Economist (Evaluation)

Strategy and Communications sits at the centre of the organisation, bringing together several teams with organisation‑wide remits and mutual collaboration opportunities. The work of the directorate’s teams includes delivery of major events, designing and leading public affairs or marketing campaigns, providing data, evidence and analysis, leading cross‑organisational programmes, to making sure we plan for and can respond to emerging events or emergencies in our city.

GLA Economics provides expert advice and analysis on London’s economy. We aim to be an authoritative and highly regarded source of information and data for anyone with an interest in London’s economy. The team supports the appraisal and evaluation of projects and programmes to ensure effective decision making, produces monitoring and forecasting of key economic variables, and undertakes policy analysis to inform investment decisions, service delivery and policy strategies. We work closely with colleagues across the GLA’s City Intelligence Unit (CIU).

The role is varied within the Appraisal and Evaluation function of GLA Economics. This sub‑team advises policy teams within the GLA Group on the appraisal, monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes. For example, helping to develop business cases, carrying out or advising on options appraisal and cost‑benefit analysis, identifying Key Performance Indicators for monitoring purposes, supporting the design of robust economic impact evaluation, or critiquing the outputs of external evaluators. We are particularly keen to hear from candidates with an interest in, and demonstrable experience of, evaluation methods.

What your day will look like:

• Advising on the methodology for a project or policy evaluation, helping to draft a specification, reviewing the outputs of external evaluators, or carrying out an evaluation yourself.
• Supporting teams and stakeholders to identify how best to monitor the performance of their project or programme for reporting purposes.
• Identifying indicators and data sources for reporting or devising Outcomes Frameworks.
• Designing and delivering training or workshops on evaluation methodologies, Logic Models/Theories of Change, and leading the expansion of our internal Evaluation & Appraisal network.
• Helping to prepare a business case for internal or external funding, such as aspects of the strategic or economic case, undertaking options appraisal, cost‑benefit analysis or other forms of value for money assessment.
• Undertaking analysis about a particular socio‑economic trend or issue affecting London’s economy, for publications such as the State of London.

Skills, knowledge and experience:

To be considered for the role you must meet the following essential criteria:

• A degree or professional qualification in economics or a related subject, preferably to post‑graduate level, or an ability to demonstrate the equivalent level of knowledge through experience in economics or a related field.
• Knowledge and experience, or clear demonstrated capacity to acquire expertise in, the fields of economic evaluation and appraisal.
• Experience in the application of Government guidance including the Magenta and Green Books is highly desirable.
• Experience and/or a strong understanding of experimental and quasi‑experimental impact evaluation methods is highly desirable.
• A demonstrated capacity to develop and deliver high‑quality analytical projects to inform and influence policy development through evidence.
• Broad knowledge and understanding of international, national, regional and London economic issues and trends and how these might affect policy and service delivery options for the GLA Group.
• Strong numeracy skills, including experience of technical/economic modelling, and an ability to find creative and workable solutions to analytical problems.
• Microsoft Excel skills to a high level are essential. Ability to use statistical packages such as R, Stata, or Python are desirable.

Stakeholder Focus: Consulting with, listening to and understanding the needs of those our work impacts and using this knowledge to shape what we do and manage others’ expectations.

Communicating and Influencing: Presenting information and arguments clearly and convincingly so that others see us as credible and articulate, and engage with us.

Problem Solving: Analysing and interpreting situations from a variety of viewpoints and finding creative, workable and timely solutions.

Equality, diversity and inclusion: London’s diversity is its biggest asset, and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London’s diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce.

GLA staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.

Benefits: In addition to a good salary package, you will be paid every four weeks, providing frequent salary payments. We also offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest‑free season ticket loan, interest‑free bicycle loan and a career average pension scheme.