Senior Statistician/Quantitative Analyst

The National Foundation for Educational Research
Slough - United Kingdom
S: £32,841-£44,136

Due to expansion within NFER the Centre for Statistics is looking for a Senior Statistician/Quantitative Analyst who can help maintain, and develop, the Centre's impact both internally and externally. With our new Chief Executive the Foundation is looking to make more of an impact with its quantitative analysis, and to achieve this we need to recruit confident and capable quantitative researchers. There is more data available on education issues than ever before and huge opportunities to analyse this data in order to address key policy and practice questions.

We are looking for a talented and enthusiastic individual who may come from a statistical or other quantitative background (including psychometrics, economics/econometrics or operational research). The individual must be keen to further develop their analytical skills within an organisation at the centre of educational research in the UK. We are interested in applications from individuals who are capable of carrying out high quality, complex quantitative analyses, as part of different research teams across the NFER, and who can be involved in a number of quantitative and strategic areas, notably RCT methodologies and/or value for money analysis. In addition to a large variety of evaluation work, the successful candidate would also be involved with an exciting portfolio of test development projects. They would report directly to the Head of Statistics.

Key qualities:

be well qualified in a quantitative discipline such as statistics, psychometrics, economics or operational research, and will have a degree with a high statistical content:
have at least 3 years relevant work experience;
have knowledge of national data collections and how they may assist educational research
an ability to design analysis that will answer specific policy related questions
be an experienced user of analytical software, particularly SPSS but including other packages such as R, MPlus and MLwiN;
can lead projects and other analysts within project teams;
have a practical and well-organised approach to the analysis of data;
be able to work quickly and accurately to meet deadlines;
be able to communicate effectively with a range of analysts, researchers and wider stakeholders;
an ability to draft proposals and contribute to income generation activities;
an ability to communicate analysis findings to a variety of audiences;
an ability to work flexibly as a member of a team with an interest in education or general social science research;
an ability to contribute to Foundation-wide strategic activities;
an ability to ensure the quality of all statistical outputs:
an ability to develop and maintain strong client relationships;

Desirable qualities:

knowledge of cost benefit/cost effectiveness analysis;
experience of working on RCTs;
preferably have a higher degree:
be knowledgeable of survey research and/or test development methodologies (classical or IRT);
The benefits of working at the Foundation include the opportunity to make a difference to the lives of children and learners through independent and robust research and analysis.

We have a pleasant office environment and beautiful surroundings, 30 days paid leave per year, over and above Bank holidays and discretionary days, good support for staff development and generous pension arrangements.

Job summary