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The Youth Endowment Fund 

Senior Research Manager

Reports to: Research Lead

Salary: £52,736

Contract: 18 months fixed term 

Location: Central London or Hybrid (see below) 

Closing date:  Thursday 20th November at 12 pm

Interviews: Week commencing - 1st December 2025

About the Youth Endowment Fund 

We exist to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to put this knowledge into practice.

Last year, 509 children were tragically admitted to hospital after being assaulted with a knife. Every child captured in these numbers is an important member of our community and society has a duty to protect them. Even when violence doesn’t strike directly, we know that the fear of violence has a terrible effect on children’s lives.

At the Youth Endowment Fund, we are working to create lasting change. To succeed, we must build a world-leading body of knowledge on the violence that affects young people and how it can be stopped. This means producing rigorous, relevant evidence — through synthesis, data analysis and in-depth research into young people’s lives. But knowledge alone isn’t enough. We must make it accessible and actionable: showing what works, how services need to change, and how the systems around them must adapt. And we must partner with the people who can make change happen — across policy, practice and local systems — to turn evidence into impact.

About the role

We recently started a new workstream of research into why violence happens, and which children are most vulnerable. We are working with experts across research, policy and practice to investigate: 

· What are the risk and protective factors for violence?

· Why does violence happen? What are the underlying causes?

· How can we use this research to improve policy and practice, and keep children safe?

We are recruiting a Senior Research Manager to lead a portfolio of projects in this workstream. This will include research exploring how predictive tools and algorithms are used to assess risk of involvement in violence and guide support decisions.This joint programme with UKRI Safer Streets Mission will investigate whether these tools can help practitioners identify people at risk accurately, safely, and fairly—and whether their use improves outcomes.

Predictive tools are structured frameworks that aim to help professionals such as police analysts or social workers assess someone’s likelihood of committing violence. They differ from “pure” professional judgement, where practitioners rely solely on their own assessment without a formal checklist or model. These tools have been used for years but are becoming both increasingly powerful and controversial as new approaches, including machine learning, emerge.

The Senior Research Manager will commission and oversee a research team to deliver two projects:

1. A systematic review of existing research on predictive tools in violence prevention.

2. Primary research on how these tools are currently used in England and Wales, including their practical and ethical implications.

The final report will assess predictive accuracy, impact, implementation, ethics, and equity. The Senior Research Manager will ensure methodological rigour and translate findings into clear, actionable guidance on whether and how these tools should be used.

The Senior Research Manager will also lead a range of related projects, such as:

· Commissioning new research into the causes, risk factors and protective factors for violence.

· Contributing to the development of accessible online tools (similar to our existing Toolkit) which make this research accessible and help decision makers target support where it is most needed.

The Senior Research Manager will be part of YEF’s Research team. The Research team is at the heart of our efforts to learn what works and put it into practice. We do this by developing the YEF’s funding strategy and creating free, highly accessible research summaries and actionable recommendations for policy makers, commissioners and practitioners. We’re a high-performing team which values intellectual rigour and getting to the truth, compassion for children, ambition about what we can achieve and humility about what we know. We love to discuss the latest developments in research methods, but we’re not just interested in research for its own sake. We want research to lead to actual changes in outcomes for children.

Please go to our website for the full 'About You' section and job description.

While it’s not a criterion, we’re especially interested to hear from applicants who have lived experience of youth violence. 

It’s also important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background. 

Hybrid Working Details  

Our office is located in Central London. Team members who reside within the 32 London Boroughs or are within a 90-minute commute are expected to attend the office at least two days per week.

For those living outside of London but within England, Scotland, or Wales, the expectation is to work from the London office two days per month.

As part of our commitment to flexible working, we will consider a range of options for the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at interview stage.

To Apply 

To apply, please send a CV, a cover letter answering the questions below and complete the monitoring form. You can submit your application by clicking on the "Apply for this" button by 12:00pm Thursday 20th November 2025.

When applying for this role, please ensure that your cover letter, within a maximum of 1000 words, covers the following questions:

1. A clear example of when you have translated complex research findings into actionable and usable summaries or guidance for policy makers or practitioners  

2. A clear example of a research project you have delivered or commissioned, and explain how you ensured its quality

Interview Process 

Interviews will take place on week commencing 1st December 2025.  

There will be a task to prepare for in advance of the first stage interview and a possible second-stage interview stage.

PLEASE NOTE: We do not sponsor work permits, and you will be required to provide proof of your eligibility to work in the UK. 

Benefits Include 

• £1,000 professional development budget annually 

• 25 days holiday plus Bank Holidays and 3 additional closure days over Christmas

• Four half days for volunteering activities

• Employee Assistance Programme – 24hr phone line for free confidential support

• Death in service - 4 times annual salary

• Flexible hours. Core office hours 10am – 4pm

• Financial support including travel and hardship loans

• Employer contributed pension of 5% 

Personal Data   

Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.   

[1] We have launched a call for proposals for teams to do this work. You can read more about this here.