Research and Policy Manager - Welfare

Date posted: 6 July 2026

Salary: £ 67,752 per annum with excellent benefits

Contract type: Permanent

Hours per week: 37.5 hours per week (part time over 30 hours considered). All staff are required to work in person for a minimum of two days per week, in line with our hybrid working policy. The post-holder may be required to undertake some work outside normal working hours.

This role will lead our agenda around the role of welfare to support the working age population to maintain good health and support people with long term health conditions or disability when they are unable to work or participate. The Commission for Healthier Working Lives identified a number of issues with welfare support which effectively disincentivise people from accessing and staying in work and the purpose of this role is to make the case for change and point to potential solutions.

The post holder will have a strong understanding of the current welfare agenda, and particularly what this means for people with long term health conditions and disability. Working with the Senior Fellow, you will identify the opportunities to shape better policy, providing decision makers with the evidence and clear recommendations. As well as conducting your own analysis, you will help commission policy research projects from internal and external experts and provide oversight for these projects.

Developing your own profile as an expert, you will also lead or support drafting of external outputs, speak at external events and grow and maintain external stakeholder relationships. The role provides a real opportunity to have a voice to influence the future shape of health and welfare policies and practice.

We are committed to an inclusive hiring process, where every candidate has the chance to showcase their unique skills and experience in an accessible and supported environment, to ensure that we can make the best appointment for each opportunity on merit. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage those from underrepresented groups in this field to apply to us. We have identified three key areas to improving diversity.

Our aim is to achieve a more balanced representation across our organisation, with a particular focus on increasing the number of women in leadership, enhancing the representation of people from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds and welcoming more people with disabilities. As part of this commitment, we strongly encourage applications from these groups.

Closing date: Sunday 26 July 2026 23:59

Interview dates: Week commencing 10 th August 2026