£46,750-55,000 pa
Full time (flexible working options available)
Permanent Contract
Location: UK or Kenya
Closing Date: 29 March 2023
Save the Children UK has an exciting opportunity for an influential individual with experience in identifying and leading research initiatives that inform locally led action and driving forward Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning projects within the humanitarian/international development sector to join us as our Head of Research and Evidence in our Humanitarian Leadership Academy (HLA) where you will head up the research and evidence function of the HLA and develop and build a new team.
Please Note: This role can be based in the UK or Kenya (you will need to have the right to work in either the UK or Kenya)
About Us
Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.
The Humanitarian Leadership Academy (HLA) as part of SCUK’s humanitarian department provides high-quality humanitarian capacity strengthening for the movement, as well as the wider sector, as part of our shifting the power agenda. The HLA’s mission, as a team within the humanitarian department, is to enable people around the world to prepare for and respond to crises in their own countries, by providing quality learning opportunities. The HLA’s approach spans from focused needs-based learning in countries hit by crises to the huge international reach of our learning platform, Kaya. They are a global team that has a full suite of in-house skills to provide and develop the offer; technical and learning experts, platform specialists, a digital and design studio, communications support and more. The HLA enables SCUK to offer the most effective and impactful humanitarian capacity strengthening resource for both the Save the Children movement, the wider humanitarian sector and beyond
About the role
The Head of Research and Evidence will head up the research and evidence function of the HLA which is responsible for demonstrating the impact of best practice to influence change in the sector/ partner organisations and to enable the HLA to strongly influence and support the localisation agenda.
You will be responsible for positioning the HLA as the thought leader in humanitarian learning, using robust evidence and research to shift policy and practice across the sector. You will provide key understanding of emerging and future trends within the sector from a capacity strengthening & learning perspective and provide strategic direction of the HLA’s resulting focus.
Internally, the role will strengthen our impact and evidence work at portfolio level, through systems strengthening and strategic technical support. You will drive change in our data management and the team’s culture and practice in relation to the role is accountable for understanding and improving the HLA’s results for learners and partners and overall impact of the team’s work.
In this role, you will:
As a line manager overseeing research and evidence
- Be a leading external voice in the humanitarian sector articulating the latest thinking and developing research and evidence that pushes new boundaries of knowledge and best practice.
- Be accountable for identifying and delivering research products and lead the development of the Impact and Evidence strategy that enables the HLA to evolve its response to humanitarian needs and developments in the capacity strengthening ecosystem.
- Be responsible for strengthening and expanding the HLA’s reputation as a thought leader and influencer with global stakeholders, ensuring this is grounded on an effective approach to tracking and communicating the impact the team are achieving within the humanitarian and international development sector.
- Be responsible for fostering an improved understanding of and support for the use of evidence within HLA and the wider Save the Children movement, through advice, guidance, support, demonstration, and promotion of learning and ensure clear communications strategy for this.
- Develop and manage strategic research and evidence partnerships and strengthening existing networks.
- Be accountable for a robust and embedded data management platform and information systems to monitor and track internal insights, understand and learn from the impact of our work against our strategy.
As a member of the HLA’s Management Team
- Represent the Academy in public forums and contribute through wider thought leadership on strategic areas of this body of work, to include but not limited to advocating for the professionalisation of learning in the sector.
- Lead and manage a team of people and be accountable for supporting the development of skills and knowledge across the team and continue to embed a team culture and develop strong ways of working across the new team
About you
To be successful, it is important that you have:
- Substantial experience in delivering Research and Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning projects within humanitarian, international development and/or learning sector.
- Strong evidenced complex project management experience including cross organisational or multi-stakeholder projects ensuring that targets are met within the timeframe and budget set
- Significant experience in a senior managerial position with experience of positive team management and of building a team
- Strong leadership and collaborative skills with a proven ability to work with colleagues to understand stakeholder needs, inspire others to support and deliver strategic tasks and secure cross-team engagement for delivery.
- Strong analytical skills and an understanding of a range of methods for rigorous and ethical research, monitoring and evaluation. Experience of quantitative methods is an advantage.
- Experience of working on MEAL systems, policies, procedures and/ or tools beyond individual projects (e.g. at country/ regional/ organisational level).
- Commitment to Save the Children’s vision, mission and values.
To learn more about the position, please review the Job Description in the attached Documents on our website.
What we offer you:
Working for a charity provides one of the best benefits there is – a sense of purpose and reward for helping others. However, we understand the importance of giving back to our employees to ensure a happy and healthy working environment and work/life balance.
- We focus on flexibility, inclusion, collaboration, health and wellbeing both in and outside of work.
- We provide a wide range of benefits which will reward your hard work, motivate you, and inspire you to work to improve the lives of children every day. You can read more about our benefits here.
Closing date: 29/03/23
Please note:
To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.
Ways of Working:
Remote First – The majority of our roles can be performed remotely, however you may work from the office as often as you wish. Whilst you will be predominantly working from home, we may at times require you to come to your contracted office (up to 2-4 days per month or 6-8 days per quarter). Note: This will be agreed with your Line Manager and team. This is intended to be time spent on collaborating with colleagues and relationship building.
On-site – There are certain roles that cannot be performed remotely and so your role will be based in an office location and you may occasionally be able to work from home.
Flexible Working – We are happy to discuss flexible working options at interview**.**
Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:
Save the Children UK believes in a world that is fair, inclusive and equitable where all children have the opportunity to change their world. We apply this to our workforce and we are committed to developing and supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation where all employees have a sense of belonging and feel that they can be “Free to Be Me”. We are not looking for just one type of person – we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas or challenge that disrupts the risk of group think.
We are especially interested in people whose childhood experiences – of life on a low income, of migration, of being in a racialised community, of the care system, of being LGBT+ or in an LGBT+ family or living with (or with someone with) a disability – help us to see things we might otherwise miss. Whatever your story is we want to hear it because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable us to better the lives of children around the world. This is the reason why we are all here.
