Professional Lead for Nursing Workforce Research

Workforce Academy, RCN Institute of Excellence London UK HQ with hybrid working 35 hours per week (part time hours will be considered), 18-month fixed term. Salary range per annum: £71,124-£80,250 plus £5,424 London weighting. Ref: REQ000113.

At the Royal College of Nursing, we represent over half a million nurses, nursing support workers, and students across the UK. We are a voice for the profession – and behind that voice is the evidence. We’re looking for an exceptional individual to lead our workforce research, shaping the agenda that influences policy, practice, and the future of healthcare. Our aim in the Workforce Academy situated in the Institute of Excellence is to use robust evidence as the catalyst for combatting the nursing workforce crisis. We’re focused on the systemic causes of trends that are driving up mental ill health and attrition among nursing staff and driving down the quality of patient care.

The role involves making a critical contribution to the Workforce Academy’s programme of research, informing national debate, RCN policy, and advocacy. You’ll work closely with policy leaders, academic partners, and external stakeholders across health, education, and government to ensure our research is timely, relevant, and influential. This role sits at the heart of our mission to improve the lives of those in nursing and ensure safe and cost-effective care for patients. It will play a key part in demonstrating the value of registered nurse staffing to achieving nursing excellence.

The person should have a PhD in a relevant discipline, with expertise in mixed methods and/or quantitative methodology and excellent knowledge and understanding of workforce research, data analysis and evidence synthesis. Ability to analyse economic data, familiarity with analysing economic data and an interest in health economic modelling or econometric approaches is essential. Experience in working with primary and secondary data, including managing or interpreting complex datasets, alongside an appreciation of different analytical tools or software is required. Excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to interpret numerical and health economics findings and contribute to data-informed insights for research or policy are necessary.

What we offer includes an impressive range of benefits, a broad range of learning development opportunities and an award-winning health and wellbeing programme. We offer annual leave up to 32 days plus bank holidays and three additional days for the Christmas break plus generous maternity, adoption, paternity, and shared parental leave packages. We are a diverse organisation and understand everyone has different needs; many of our employees enjoy flexible working enabling them to deliver results whilst having a good work life balance. Our hybrid working model allows for up to 60 per cent of your working time to be carried out from home, with at least 40 per cent of your working time spent working in person.

Equal opportunities for everyone are a priority for us, and we aim to foster an inclusive environment so our people can bring their authentic selves to work. This is integral to our mission to enable you to support our members and ensure their voice is heard by all UK governments to get the best outcomes for them and their patients. As proud members of the Disability Confident employer scheme, we actively encourage applications from people with disabilities.