Head of Research in London

Salary: £40,000
Location: Remote
Working pattern: Full time, permanent, 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday
Role overview
The Hidden is an award-winning neurodiversity charity building a movement to make the hidden visible. Research to uncover the truth. Campaigns to shift understanding. And together, better systems and better support.
There is a great deal of clinical and academic research into neurodevelopmental conditions. There is almost none into how Britain understands them: the language, attitudes, myths and stories people tell about neurodivergent people. We work in that gap and connect the dots across existing evidence. We also do something most research charities do not. We take a media-led lens on our research to make it travel. It does not sit behind a paywall or die in a PDF. It goes into media, into Parliament and into the hands of the people it is about.
We are looking for a Head of Research to lead our research function, set the agenda, commission the work and guard its quality. You will be one of three senior leads, alongside the Head of Production & Talent and the Head of Marketing. The three roles form a chain. Research generates the evidence, production turns it into something people want to read, watch and hear, and marketing gets it in front of them. You own the first link. You will report to the Head of Operations and start in February 2027. You will also work with Professor Amanda Kirby, Dr Renata Fialho and the ADHD All-Party Parliamentary Group, for which we are joint secretariat.
What you'll be doing
Key priorities
Research agenda: decide what we investigate and when, in line with our campaign strategy, building a rolling programme rather than one-off projects
Quality assurance: check every statistic against its primary source before it reaches the media, Parliament or a minister. You hold the sign-off and say no when a number will not hold
Research that travels: work with the production and marketing leads from the start so findings are built to reach a public audience
Ongoing responsibilities
Commissioning and partners: brief and manage polling companies, academics, agencies and freelance researchers, holding standards and managing budgets and timelines
Synthesis: connect the large body of work across health, education, justice and employment, using AI tools where they speed the work up and knowing where they do not
Ethics: oversee informed consent, participant welfare and ethical practice across all research, including lived experience contributions
Impact and representation: set the method for measuring our impact so we can report progress to trustees, partners and donors, and brief journalists, parliamentarians and sector partners with confidence and accuracy
What you'll bring
A strong grasp of research design and methods, quantitative and qualitative
The ability to interrogate other people's statistics and spot where they break
Experience of participatory or co-produced research, or a clear appetite for it
Experience commissioning or managing external research partners
Proficiency with AI tools for evidence synthesis, and clarity about where they fail
Clear, plain writing for people who are not researchers
The confidence to hold the line on rigour when a simpler story is available
Nice to have
Knowledge of neurodiversity, SEND or related policy
Research experience in a policy, campaigning or media setting
Evidence synthesis or literature review experience
Familiarity with NHS, ONS or Department for Education datasets
We are not looking for someone fully formed. This is a step up for the right person, and you will have support to grow into it.
What's on offer
Remote working, with the team online through the day and core hours of 9am to 5pm on weekdays
Flexible working open for discussion from day one, including different hours or working patterns
Around 38.5 days of holiday for a full-time role: 20 days of annual leave plus