Evaluation Officer

Evaluation Officer Salary: £37,614 – £ 38,577 plus generous Civil Service defined benefit pension. Fixed term: 12 months.

Location:

Bristol.

The Office for Students (OfS) exists to ensure that English higher education offers the best experience and the best value - for students, for taxpayers, for the economy and for the public good. It is the independent regulator of higher education in England – we regulate higher education on behalf of all students.

Our vision is that every student, whatever their background, has a fulfilling experience of higher education that enriches their lives and careers. The evaluation team is small and friendly, with big ambitions and diverse expertise. We work across the OfS to ensure that the work of the OfS is supported by robust evidence.

The Evaluation Officer will help the OfS work more effectively, by supporting impactful evaluation activity and evaluative thinking across the organisation. In this role you will work with an Evaluation Manager to:

• Scope, design, run, and commission evaluations of OfS activity.
• Manage commissioned suppliers to conduct evaluations.
• Provide expert support, advice and quality assurance to evaluations led by other teams.
• Support teams and senior decision‑makers across the OfS to learn from and improve their regulatory interventions through their evaluations, and through facilitating learning / reflection exercises.
• Engage stakeholders and ensure evaluation findings are translated into actions.
• Take notes in formal meetings (steering groups, workshops, etc.).
• Conduct data collection and qualitative analysis.
• Drive organisational culture change to celebrate evaluation and embed a learning mindset (for example, delivering internal training sessions and presentations, writing blogs, building evaluation into organisational processes).
• Develop your own knowledge of relevant research and evaluation and share this to build the knowledge of the team and wider colleagues.
• As you develop in the role, there may be opportunities for you to take a leading role on smaller areas of activity.

We typically conduct impact and/or process evaluations with a strong focus on theories of change, utilising theory‑based approaches and use mixed‑methods designs. This is an exciting time to join the team as we evaluate several of the OfS’s core approaches to regulating higher education. You are likely to work on one to two of these projects, which may include evaluations of how we regulate Access and Participation Plans, quality, free speech, financial sustainability, and consumer protection.

The team also continuously looks for ways to further build evaluation culture and capability in the organisation. Sitting within the Strategy, Delivery and Communications Directorate, the work of the Evaluation Team is a priority for the OfS to make sure our regulatory model is underpinned by rigorous evaluation and a commitment to learning, improvement, and ultimately impact. The role reports to one of two Evaluation Managers, and works closely with the whole evaluation team (one other Evaluation Officer, the two Evaluation Managers, and the Head of Evaluation).

The role also involves collaborating with colleagues across the organisation. The Evaluation Team works in a hybrid way, coming together regularly in person in the office as a team.

We are looking for someone who is pursuing a career in evaluation or social research. We anticipate that you might come from a social sciences, economics, public policy, psychology, or applied research background, but the main criterion is that you have experience with – and can apply – relevant social research and evaluation methods. You should be organised, proactive, enthusiastic about using evidence to…