The Youth Endowment Fund Research Lead – Guidance and Reporting Reports to: Head of Guidance and Reporting Salary: £55,000 Contract: 2 years fixed term Location: Central London, Hybrid* Closing date: September 10 th 12 pm Interviews: 22 nd September 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, 244 people in England and Wales tragically died after being assaulted with a knife. Of these, 32 were children. 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 The Research Lead for Guidance and Reporting will lead our interpretation and communication of YEF’s evaluation reports. This is at the very core of YEF’s mission and strategy. The majority of YEF’s £200m endowment has been spent on funding and evaluating a range of interventions designed to protect children from involvement in violence. YEF have already published 54 independent evaluations of these interventions, and we expect to publish a further 36 over the next two years alone, the majority of which will be impact evaluations. The Research Lead will play a crucial, and leading, role in ensuring that the findings from these evaluations make an impact on policy and practice. Specifically, the Research Lead will lead YEF’s thinking on interpretating these results and will write (and support other colleagues to write) executive summaries, website commentaries, and presentations on evaluation findings. They will work through knotty interpretation challenges, consider what the results mean for our understanding of violence prevention, ensure our interpretation is accurate, robust and clear, and expertly communicate findings to internal and external audiences (including government departments). This requires in depth knowledge of research methods, high quality written work, the ability to simplify and clarify complex and challenging findings, and close collaboration with academics, front-line practitioners, YEF colleagues and government departments. The Research Lead will also play a leading role in the production of YEF guidance, another core priority in YEF’s strategy. YEF plans to publish practice and systems guidance across all of our seven sectors (see, for instance our Education Practice and Education Systems Guidance ). This guidance synthesises the best available evidence on what works to advise practitioners and policy makers on how they can best protect children from involvement in violence. The new Research Lead will closely support Senior Research Managers (SRMs) to produce practice and systems guidance, and may support specific guidance reports for the youth, policing, youth justice, children’s services, health and neighbourhoods sectors. The Research Lead will ensure that SRMs are producing rigorous and robust guidance, drawing on the best available international evidence, while also being accessible and usable. They may also lead on the production of specific parts of YEF Guidance. In addition, the Research Lead will commission and manage research projects that support the production of guidance in these sectors. This is a fantastic opportunity to lead on using YEF’s endowment to fund high quality, impactful research. The Research Lead will also respond to ad hoc internal and external requests to work on a range of projects that require an in-depth knowledge of violence reduction and research methods. This will include providing evidence-based advice and support to the Government and other national policy makers on a range of salient issues related to YEF’s mission. The Research Lead 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. Key Responsibilities The Research Lead will develop a portfolio of impactful projects. You will: Lead on YEF’s reporting of evaluation reports. You’ll ensure all our evaluation reports are clearly and accurately communicated and have the maximum possible impact. You’ll lead on resolving knotty interpretation challenges, will make judgements on what YEF evaluation results mean for our target sectors, and ensure that findings are effectively communicated to policy makers and practitioners. You’ll provide matrix management to support colleagues to write executive summaries and website commentaries for YEF-funded RCTs, pilots and feasibility studies. You will also write many of these outputs yourself. You will liaise closely with evaluators, grantees, internal colleagues and government departments to produce rigorous yet accessible and usable summaries of the evidence. Play a leading role in the production of YEF guidance, supporting Senior Research Managers to produce guidance in a range of sectors (including the youth, health, policing, youth justice, children’s services, and neighbourhoods sectors). Scope, commission, and appoint research teams to manage YEF research projects including reviews of practice in YEF’s priority sector areas. This is a fantastic opportunity to use YEF’s endowment to fund high quality and impactful research. Lead training for the YEF Research Team on a range of topics including research methods. Develop great relationships with experts and represent YEF in external meetings and events. You’ll promote evidence-based policy and practice by speaking at conferences and events. You’ll liaise closely with several government departments to provide insightful and evidence-based policy advice on a range of salient issues. Work with our Change Team to produce resources and accessible summaries on the evidence. Work with our Comms team to advise on how we can interpret YEF results, and what the key media messages may be. You may also speak directly to media outlets to share our findings and promote YEF results. Respond to ad hoc requests as and when needed to support the Research Team and YEF on a range of projects. About You You are this sort of person: You want to play a significant part in reducing the level of violence affecting young people. You care about having an impact. This might mean you’ve worked directly with young people at risk of becoming involved in crime, for organisations that fund or deliver relevant programmes, or have conducted research on this topic. You share our belief that an evidence-based approach is our best hope of preventing violence. You’re fascinated by research, but you’re not just interested in research for its own sake. You want to achieve actual changes in outcomes for children. You’re a confident reader of research and have strong critical appraisal skills. You know when research can be trusted and when it can’t and can confidently articulate your views on the strength of research. You might have gained this expertise through your academic studies, research or professional experience. You have at least three years’ experience working in a role that required you to think about research. This could include a range of roles in policy, academia, funding or practice. You write in a way that people easily understand. You have that rare skill of writing in plain English. You have experience of translating complex research findings into plain writing that everyone can understand. You have excellent project and time management skills. You can work independently, quickly and to a high standard. You have experience of managing contractors or budgets. You are good with people. You’re comfortable working with a wide range of people, including senior academics and other research experts, practitioners and policy makers. You’re able to provide constructive challenges when required. You learn fast but remain humble. You like learning. You’re very good at synthesising information. You know how much you don't know and that you can always learn more. You work well in a team. You care more that good things happen than who gets the credit. You support your colleagues to produce excellent work. You’re committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. You believe and act in a way that celebrates and encourages a range of experiences, views and values. 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 The office is based in Central London. Those living in and around London are expected to be in the office a minimum of 2 days per week. If you live outside of London and work remotely, you’ll be expected to work from the London office 2 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, your answers to the application questions below and complete the monitoring form. You can submit your application by clicking on the "Apply for this" button by 12:00pm Wednesday 10 th September. When applying for this role, please ensure that your answer the questions within a maximum of 1000 words, covers the following questions below: 1. A clear example of a situation where you have translated research into actionable resources or recommendations. 2. A clear example of a situation where you’ve supported an external partner or colleague to apply research evidence to an important decision. Interview Process Interviews will take place on 22 nd September. There will be a task to prepare for in advance. 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 • 28 days holiday plus Bank Holidays • Four half days for volunteering activities • Employee Assistance Programme – 24hr phone line for free confidential support • Volunteering days - 4 half days per year • 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%