Address
Form of work
Salary
Living Wage Foundation
The Living Wage Foundation was launched in 2011 by Citizens UK to tackle in-work poverty and ensure that workers earn enough to live on and participate in family and community life. Citizens UK is the home of community organising with diverse civil society alliances set up to develop leaders to work on the issues that matter to them, such as the Living Wage. Other projects include PACT (Parents and the Community Together) and Sponsor Refugees to add depth to the impact of Citizens UK’s work.
The Living Wage is a movement of businesses, organisations and people who believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. The real Living Wage is an independently calculated hourly rate based on the cost-of-living, updated on an annual basis to reflect increased living costs. More than 14,000 employers throughout the UK pay the real Living Wage, with over 10 per cent of employees in the UK working for an accredited Living Wage employer.
The Living Wage Foundation celebrates employers that voluntarily choose to pay the real Living Wage through an accreditation scheme that recognises a long-term commitment to fair pay, this has secured pay rises for over 450,000 low paid workers.
Purpose
The Living Wage Foundation has an exciting opportunity to join our dynamic team as a Senior Research Manager. We are looking for an individual with quantitative research expertise and a desire to influence positive social change to lead our Research Team. Previous experience in conducting research on the UK labour market is desirable but not essential. The Senior Research Manager will:
Lead and manage the LWF Research Team, taking full responsibility for strategy development, resourcing and team development.
Determine in-house research standards and quality assurance processes, ensuring all research outputs meet the required specifications.
Plan and manage LWF Research Activity up to 12-24 months ahead.
Develop LWF Research Team to design and manage a growing programme of research related to the labour market, low pay and in-work poverty.
Conduct quantitative and qualitative research (mainly quantitative) that supports the Foundation’s accreditation and communications work and individual schemes/projects (Living Hours, Living Pension, Living Wage Places).
Build relationships with external partners, leveraging these relationships to amplify research impact.
Manage commissioned research conducted by other organisations.
Provide thought-leadership and horizon scanning on areas relevant to LWF’s work, including on areas like low pay, insecure work and cost-of-living.
Provide input into in-house research standards and quality assurance.
Communicate evidence for change to influence key stakeholders to become Living Wage employers, and to grow recognition and understanding of the Living Wage Foundation and the social policy issues it works on.
Monitor and evaluate the impact of our work to refine our strategy and deliver projects in an efficient way.
Main Responsibilities
Leading and managing research team:
Develop LWF Research Strategy and pipeline, taking responsibility for developing research strategy which supports cross organisational objectives and serves to grow the Foundation’s influence, intelligence and impact.
Develop research pipeline, underpinned by Research Strategy, mapping out all in-house research projects through a 12-24 month period.
Assume full responsibility for managing in-house research budget and resourcing team, including managing capacity of Research Manager and Research Officer.
Provide comprehensive in-house training to members of Research Team.
Represent LWF Research Team at Senior Management level across LWF and CUK.
Develop and maintain research standards:
Determine and enshrine in-house research standards and quality assurance processes, ensuring all research outputs meet the required specifications, including those managed by wider LWF/CUK team.
Provide ‘Research sign off’ to all in-house research publications.
Identify potential reputational risks related to research and proactively develop appropriate protocol, messages and standards to mitigate risks, including through appropriate quality assurance processes.
Ensure the LWF continues to be a reliable go-to source on research into low pay and insecure work.
Data management and thought leadership
Provide thought-leadership on key issues relating to the UK Labour Market, including providing input into the development of LWF Policy in response to particular issues.
Conduct ‘horizon scanning’ of macro-economic environment, covering developments in UK Labour Market, Social and Economic Policy and broader economy, highlighting key issues that may impact low paid workers and how LWF might respond with policy activity and/or scheme development.
Provide guidance to Research team in managing datasets.
Establish new and innovative ways for Research Team to plan and react to regular data releases from the ONS relevant to low pay, labour markets and in-work poverty.
Conducting and commissioning research
Commission and manage research conducted for the Foundation by external organisations.
Provide organisational guidance and support with commissioned research, using expertise to guide and review commissioned projects.
Conduct quantitative analysis of secondary datasets, including the Labour Force Survey, the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, the Family Resources Survey and Understanding Society.
Commission, design and analyse primary polling of individuals and businesses.
Design and conduct evaluations of the Foundation’s programmes and impact, and build the evidence base on the benefits of the Living Wage to workers, businesses and society.
Disseminate research findings through written reports, articles, blogs and presentations.
Support wider research and intelligence needs and projects across Citizens UK.
Conduct qualitative research, including interviews and focus groups with low-paid workers and employers.
Project and programme management
Support research team to managing individual reports and projects, with oversight of the planning, methodology, report writing, dissemination and evaluation.
Work across the Foundation’s communications, programme and business development teams to understand and support research and intelligence needs around Living Wage accreditation and the diversification of the Foundation’s work.
Support cross-organisational research projects managed by wider team.
Communications
Contribute to LWF Communications Strategy, ensuring Research is built in to forward plans and supports broader communications objectives.
Support the Foundation’s communications team on individual research reports and stories, ensuring team is aware of key research findings, methods, wider context and risks.
Work with colleagues at the Foundation to develop case studies, toolkits and examples of best practice that help to promote the Living Wage, and support employers to adopt it.
Relationship management
Build and manage relationships with research organisations, academics, think tanks and employer networks, leveraging these networks to maximise research impact.
Identify and develop strategic partnerships with a range of stakeholders – including project partners and funders to support the Foundation’s work.
Represent the Foundation at meetings and events, including speaking on panels and in roundtables on research- and policy-related issues.
Upskill wider team in research concepts, datasets and processes relevant to LWF.
Train members of research team to support to colleagues where required, including by responding to data-requests and providing input on project-specific research activity where required.
Person Specification
(D) Desirable, (E) Essential
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional qualification (D)
Experience
Proven, comprehensive experience in a research or analytical role (E)
Experience in managing researchers (E)
Experience of building and managing successful relationships and partnerships with research organisations, funders, and other stakeholders (E)
Experience of conducting or managing research related to the labour market, low pay or in-work poverty (D)
Experience of commissioning and overseeing research projects delivered by others, and/or applying for or delivering externally funded research (D)
Key skills and knowledge
Excellent quantitative research skills, and knowledge of a range of quantitative research techniques (E)
Knowledge of secondary datasets related to the labour market, such as the Labour Force Survey and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (E)
Ability to work with Microsoft Excel, and at least one other statistical software package for analysis (e.g. SPSS, Stata, R or Python) (E)
Excellent written and oral communication skills in a range of formats (e.g. briefings, reports, blogs and presentations) (E)
Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to build and manage internal and external relationships (E)
Ability to act on own initiative, to introduce and develop new projects and ideas (E)
Understanding of the key drivers of in-work poverty in the UK and broader labour market dynamics (D)
Project or programme evaluation skills, including cost-benefit analysis techniques (D)
Understanding of the policy and campaign landscape in the UK (D)
Qualitative research skills (D)
Personal qualities & values
A proactive approach to all areas of work, with a ‘can do’ attitude and a flexible approach to work demands (E)
Strong attention to detail, with the ability to sense check data and critically review findings outlined in research reports and briefings (E)
A strong commitment to the Living Wage campaign and principles of Citizens UK (E)
Interviews are likely to be held 7th and 8th March, 2024 (subject to change).
