We’re looking for an experienced evaluator who’s excited about bringing their evaluation expertise to the Office for Students (OfS), to help ensure that higher education provides a fulfilling experience for every student!
About the Role
The Evaluation Manager (maternity cover) will help the OfS work more effectively, by leading impactful evaluation activity and evaluative thinking across the organisation. In this role you will scope, run, and commission evaluations of OfS activity, with little supervision. You will provide expert advice on priority evidence projects, and work to champion a strong culture of evaluative thinking in the OfS. Our evaluations are typically impact and/or process evaluations, with a strong focus on theories of change and theory-based approaches, and use of mixed-methods. We are developing our expertise in quasi-experimental approaches. You will manage commissioned suppliers, conduct and supervise our own data collection and analysis. Your role will include building relationships and engaging stakeholders and ensuring evaluation findings are translated into impact. You will facilitate discussions and learning exercises, deliver internal training, look for ways to share our work to maximise its impact, and build evaluation into the OfS’s ways of working. You will manage the work of junior team members and ensure high quality and timely outputs from your projects. You’ll be constantly developing your own knowledge of relevant research and evaluation and sharing this to build the knowledge of the team and wider colleagues. The maternity cover is from February 2026 to March 2027.
Essential Criteria For Candidates
* Experience of leading the scoping and delivery of practical evaluation activity in social policy fields.
* Advanced knowledge of research design approaches and the use of data in evaluating social policy, including qualitative and quantitative research methods, (quasi-) experimental and theory-based approaches, and knowledge of their limitations and strengths.
* Excellent project and time management skills, with ability to work independently, prioritise and balance multiple workstreams and adapt to changing circumstances.
* Clear and positive written and verbal communication, delivering high quality outputs.
* Skilled in collaborating, managing relationships and supporting others, including managing project teams and the development of junior staff.
* A passion for evaluation, evidence, and learning and ability to demonstrate leadership and champion evaluation.
Working for us
We value diversity and the wealth of perspectives, experience and ideas that it brings to our work, and we strive to embed equality of opportunity in everything we do. We recruit based on fair and open competition and welcome applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Flexibility is important to the OfS, and we recognise that it can enable people to work more effectively. A set of organisation-wide principles shape our approach to flexible and hybrid working, which our teams then use as guidance on how they deliver their business goals. This would usually mean working from the office for two or three days in a typical week. We want to attract the best people to work with us, and will consider requests for flexible working, including job share and part‑time working.
Closing date for applications: 12:00 Monday 10th November 2025.
To apply for this role, please use the button provided.
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