Research Director - Economic Evaluation

Research Director - Economic Evaluation

Final date to receive applications: 23 August 2026

Department: Policy Research Centre

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: London (Hybrid)

Reporting To: Terry Ng-Knight

Research Director, Economic Evaluation
Competitive
London | Hybrid (2-3 days in office)
Full time | Permanent
Reporting to: Head of Quantitative Impact Evaluation
Team: Policy Research Centre

Nat Cen is looking for an experienced economist to help build and grow its economic evaluation and value-for-money offer. This is a senior, hands‑on role for someone who can lead economic evaluation work independently, shape methodological approaches, support business development and strengthen Nat Cen’s capability in this area.

The successful candidate will play a leading role in designing and delivering economic evaluations, value-for-money assessments, cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, economic impact assessments and economic appraisal work. They will also support the growth of a new economic evaluation strand at Nat Cen, with an immediate focus on winning new work and building internal capability.

This role is particularly suited to someone with experience in a research agency, consultancy, economics consultancy, public policy consultancy or international development organisation, where they have led value-for-money or economic evaluation studies from design through to final reporting.

• Lead high-quality economic evaluations and value-for-money assessments, including cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, economic contribution analysis and economic impact assessments.
• Design approaches for collecting, analysing and interpreting cost and economic data.
• Develop robust and transparent economic models to assess programme costs, benefits, efficiency, fiscal impacts and wider societal effects.
• Lead or provide senior technical input into bids, support pipeline development and contribute to income generation.
• Advise clients and colleagues on HM Treasury Green Book guidance, public sector appraisal frameworks and appropriate value-for-money methodologies.
• Manage senior client relationships, including advising on methodological options, managing expectations and presenting findings clearly.
• Work collaboratively with researchers, academic partners, consultants and colleagues across Nat Cen to deliver multidisciplinary studies.
• Mentor colleagues, quality assure analytical outputs and help build internal capability in economic evaluation and value-for-money methods.

• An undergraduate degree in economics or a closely related discipline with a strong quantitative component.
• Significant experience leading economic methods within policy research or evaluation settings.
• Strong experience applying HM Treasury Green Book guidance or equivalent public sector appraisal frameworks.
• Strong value-for-money expertise, including cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis.
• Experience designing and leading economic appraisal, economic evaluation or modelling work in complex public policy settings.
• A track record of leading or contributing significantly to successful bids for research contracts or grants.
• Strong quantitative analysis skills, including experience using or overseeing analysis in tools such as Excel, Stata, R or equivalent.
• The ability to communicate complex economic concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong project, budget, client and stakeholder management experience.
• Experience leading teams, providing technical quality assurance and developing junior colleagues.

• A postgraduate degree in economics or a related discipline.
• Experience analysing administrative or large survey datasets in areas such as health and wellbeing, education, employment, crime and justice, or related public policy areas.
• Experience of quantitative impact evaluation methods, including randomised controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs such as difference-in-differences, matching or regression discontinuity.
• Familiarity with process evaluations, theory-based approaches or large-scale quantitative survey design.