This is an exciting opportunity to join the leadership team at The Centre for Education and Youth. They are looking for someone with the skills to drive forward our research strategy and lead a variety of research projects alongside our brilliant team of researchers.

Brief description of organisation

The Centre for Education and Youth (CfEY) operates as a ‘think and action-tank,’ advocating for the provision of adequate support to all children and young individuals, enabling them to smoothly transition into adulthood. Their collaborative efforts extend to various organizations and individuals who share the same vision, assisting them in making informed and impactful decisions concerning youth support. CfEY conducts thorough and timely research, delving into critical matters related to education and youth. Their primary goal is to influence public discourse, contribute to policy formulation, and drive positive changes in practice. As a community interest company, they possess a specific focus on issues that affect marginalized young people.

Key roles and responsibilities

In this role you will join the CfEY leadership team and contribute to the organisational strategy and key decisions, you will lead the research strand (with oversight and support from the Director of Research and Operations) as well as leading and delivering a range of research, evaluation and policy projects for clients.

As a member of our leadership team you’ll work closely with our Heads of Engagement, Operations and Policy to make decisions, support the team and drive our organisational strategy forward, and you’ll report to the Director of Research and Operations and our Chief Executive Officer. You will have the opportunity to shape the direction of the organisation and will contribute to our growth.

Your leadership of the research strand involves setting the strand strategy and working with a team of two Research Associates and the wider team to deliver strand objectives. You will line manage two team members and provide oversight across all our projects to ensure that methods are appropriate and well executed, and data protection and ethics protocols are adhered to.

You will also be heavily involved in project work, from securing projects to design to delivery:

Winning projects: To secure projects we respond to public tenders, meet with organisations to understand their needs and pitch solutions, and proactively generate and pitch ideas to funders. You will be involved in all types of income generation and will need to take an enterprising, solution-focused approach to this.

Designing projects: You will design research projects, tailoring solutions to clients’ needs and considering the most efficient and exciting ways to answer research questions. You will also support the team as they design projects, in particular with selecting the appropriate methodologies and trialling new, cutting-edge methodologies.

Leading projects: You will also lead and deliver projects. This will involve: planning project activities; managing timelines and budgets; working with clients; designing research tools; conducting fieldwork with young people, practitioners, academics and other experts; conducting analysis, and, writing up and presenting findings. Once you have got to grips with how we do things at CfEY you will support more junior team members in their project delivery, providing oversight and quality assurance of all aspects of delivery from project management to reports and other outputs.

In all you do, we expect that you will take a rigorous, flexible and constructive approach and be driven by our vision.

Experience and skills

We get that life is complicated. If you’ve taken an unusual, less travelled path to get to where you are now we would be interested to hear from you.

Almost all of our staff are former teachers or youth workers, so we value some experience working with young people and a desire to continue engaging with them through your work.

Please refer to the full job advert for further details.