About the job

Summary

The Department for Education has a major role to play as the government leads the country’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. As we do that, education, skills and children’s social care will be pivotal in delivering on the commitment to level up for all parts of the country.

From adoption and fostering to apprenticeships, children’s social care to higher education, and schools to further education and adult skills, our ambition is that everyone should have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Are you passionate about the power of communications to change attitudes and behaviours?

Do you believe in proving the value of communications?

Can you uncover the insights that drive behaviour?

At the Department for Education (DfE), we are looking for a talented and enthusiastic insight and evaluation expert to play a crucial role in making sure that our communications are audience-led, underpinned by a robust evidence base, and delivering against our vision for education and care that enables everyone to achieve their potential.

We are offering a unique opportunity to work at the heart of Government on some of the country’s most important social policy issues, including children’s social care; early years, primary through to post-16 education; skills; technical education including apprenticeships and T Levels; and higher education.

We have a strong culture of inclusion and diversity and are committed to being an equal opportunities employer. We aim to develop all our staff to enable them to make a full contribution to meeting the Department's objectives, and to fulfil their own potential. We promote and support the use of a range of flexible working patterns to help staff to balance home and work.

We support this culture though our 11 staff networks, including the BAME, LGBT+ networks to the Carers and EU/EEA Nationals networks.

Job description

Strategic communications plays a critical role in achieving the department’s vision. In this role you will help communications teams to understand audiences (including parents, young people, teachers, employers and social workers), use this to create impactful communications, and demonstrate the effect on attitudes and behaviour.

Insight and evaluation are the engine of our strategic communications, and you will work closely with other specialists in our media, internal communications, stakeholder and social media teams. You will also be part of a community of professionals leading on insight, evaluation, social research and user experience in DfE and across Government.

This is a challenging role that offers a chance for you to use your specialist skills to shape the way we do things. You will be rewarded with opportunities to grow and develop as part of a dynamic, innovative and supportive team. In addition, you will have the opportunity to work with senior leaders and ministers.

Key duties:

As a Senior Insight and Evaluation Manager (at the senior information officer (SIO) grade), you will be expected to:

• Advise on the design of and oversee insight generation with key target audiences on high profile policies;

• Turn insight into recommendations, making sure that users are at the centre of communications strategies, campaign creative, and policy development;

• Help to design and oversee evaluation to measure the impact of communications, including media, marketing campaigns and social media activity, and inform continuous improvement;

• Share insight and evaluation findings in an engaging and impactful way, including with Ministers and senior leaders;

• Use social media monitoring / listening tools to build audience insight, and measure and improve the impact of our own social media and other communications activity;

• Handle the procurement and management of specialist agencies and suppliers as part of our insight and evaluation activity;

• Champion the role of audience insight and evaluation in developing effective communications and policy and uphold professional standards; and

• Play an active role in a community of researchers in DfE and across Government to take an audience focused perspective and fill knowledge gaps.

Responsibilities

Essential criteria

• Excellent spoken, written and visual communications skills, including the ability to visualise data in clear and impactful ways;

• Strong analytical skills, and the ability to scrutinise qualitative and quantitative data and identify key findings;

• Knowledge and experience of qualitative and quantitative methods of generating insight;

• Experience and skills to confidently influence communications strategies and campaigns, providing insight, advice and challenge;

• Knowledge and ideas that will help us to continuously improve our evaluation and insight function;

• Confidence to work with a range of stakeholders, including senior leaders, and experience of managing research suppliers;

• Strong project management skills, the ability to manage competing priorities, and deliver to tight deadlines; and

• The ability to quickly build effective relationships with a wide range of people at all levels.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of social listening, using tools such as Brandwatch; and

• Experience of delivering insight and evaluation in a communications context.

Desirable criteria will only be assessed in the event of a tie break situation to make an informed decision.