Policy and Research Advisor

Permanent, Full Time (35 hours per week)

About the role

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is working to speed up and support the transition to a more equitable and just future, free from poverty, in which people and planet can flourish. Inspired by the work of our founder over a century ago, today we are an independent, social change organisation, with an endowment, working across all nations of the UK.

This role will be shared across the Scotland Team and the Insight Infrastructure Team, with an approximate split of 80% of time with the Scotland Team and 20% with the Insight Infrastructure Team. It provides Policy Adviser support to the Scotland Team and includes assisting the Associate Director in the financial management of the team.

Scotland Team
As our Policy and Research Advisor, you will deliver projects that generate arguments, policies and ideas to address the social and economic challenges that underpin poverty in Scotland today and chart a course to a different and better future (and contribute to their development).

You will seek out and connect with people or organisations developing new ideas and strategies that can contribute to our mission; and to contribute ideas for how JRF should use its platform and resources to support their development and diffusion. You will help project JRF’s work externally in ways that seek to: shape the national conversation; influence power and decision making at the highest levels; build alliances and partnerships; catalyse social change across society; and nurture the seeds of longer-range shifts in thinking and action.

Insight Infrastructure Team
You will have day-to-day responsibility for recruiting and onboarding participants, providing ongoing support and managing the online research platforms hosting the online diaries and the forum, and preparing data for analysis. Working closely with the Qualitative Insight Manager to establish the Experiential Insights programme and develop processes for sharing insights within and beyond JRF, you will design research instruments, conduct research interviews and focus groups, analyse data and prepare outputs.

You will act as a conduit between both teams to identify links between the teams’ work and foster opportunities for new insight infrastructure work in Scotland (and Wales and Northern Ireland).

About you

Candidates will bring a knowledge of policy issues related to the causes and consequence of poverty and the social and economic conditions on which it rests. With an understanding of how policy making works across the UK, but in Scotland in particular, you will have an awareness of politics, relevant policy debates and approaches to social change in Scotland.

You will understand how analytical tools and methods can be used to understand and grapple with an issue (either quantitative or experiential), including how qualitative data can be used to influence social change and an understanding of research ethics. You will confident in engaging with people from a diverse range of backgrounds and providing a supportive and engaging working relationship with them.

You will have demonstrable experience of contributing positively and effectively in a team environment and of engaging with a range of stakeholders around policy issues. Able to communicate and persuade, via writing and speaking, you will be a strong multi-tasker, maintaining high attention to details.

You will have the ability to engage with policy dilemmas; drawing on key literature, research evidence, leading-edge practice and everyday experience, able to think critically and creatively, analyse and problem solve, and contribute to the generation of new ideas and alternative ways of approaching an issue.

How to apply

If you share our passion and this role sounds like you, then we’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Please submit your CV and supporting information via our online application platform.

The closing date for applications is Friday 14th March 2025

Interviews will take place in person in Glasgow on Friday 28th March.

We reserve the right to bring the closing date forward should enough quality applications be received prior to the current closing date.

Additional Information

Applications are welcome from all, regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or socioeconomic background.

We positively encourage applications from people from marginalised backgrounds, including but not limited to those with experience of living in poverty.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and operate an anonymised recruitment process so that bias is eliminated from the shortlisting process.

In support of our approach to flexible working, we are happy to receive applications from those seeking full-time employment, as well as those who may want to share the role on a part-time basis. When making your application, please state whether you want to be considered for either full or part-time work and, if part-time, the number of hours per week you would be looking for.

At JRF we’re at our best when we’re continually building on trust, showing we care and making a difference – and hope others will do the same. So, for those roles which allow it, we’re developing a more blended approach to how and where you work. This means you can expect to work flexibly between home and our office in Central Glasgow.

We are a Disability Confident Employer. This means that we are committed to the recruitment, progression and retention of disabled individuals. We shall also offer interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the job. If you have a disability, please tell us if you would like to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.

If you have any additional needs and need reasonable adjustments to be made to the interview process, please let us know