Lead Economist

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 government's ambition to strengthen the UK’s 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 lead the organisation’s Economic Appraisal team, reporting to the Head of Strategic Analysis. 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 required. 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 the London and Swindon offices and other UKRI sites. We are committed to supporting each other’s personal and professional development and will support your learning and development ambitions in this role.

• Managing the resourcing of your team to effectively support the development of business cases and evaluations across UKRI. This requires strict prioritisation and excellent stakeholder communication skills, as the demand for your team's expertise often outstrips supply.
• Leading on the economic cases within UKRI’s most high‑profile business cases, which often get tabled at DSIT’s Investment Committee and considered through HM Treasury’s Treasury Approvals Process. This usually requires ex‑ante value for money analysis with a quantitative component developed in Excel.
• 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.
• Play a leading role in the Analysis team’s input into UKRI’s spending review bid. This requires having an excellent understanding of the evidence base that UKRI is able to deploy in this context.
• Developing a stakeholder community across government and within the R&I sector, sharing approaches for ex‑ante economic appraisal of different R&I benefits, as well as sharing knowledge on robust methodologies and analyses for the evaluation of R&I investments.
• Leading on the production and delivery of guidance and training material related to the development of economic cases, being able to tailor these materials to both analytical and non‑analytical audiences.
• Conceptualising and leading on key ex‑ante and ex‑post economic appraisal projects outside of the realm of business cases and evaluations. This would typically require modelling in Excel or R.
• You will be a key figure within UKRI’s economist community, and as such, you will be responsible for mentoring and developing junior economists across the organisation.

• Degree in Economics (with at least 50 % of course modules in Economics) or equivalent work experience. (S)
• Analytical skills and experience:
  Highly proficient in Excel. (S)
• Analytical skills and experience:
  Experience carrying out public sector Green Book‑compliant value for money analysis. (S&I)
• Making effective decisions:
  The ability to manage a portfolio of projects, understanding where your team can have the most impact. (S&I)
• Leadership:
  Being an analytical leader and an expert in your domain. (S&I)
• Knowledge of and experience in applied econometrics. (S)
• Familiarity with the Magenta Book and experience in monitoring and evaluation, including identifying the strategic objectives and benefits of a project, and constructing a theory of change or logic model to link inputs to impacts. (S)
• Familiarity with the Aqua Book and knowledge of quality assurance best practices. (S)
• Experience coding in one or more of R, Python or SQL. (S)
• Experience applying…