RAND is a not-for-profit research institute with over 30 years of experience in conducting policy research for governments, international organisations, research councils, charitable foundations, and other organisations. We believe that good research helps shape sound answers to pressing societal challenges, ultimately making communities safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous in the future. RAND Europe has approximately 170 staff across offices in Cambridge, Brussels, and the Netherlands.

The Home Affairs and Social Policy Research Group undertakes research across a number of public policy areas, including education, crime and justice, and employment. We employ robust methods and offer multi-disciplinary perspectives.

As part of our 2024 strategy, the team has enjoyed a period of growth across a range of very interesting projects. Some examples include:

• A series of evaluations, including QEDs and embedded RCTs, looking at the role of education in serious violence reduction
• A series of RCTs looking at the impact of language and maths interventions in the early years
• A QED looking at the impact of employment support for refugees, using linking management information and administrative data on income and benefits
• A QED looking at the impact of interventions on children in social care, using data from previous trials and administrative data

We are now, as part of our ambitions growth plans for 2032 looking to recruit a Research Leader/Senior Research Analyst on a Fixed term 9 month contract, or Permanent basis to join the team and focus on quantitative aspects of our work.

This is an exciting opportunity to work with a truly multidisciplinary team in one of the world’s most respected public policy research organisations.

We are looking for an experienced quantitative researcher with methodological expertise in randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-experimental design (QED), and survey analysis. Ability to work in R and Stata is essential.

Ideally, we are looking for someone with a research background in early years, education or employment and a knowledge of key research funders in these fields (such as the Education Endowment Foundation, the Youth Endowment Fund, Youth Futures Foundation, and the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care).

The successful candidate will thrive on teamwork and collaboration with colleagues and research funders, play a key role in setting out statistical analysis methods used across evaluations to understand the impact and effectiveness of interventions and policies, and take an active role in project management.

The role is ideally suited to an individual who is committed to applying quantitative methods and approaches to drive impact in policy and decision-making. Demonstrable experience of working on multiple projects in parallel and communicating with decision-makers in government, industry, academia, and wider policy communities is highly desirable.

The role is based in our Cambridge office and requires office attendance 2-3 times a week. However, we work flexibly as an organisation. Travel to some meetings in Cambridge and some out-of-office client meetings is also required.

• Responsible for the design and analysis of impact evaluations, including regressions, multi-level models, Difference-in-difference, with minimal supervision.
• Leads quantitative elements of studies including research design, selection of appropriate analytical approaches, writing statistical analysis plans, reviewing data collection approaches and analysis and reporting findings.
• Provides methodological and statistical support to junior researchers in the team.
• Manages projects with minimal supervision to deliver high quality work within available time and resources.
• Supports strategic corporate initiatives.
• Ad hoc duties as required.

Requirements

Quantitative research – essential

• Ability to use statistical software packages (Stata, R) to analyse data as part of impact evaluations.
• Comfortable working with large datasets, including data cleaning, data manipulation, linking multiple datasets and other activities to prepare data for analysis.
• Knowledge of the principles underpinning modelling and econometric techniques, including regression and matching.
• Experience in the design and execution of quantitative research, from the proposal stage through to execution and write-up.

Reporting quantitative analysis and findings – essential

• Demonstrable ability to report quantitative methods for a range of audiences, including policymakers.

 Management – essential

• Experience managing research projects in professional services or public sector domains.
• Track record of undertaking research for policy and/or practitioner audiences.

Commercial awareness – essential

• Experience proposing robust methodological approaches that secure research funding in competitive environments.
• Experience of effectively managing small to medium-sized project budgets.

Personal skills and experience – essential

• Excellent problem-solving skills.
• Ability to multi-task and prioritise work.
• Ability to work flexibly and to deadlines.
• Ability to effectively process large amounts of information, translate and presenting complex research findings to policy, practice and lay audiences.

Fluency in English – essential

• Proficiency in other EU languages is desirable.

IT skills – essential

• Expert use of STATA and R.
• Intermediate Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Desirable Skills

• Familiarity and experience of working with ONS data including NPD, LEO, ILR
• Accredited Researcher Status

• PhD or equivalent experience.
• Professional experience - essential.

Benefits

• Pension - 8% Employer contribution;
• 33 days holiday allowance, including the Bank Holidays;
• Annual salary review;
• BUPA medical insurance;
• Generous company sick pay;
• Enhanced family friendly policies;
• Group income protection scheme;
• Group life assurance;
• Compassionate leave;
• Flexible working arrangements;
• Learning and development opportunities;
• Employee wellbeing training and support;
• Fresh fruit every day;
• Free on-site parking;
• Cycle to work scheme;
• Access to company bikes;
• Service awards.

Starting salary from £40,000 per annum

If you believe you are suited to the above role, please submit an application comprising of a CV and covering letter. 

If you have not been contacted within 30 days of application deadline, please assume your application has not been successful.