Senior Analyst

The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people’s day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.

Everyone who works with us or in one of our agencies and public bodies has a part to play in achieving our vision of ‘creating a great place for people to live’. The work we do impacts the lives of everyone living in the UK.

About Defra’s Northern Ireland Programme

The Northern Ireland Directorate is working to deliver the requirements of the Windsor Framework. The Windsor Framework is the agreement reached between the EU and the UK to avoid a hard border with Ireland; while ensuring the UK, including Northern Ireland, leaves the EU as a whole, enabling the entire UK to benefit from future Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). The Framework replaces the previous Northern Ireland Protocol.

For Defra, implementation requires changes in relation to the movement of agrifood and involves extensive delivery with the equivalent Northern Ireland department – DAERA, and other government departments. Your role will be critically important to managing risks associated with delivering to the Windsor framework timelines, and upholding agreements made with the EU, and international legal obligations. This is a particularly exciting and high-profile area of work, made up a number of major delivery projects.

You will play an active role in shaping and delivering the Defra group’s priorities, informing decision making, and working creatively and collaboratively with others to deliver excellent outcomes.

Defra are looking for enthusiastic and confident individuals to lead on key elements that will enable the successful delivery of various projects within the Northern Ireland Programme.

The evidence and analysis team takes a flexible and supportive approach to its division of tasks and encourages team members to work on areas that fit their skills and interests whilst allowing stretch and development opportunities. The team work collaboratively and encourage a culture of knowledge sharing, developing techniques and analytical approaches in a supportive environment to both develop our skills as analysts whilst also considering innovative ways to deliver analytical requirements.

All roles involve working closely with policy and delivery colleagues in the Northern Ireland Directorate, to build evidence bases, develop methodologies, answer difficult analytical questions at pace, translate analysis into policy recommendations and work with colleagues across government to ensure the analysis is fit-for-purpose, well understood and appropriately used to influence decision-making.

Role 1: Senior analyst, cross-cutting analysis team

This role is most suited to an economist or statistician within a newly formed team designed to respond to the evolving nature of the work we do. In this role, candidates can expect to:

• Engage with policy and delivery colleagues across government to develop a program of cross-cutting analysis to support Defra’s work on the implementation of the Windsor Framework.
• Develop the evidence base to provide insight into the economic and societal impacts of the Windsor Framework.
• Carry out analytical scoping and ad-hoc analysis for policy and delivery teams within the Northern Ireland program.
• Actively shape the team to ensure work is focused and prioritised so that limited resource is used to greatest effect.

Role 2: Senior analyst, economic analysis team, responsibilities include:

• Leading on economical input into policy and delivery design, ensuring decisions are evidence based and value-for-money.
• Leading on formal economic assessments including impact assessments, de minimis assessments, business cases and cost-benefit analysis
• Developing the economic landscape evidence base for the Northern Ireland program.
• Extensive stakeholder engagement across government, Whitehall, and regulatory bodies.

Role 3: Senior analyst, data and modelling team, responsibilities include:

• Development of the Northern Ireland programs data strategy, ensuring the data we need is available, fit-for-purpose and used correctly.
• Development of modelling tools to support policy and delivery decisions, including the opportunity to demonstrate end to end delivery capability.
• Analysing new data sets and systems: This will involve skills such as data gathering, data cleaning, data analysis and data visualisation with use of programmes such as R.
• Building data-science capability within the direct and wider teams, specifically developing reproducible analytical pipelines and data visualisation tools.

Role 4: Senior analyst, Evaluation team:

The team is primarily responsible for the formulating and implementing the evaluation strategy for the program, with a secondary role as part of a matrix managed cross-cutting research function. It would be most suited to a social researcher or statistician. Indicative responsibilities include:

• Development of the evaluation framework to support policy development and learning.
• Synthesis and evaluation of quantitative and qualitative analyses to support policy and delivery.
• Develop a range of metrics and analytical products for experts and non-experts.
• Develop, commission, and manage social research and evaluation projects in a dynamic environment.
• Communicate effectively and disseminate data, evidence, insight and learning to policy teams and stakeholders.

