Senior Evaluation Manager in Birmingham

We are looking to strengthen our evaluation team through a number of appointments, including a Senior Evaluation Manager to develop and deliver a portfolio of evaluation projects for public services and third sector clients. Project, policy or programme evaluations may range from topics such as public health, primary/secondary care, mental health and wellbeing, arts and culture and housing. Current clients include Mind, Welsh Government, Mental Health Foundation, The Wildlife Trust, NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, Welsh Cancer Network, Birmingham City Council and Macmillan.

The role will focus on managing the delivery of evaluation projects, from designing the programme theory, evaluation framework, research tools, through to delivering primary and secondary research activities, analysis, and reporting. Demonstrable experience to showcase the above is essential, and candidates will need to be proficient in project management and client servicing and fully competent in delivering evaluation projects.

You will have a good understanding of different evaluation approaches, e.g. outcome harvesting, appreciative enquiry, participatory evaluation, Most Significant Change, realist evaluation, and ideally you will be experienced in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. You will be confident in writing proposals and pitching for work to potential clients. You will be used to working in a fast-paced environment and managing a number of evaluations at the same time for different clients across the country.

• Flexible working arrangements based around the needs of the employee (such as family commitments/needs/childcare).
• Provision of employer contributions to Royal London personal pension scheme starting from a 4% contribution and rising to 8% (subject to employee contributions that meet the auto-enrolment requirements).
• Paid annual leave allowance of 33 days per annum, including bank holidays (pro-rated for part-time hours), and your birthday.
• Life assurance policy at 3x basic annual salary.
• Health cashback medical care scheme and employee benefits scheme inc. retail discounts.
• Eligibility for annual company profit and performance bonus scheme dependent on company performance.
• Annual pay reviews and cost-of-living pay increases (also subject to the company’s financial performance).

Remote (with a requirement to come into the Birmingham office on a bi-monthly basis).

• Applicants must be UK residents with the right to work in the UK.
• Over 5 years’ experience in managing and delivering evaluation and research projects from start to finish e.g. designing an evaluation project, undertaking literature reviews and other desk/secondary research, implementing qualitative and quantitative research methods as required, analysing and interpreting data, and preparing and presenting client reports.
• Experience of working with public sector/third sector clients.
• Experience in developing logic models and theories of change.
• Understanding of participatory approaches and co-design methods.
• Placed-based research and systems thinking experience.
• Ability to interpret a client brief and prepare compliant evaluation proposals.
• Client management skills including presenting and convening meetings and workshops with clients.
• Experience in developing evaluation frameworks and utilising different evaluation approaches.
• Ability to translate data/evidence into narratives (storytelling) and present findings that are engaging and visually appealing.
• Excellent client management and communication skills (written, verbal and presentational).
• Excellent organisational and operational project management skills, and ability to plan and deliver work accurately and on time and to budget.
• Excellent MS office skills, including Word and PowerPoint, Excel and / or Access knowledge.
• Good team player but also ability to take responsibility for projects and work independently.
• Commercial skills in developing sales leads and responding to client requests.
• Knowledge of economic evaluation methods such as VfM, cost-benefit analysis, SROI.
• Full UK driving licence and access to own car.
• Able to work evenings and weekends when required.

M·E·L Research is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We welcome applications from all sections of the community and value the diverse perspectives this brings to our work.