Evaluation Officer: maternity cover | 12-month full-time contract in London

The Evaluation Officer will work on TASO's research and evaluation programme to develop a better understanding of what works to support widening participation and student success. Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) is an affiliate What Works Centre, and part of the UK government's What Works Network. Our aim is to help eliminate equality gaps in higher education through evidence-informed practice.

TASO was set up in 2019 and became an independent charity in April 2021. Our work focuses on the generation, synthesis and dissemination of high-quality evidence about effective practice in widening participation and improving student outcomes. We primarily focus on developing and disseminating causal evidence and we encourage the higher education sector to do the same by providing higher education professionals access to research, toolkits, evaluation guidance, networks, evaluation training and more.

Under the guidance of a Research or Evaluation Manager, the Evaluation Officer will help develop a suite of high-quality resources and step-by-step guidance to support universities and colleges to better evaluate the activities and programmes they deliver. This will include developing evaluation guidance documents, pages for our website, webinars and training materials. The officer will help deliver training based on these materials to a wide range of external stakeholders.

Among other responsibilities, the role will include the following duties:

• Helping develop a suite of high-quality guidance to support universities and colleges to better evaluate the activities and programmes they deliver.
• Using these resources and materials to deliver training – in-person and online – to a wide range of external stakeholders.
• Helping develop theories of change and evaluation plans for individual interventions and multi-intervention programmes.
• Conducting desk-based research, reviewing existing literature to synthesize the quality of evidence on a given topic and collate examples of sector good practice.
• Providing support to the Research and Evaluation Managers in the commissioning of external research and evaluation.
• Overseeing funded projects, ensuring delivery to timelines, value for money for TASO, and timely and proactive risk assessment and mitigation.
• Helping design, run and analyse the results of research projects in collaboration with multiple external organisations.
• Contributing to the administration and secretariat for a number of advisory panels formed of external stakeholders.
• Working with the Research and Evaluation Managers to develop TASO's relationships with key stakeholders in the HE sector.
• Developing/maintaining knowledge of cutting-edge research and evaluation which is relevant to TASO's work.
• Contributing to the delivery of external training courses and events to disseminate the work of TASO's wider research programme.

The attributes we are looking for in an Evaluation Officer include:

• Undergraduate degree in relevant discipline or equivalent experience.
• Postgraduate level qualification in relevant discipline (e.g. applied research, public policy).
• Ability to collate and analyse complex information for reporting purposes.
• Ability to critically evaluate the strength of causal research/evaluation, particularly the quality and reliability of the research/evaluation.
• Ability to develop theories of change and design evaluation plans.
• Ability to analyse quantitative data.
• Confident using software (such as Microsoft Office suite and R/Stata/SPSS) to analyse and present research findings in a variety of formats.
• Confident and clear written and verbal communication, including report-writing and presentation skills.
• Understanding of widening participation and student success policy agendas.
• Experience of research and evaluation relating to widening participation and student success.
• Working on multiple projects and managing competing demands and timescales.
• Collaboration and coordination of project stakeholders, communicating persuasively to ensure smooth implementation of research projects.
• Stakeholder engagement including convening and running meetings.
• Developing and delivering presentations and workshops for professional audiences.

Initial terms and conditions of appointment:

• Remuneration: Starting salary of £37,474 per annum.
• Location: Central London. This post will be hybrid with the expectation that the post holder will be in the office two days a week in addition to attending office‐based project meetings.
• Term: Maternity cover: 12 months. Full-time, 35 hours per week.
• Annual holiday – 27 days per year, plus public/bank holidays and a day off for your birthday.
• Pension scheme – TASO will contribute 8% to your pension.
• Flexible working – We are committed to flexible working where possible, with core hours of 10am – 4pm.
• Hybrid working – Currently, a two-day requirement to work from our London office.
• Training and development – Systematic performance reviews, personalised learning and development objectives and access to a training and development fund plus team training days.
• Volunteering – One day a year off to volunteer for an organisation of your choice.
• Wellbeing – Free employee assistance programme which offers webinars, courses and counselling sessions. A yearly personal wellbeing budget.
• Sick pay scheme – 3 months full pay and 3 months half pay after probation has been passed.
• Staff discounts – Discounts available via Perks At Work from a wide range of retailers for shopping, dining, experiences, car maintenance, study, etc.

To apply, please submit a CV (no longer than two pages) and your response to the four questions in the application form via our recruitment portal. The deadline for applications is 09:00 GMT on Monday 8 December. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to interview by 12 December. Interviews will take place week commencing 15 December.