Role 5: Senior analyst, Cross-cutting research team:

The team is a cross-cutting research team working across a range of areas to develop and maintain evidence bases and inform decision making. It would be best suited to a social researcher or a statistician. Specific responsibilities include:

• Develop, commission and manage research and evaluation projects in a dynamic environment.
• Use a range of mixed social research and analytical methods to support public consultation and to support policy/ delivery teams to develop appropriate approaches and methods.
• Collaborate with other analytical teams in Defra, other government departments, Arm’s Length Bodies and Devolved Administrations to access current data and evidence
• Communicate effectively and disseminate data, evidence, insight and learning to policy teams and stakeholders

We can only achieve our purpose through the skill, dedication, and professionalism of our people. You deserve to feel valued, rewarded and connected to the work you do – so through our People Strategy, we’re committed to making Defra an inclusive environment that engages, motivates, and ensures a better place to work for everyone.

• Strategic Thinking: You will need to be able to think strategically about how to use data and insights to drive positive change. This will involve being able to identify key areas for improvement, anticipate future trends and challenges, and develop evidence-based recommendations that can help inform policy and decision-making.
• Communication Skills: Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential for this role. You will need to be able to clearly articulate complex analytical findings to a range of stakeholders, including policymakers, and analysts. You will also need to be able to work collaboratively with other members of the team, providing clear and concise feedback on analysis and insights.
• Proactivity: You will need to be proactive in engaging with analytical and policy stakeholders to achieve maximum impact. This may involve proactively seeking out new sources of data or analytical insights, as well as working collaboratively with other members of the team to ensure that analysis and findings are integrated into policy and decision-making processes.
• Analytical Skills: You will be either a badged analyst or qualifications and experience to become badged at interview according to the essential qualifications outlined above.

This post is open to all those who are currently members, or who meet the eligibility requirements for membership, (refer to Eligibility document in the Apply and further information section below), of one of these government analytical professions. 

• Government Social Research profession (GSR) 
• Government Economic Service (GES) 
• Government Operational Research Service (GORS) 
• Government Statistical Group (GSG)

Your personal qualities will be as important as your professional experience; and we welcome applications from all backgrounds. If you believe you have the skills and qualities we are looking for, then we would like to hear from you.

Defra is dedicated to having a diverse workforce which represents people in our communities and an inclusive culture where everyone feels they can be their authentic self at work, belong in the organisation and can speak up to challenge. We want everyone to be able to contribute to the success of our organisation, regardless of your background.

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Making Effective Decisions

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• You need to demonstrate how you meet the Senior Research Officer / Senior Executive Officer / Senior Statistical Officer Technical Skills described in the relevant profession’s Technical Framework.

A career in the Civil Service is like no other. If you’re looking to join a world class team and develop your career with us, then the Civil Service is the place for you! You might be wondering, “what’s in it for me”? Take a look below at some of the benefits available to you as a civil servant in Defra.

NID Directorate Benefits – 

• Learning and Development – Everyone in Defra is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. When you join, you will be welcomed into your new team through an induction programme that will provide you with helpful information on the Civil Service, Defra, our work and our policies. 

Department Benefits

• An employer pension contribution of up to 27%
• Generous annual leave entitlement of 25 days for new entrants rising up to 30 days, (based on your working pattern)
• Family friendly flexible working arrangements, such as hybrid working, job sharing, term-time working, flexitime and compressed hours
• Learning and development tailored to your role this could include industry recognised qualifications, coaching and mentoring
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join staff networks
• Professional development, coaching, mentoring and career progression opportunities
• Time off volunteering and charitable giving
• Discounts and savings on shopping, fun days out and more
• Interest-free loans to buy a bike or a season ticket

Blended Working

Defra operates a blended working policy subject to business need, giving people the flexibility to choose when and where they work and collaborate with others.

Individuals are expected to work from one of the office locations stated in the advert to connect with their colleagues, as required by their role and business team needs. There is flexibility to split the working week, spending minimum of 40-60% in the workplace, unless exceptional circumstances apply and/or you are a contractual home worker.

Job contact :

• Name : nid.recruitment@defra.gov.uk
• Email : nid.recruitment@defra.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk