• Are you looking for volunteer roles ?

    Go to volunteering section

321

Policy and research manager jobs

Job Alerts On

Get job alerts sent straight to your inbox.

By clicking 'Create alert' you agree to the Terms and Conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our Privacy and Cookie Policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics.

You will now get the latest from this search sent to your inbox.

You can manage your job alerts by clicking here:

Top job
Learning and Work Institute, Multiple Locations (Hybrid)
£64,450 - £77,880 per year
Leading policy and research on Better Work, skills and progression to influence employers, funders and government.
Posted today
Top job
Learning and Work Institute, Multiple Locations (Hybrid)
£45,650 - £59,080 per year(pro rata), dependent on experience and location
Head of Research leading evaluation and advanced qualitative methods to generate impactful insights for employment and skills policy.
Posted today
Top job
Closing in 5 days
Spinal Research, United Kingdom (Hybrid)
£35,000 (pro rata salary of £26,250)
Exciting Office Manager role with responsibilities for H&S, HR, staff wellbeing, the office space, and Secretary to the Board of Trustees.
Posted today Apply Now
Top job
Social Investment Business, Remote
£30,000 per year plus generous benefits
Be at the heart of SIB’s work with government, media and the social sector, shaping impactful policy and communications
Posted 4 days ago
Top job
Closing in 7 days
The Young Foundation, London (Hybrid)
Salary: £45,000-£50,000 / year
Human Resources Manager (Maternity Cover) – Lead People Strategy at £45,000–£50,000
Posted today
Top job
Alzheimer's Research UK, CB21, Cambridge (Hybrid)
Circa £30,000 per annum
Policy Campaigns Officer role playing a key part in delivery of high impact campaigns to influence and raise awareness of Dementia.
Posted 5 days ago
Top job
The Sick Children's Trust, London (Hybrid)
£42,500 - £46,000 per year
We have an exciting opportunity to lead in Corporate and Philanthropy as a Development Manager
Posted 1 day ago Apply Now
Top job
National Institute of Teaching, Multiple Locations (On-site)
£52,413 (plus London weighting if applicable) + benefits
Within our Impact team, you will take a lead in advancing research mobilisation focused on teacher training and professional development.
Posted 1 day ago
Top job
Cambridge House, London (On-site)
£37,000 - £38,000 per year
Managing our team of tenancy rights caseworkers , providing high quality advice and casework to private renters.
Posted 1 day ago
Pesticide Action Network UK, Brighton (Hybrid)
£56,000 - £60,000 per year
Seeking an experienced advocacy professional to lead our work in the UK to protect the environment and human health from pesticides.
Posted 1 day ago
National Fire Chiefs Council Limited, Remote
£41,000 per year
Posted 1 day ago
Choice Support, Kent (Hybrid)
£24,000 per year
Posted today Apply Now
Page 1 of 22
Leicester, Leicester (Hybrid)
Vauxhall, Greater London
£64,450 - £77,880 per year
Part-time (0.8 to 1 FTE, with flexible working supported (e.g. condensed hours, flexible start and finish times)
Permanent
Job description

Longer working lives and ongoing economic transitions are reshaping careers: how we start them, and how we move through them. But too many people remain paid in low-paid, low-quality work – with damaging consequences for them personally, and our economy as a whole. We’re seeking a senior, policy-oriented research leader to help us and our partners generate insights that enable more people to move into and progress through better work.

You’ll have a proven track record in scoping and securing funding for research and influencing activity, with significant autonomy to lead your own programme at L&W. You’ll be supported by committed researchers and managers whom you will coach, lead, and develop—alongside a peer group of Deputy Directors working across other key pillars. We welcome quantitative expertise, but most important are the skills to design and deliver high-quality, impactful research programmes.

You’ll join an organisation with a national reputation for driving policy change—and a friendly, highly capable, delivery-focused team. 

Location: London or Leicester. Hybrid working: 40-60% in an L&W office, with the option of working the remainder at home.

Team:Research and Development

Salary:£64,450 -£77,880 per annum (pro rata), dependent on experience and location

Duration:Permanent

Working hours:0.8 to 1 FTE, with flexible working supported (e.g. condensed hours, flexible start and finish times)

Main Purpose

The Deputy Director, Policy and Research (Better Work and Progression) will have overall ownership of the ‘Better Work’ pillar of our strategic plan at L&W: overseeing all projects and activity in this area and generating new work (including developing project ideas and securing funding).

While there is significant scope to shape the ongoing programme of research and impact work, we anticipate that key areas of focus in this area going forward will be: understanding & better supporting career change; understanding and improving policy to increase employer investment in skills; high quality and fair access apprenticeships and technical education; understanding how to better support progression from low pay.

They will be a senior leader for the organization – helping to continuously shape our strategy and the plans we are implementing to deliver it.

Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership and management

  • Intellectual leadership of the Better Work pillar: developing and owning policy positions, messages, theory of change and research priorities, and supporting the wider team to feed into and understand them
  • Line management of senior and mid-level staff
  • Act as a senior leader at L&W – including taking on specific organization-level responsibilities where appropriate

Income

  • Write and/or co-ordinate responses to reactive research and evaluation tenders in the areas of employment, better work and progression
  • Develop pro-active proposals that will drive change in your area, and respond to the interests of funders and partners
  • Build relationships with current and potential funders and research partners

Impact

  • Act as an external expert on the issues of better work and progression: writing press quotes, articles and blogs;speaking on platforms
  • Building relationships with practitioners, policymakers and partners to improve our insights, and get our recommendations implemented
  • Develop appropriate means of tracking impact towards our better work goals, and monitor against them. 

Delivery

  • Deputy Director/Project Director-level oversight of projects being delivered in your and related areas: supporting project team to shape research plans, deliver sharp insights and manage funder relationships
  • Quality Assurance of research proposals and outputs
  • Use your research skills and experience to support the wider development of the Learning and Work team

Person Specification

Experience

Experience of developing, overseeing and delivering programmes of policy-relevant research at a high level - Essential

Experience of business development in a policy/research context: developing ideas, writing bids and building relationships with funders- Essential

Experience of building senior-level relationships with external stakeholders for impact and influence -Essential

Track record of delivering national and/or local policy change - Essential

Experience of senior organisational leadership as part of a team - Desirable 

Experience of responding to tenders- Desirable 

Skills

Advanced research skills (qualitative of quantitative) -Essential

Quantitative skills: experience of using key national research and administrative data sets to generate insights into the labour market -Desirable 

Clear and direct written communication style - Essential

Knowledge

Knowledge of, and commitment to, L&W’s charitable aims and purpose.- Essential

Demonstrable knowledge of employment and/or skills policy in the UK - Essential

Demonstrable knowledge in the specific areas of Better Work and/or progression -Desirable 

Learning and Work Institute works across the UK. Our work in Wales is led by a Cardiff based team, but all staff are required to follow the guidance set out in our Welsh language scheme when working in Wales.

Application resources
Posted by
Learning and Work Institute View profile Organisation type Registered Charity Company size 21 - 50
Posted on: 20 January 2026
Closing date: 19 February 2026 at 23:30
Job ref: DEPUTY DIRECTOR, POLICY AND RESEARCH -BETTER WORK
Tags: Policy, Training / Learning, Project Management, Business Development, Data Analysis, Education, Employment, Insights, Monitoring and Evaluation, Partnerships, Politics, Programme Management, Public Affairs, Qualitative, Quantitative, Research, Strategy, Governance / Management

The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.