Senior Economist

UKRI Salary: £46,743 per annum Band: UKRI Band E Contract Type:
Open-ended or fixed-term external secondment opportunity (two years)

Hours:

Full-time/ Part-time (minimum 0.8 FTE) (flexible working available)

Location:

Swindon - Hybrid working available Closing Date: 11th January 2026 This is an exciting opportunity to join a multi-disciplinary analytical team that works on areas at the heart of the UK research and innovation (R&I) system. Our work plays a key role in delivering the governments ambition to strengthen the UKs position as a global science and technology superpower, set out in the UK Science and Technology Framework.

The role sits within the Strategic Analysis team (within a wider Analysis team and the Investment Planning and Strategy directorate), which has a wide remit including analysis of the R&I system, Economic Appraisal, Data Science, and analysis for Investment Strategy. The successful candidate will report to the Lead Analyst for Economic Appraisal and Business Cases. The successful applicant will work across directorate and organisational priorities, pivoting to new work areas as business needs evolve.

We are a team committed to diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from anyone with the skills needed. The team works across the London and Swindon offices. A good proportion of the work can be done from home and there will be opportunities to visit colleagues in London and Swindon offices and other UKRI sites. We are committed to supporting each others personal and professional development and will support your learning and development ambitions in this role.

About the role We aim to recruit an economist that would support our strategic economic appraisal work. There are two key parts to this role, concerning both ex-ante and ex-post economic appraisal. Ex-post economic appraisal:the successful candidate would have a leading role in the management of ex-post economic appraisal work within the team. This includes supporting evaluation teams, as well as science and policy teams, by reviewing and advising on the economic components of their evaluations.

This role requires close collaboration with the UKRI Analysis Evaluation team. Ex-ante economic appraisal:
The successful candidate will support the Lead Analyst for Economic Appraisal in various ex-ante economic appraisal projects. A significant portion of this work involves supporting business case development, leading the economic component of economic cases, and reviewing the work of other analysts. Although the role does not currently entail line management responsibilities, this may be subject to change in the future.

In the meantime, the job holder will be expected to mentor and provide guidance to junior analysts and economists across the organisation. Key responsibilities of the role will include, but are not limited to:
Leading on business case analysis, with a focus on economic cases. This would usually require ex-ante value for money analysis with a quantitative component developed in Excel. Mentoring junior analysts to deliver economic appraisal projects. Supporting evaluation, policy, and science teams in the delivery of the economic component of their evaluation projects. This includes reviewing invitation to tender documents, bids, and early drafts.

Supporting analysis for fiscal events and spending reviews. Engaging with internal and external analysts to develop robust methodologies and analysis for evaluation of UKRI investments. Developing guidance and training for both analytical and non-analytical audiences. Supporting the Lead Analyst on the conception and development of key ex-ante and ex-post economic appraisal projects. This would typically require modelling in Excel or R.

Running literature and evidence reviews assessing their robustness and relevance. This would require finding and analysing relevant sources and data sets to fill knowledge gaps, summarising the key findings for users. Personal Specification The below criteria will be scored during Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I). Essential skills and experience:
Degree in Economics (with at least 50% of course modules in…