement. You will be responsible for undertaking, overseeing and/or commissioning high quality work, which is responsive to the needs of policy and public affairs debates and enhances the public and official understanding of key trends and issues.

The role will be part of the Research team’s management team, taking collective leadership for the quality and impact of the CCo’s research. They will be responsible for developing and leading much of the research and analysis within CCo to generate high quality and robust evidence about the experiences and outcomes for children in England.

Specific Duties

• Identify and respond to gaps in research through use of the Children’s Commissioner’s powers to request data, commission research and carry out new data collection and analysis.
• Suggest and use new research and data collection methods and pilot new analytical and data visualisation techniques.
• Provide, present and communicate research and data in an accessible and timely way to support the strategy and priorities of the Children’s Commissioner.
• Provide strong and effective leadership to members of the research team, supporting them with their personal and professional development.
• Work closely with policy and communications colleagues to ensure and quality assure a strong flow of high-quality and relevant analysis to inform public policy, policy making, public affairs, and policy debates.
• Support the planning, delivery and dissemination of high quality, impactful, inclusive and ethical analysis, as project lead or supervisor of analytical projects.
• Provide wider leadership in the office as an active and effective member of the senior management team.
• Represent the Children’s Commissioner in external meetings.

Person specification

Essential Knowledge

• Post-graduate qualification or equivalent in a quantitative discipline with a significant statistical/ econometric/ social research component.
• Excellent knowledge and understanding of research design, social science research methods, econometric or data science methods, and processes involved in publication of research outputs, including qualitative research techniques and ethics.
• Excellent knowledge of data protection legislation, regulation, ethics and research processes involved in collecting, storing, matching, and analysing data.
• Evidence of commitment to personal development and appropriate training.
• Advanced knowledge of statistical analysis using R.
• Knowledge of interactive data visualisations and/or web development via (for example) Shiny, R Markdown, HTML and Javascript.

Desirable Knowledge

• Knowledge of data on children collected by statutory bodies.
• Knowledge of policy and practice issues in relation to children’s wellbeing (especially vulnerable and disadvantaged children).
• Knowledge of child protection processes and procedures.
• Advanced knowledge of statistical analysis using SQL/PowerBI/ Tableau.

Essential Experience

• Demonstrable experience of delivering quantitative and qualitative analysis to inform policymakers, including using administrative data.
• Proven experience of developing and delivering research programmes that address both policy and strategic priorities, including novel data collection (open source, administrative, and survey data).
• Experience of working in a project delivery environment, ensuring high-quality outputs are delivered to tight deadlines.
• Proven experience of leading, motivating and managing teams to achieve excellent outcomes for an organisation.

Desirable Experience

• Experience of working directly with children or engaging in research with children and young people.
• Experience of analysing the National Pupil Database and other administrative data
• Experience of working with practitioners in frontline services for children and families.
• Experience of commissioning projects from external providers.

Essential Skills

• Proficiency in R, SQL, and Excel.
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal), with the ability to prepare presentations and papers in a clear, concise manner for a wide range of audiences.
• Strong capacity to use innovative and digital methods of research.
• Strong organisational skills with a high degree of efficiency in prioritising, planning, and monitoring workloads to meet competing deadlines.
• Strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills, able to use own initiative and apply sound judgement to decision-making

Desirable skills:

• Proficiency in other statistical analysis programmes such as Power BI, Tableau.

Essential Abilities 

• Able to draft technical documents with great attention to detail, including methodology papers.
• Able to translate research and analysis into public policy recommendations.
• Able to focus on impact as well as rigour and quality

Personal Qualities

• Flexible, motivated, solution focused, calm and effective under pressure.
• Committed to the Children’s Commissioner’s principles in relation to equality and diversity and to operating with integrity at all times.
• Committed to promoting children’s rights.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £60,373, Office of the Children’s Commissioner contributes £17,490 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options (Please note that all CCo staff are dividing their time between our offices in Westminster and home working)
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension
• 25 days annual leave in your first year, increasing by one day for each year of service to a maximum of 30 days, plus 8 bank and public holidays and 1 day of privilege leave for the King’s birthday
• Employee wellbeing initiatives
• Enhanced maternity/paternity pay

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Recruitment Team
• Email : OCC.recruitment@childrenscommissioner.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : occ.recruitment@childrenscommissioner.gov.uk

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