Senior Evaluation Analyst

The responsibilities for the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology for 2023 are as follows:

• Positioning the UK at the forefront of global scientific and technological advancement
• Driving innovations that change lives and sustain economic growth
• Delivering talent programmes, physical and digital infrastructure and regulation to support our economy, security and public services
• R&D funding

For 2023, our priorities are:

• Optimise public R&D investment to support areas of relative UK strength and increase the level of private R&D to make our economy the most innovative in the world.
• Promote a diverse research and innovation system that connects discovery to new companies, growth and jobs – including by delivering world-class physical and digital infrastructure (such as gigabit broadband), making the UK the best place to start and grow a technology business and developing and attracting top talent.
• Put our public services – including the NHS and schools – at the forefront of innovation, championing new ways of working and the development of in-house STEM capability to improve outcomes for people.
• Strengthen international collaboration on science and technology in line with the Integrated Review, and ensure our researchers are able to continue to work with leading scientists in Europe and around the world.
• Deliver key legislative and regulatory reforms to drive competition and promote innovation, including the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill and our pro-innovation approach to regulating AI.
• Pass the remaining stages of the reformed Online Safety Bill to keep British people, especially children, safe online.

Our Inclusive Environment

We are building an inclusive culture to make the Department a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, not only because we believe it is the right thing to do, but because it will help us be more innovative and make better decisions.

We offer first-class flexible working benefits, excellent employee well-being support and a great pension. We are fortunate to have a range of excellent staff networks and are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We will support talented people from all backgrounds to build a career and thrive.

We actively welcome applications from anyone who shares our commitment to inclusion. We will fully support candidates with a disability or long-term condition who require adjustments in our recruitment process.

Find Out More

We regularly run events where you can find out more about the department and tips for the application process. You can sign up for upcoming events here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/departmentforsciencetechnologyandinnovation?

You can also follow our LinkedIn Careers Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/dsitcareers/

This role sits within the Digital Infrastructure Analysis team. The Digital Infrastructure (DI) directorate leads on policies that promote telecoms infrastructure investment and protect national security, whilst running innovative pilot programmes for the next generation of technology. Having a world-leading sustainable telecoms infrastructure is a priority for the Government and underpins DSIT’s objective to make the UK the best digital economy in the world and drive digital transformation.

You will be reporting to the Head of Economics & Analysis for Future Telecoms Technology Policy (FTTP) and Future Networks Programmes (FNT), and work alongside other analysts, project delivery, and policy colleagues, to help provide direction and leadership to ensure programmes have robust evaluations in place.

The role will primarily focus on evaluating our research and innovation programmes designed to promote the development and adoption of 5G, OpenRAN and Future Telecoms programmes.

Our £200m 5G Testbed and Trials (5GTT) Programme was established in 2017 to stimulate market development and deployment of 5G technology and infrastructure in the UK. Testbeds were used to help industry understand the challenges of deploying new technologies and also provide evidence of different use cases, bringing ideas closer to commercialisation. A Process and Early Impact Evaluation was conducted in 2020, and an Interim Evaluation is close to being finalised. A Final Evaluation is planned for 2025.

Our £250m Open Networks Programme was launched in 2021 to build a more competitive and diverse telecoms equipment supply chain following recent and ongoing changes in the market. A Baseline Evaluation was conducted in 2022, and an Initial Evaluation is currently taking place. An Interim Evaluation is planned for 2026/27, with a Final Evaluation in 2029/30.

Following these successful R&D programmes, we have secured funding for multiple others, including:

* 5G Innovation Regions: A £40m fund that aims to accelerate 5G adoption in regions by bridging the gap between the technical trials undertaken in the 5GTT Programme and using 5G in the real world.

* Smart Infrastructure Pilots: A £3m allocation to Local Authorities for Local Authorities and Private Sector Companies to work together to implement Smart Lampposts (lampposts that deliver a range of smart services, e.g. public wi-fi, environmental monitoring, public safety, digital signage, geo-fencing, intelligent transport, electric-vehicles charging)

* Rural Connectivity Fund: A £7m project to improve connectivity in rural areas by testing new ways of deploying wireless, fixed and satellite technologies to reduce barriers.

You will lead and manage the evaluations for these programmes, as part of our evaluation team alongside another Senior Evaluation Analyst with support from our Economists and Operational Researchers. We are also developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy for Digital Infrastructure and running social-research and evaluation teach-ins, which you will support with. This is a fantastic opportunity to apply established and innovative methods to high-profile programmes, as well as build social research and evaluation expertise among colleagues.

Due to the nature of our work, you will also get the opportunity to work on evaluations of other schemes, such as the rollout of gigabit broadband. And you will get the opportunity to travel to events and meet with project organisations and industry situated across the UK.

Key Responsibilities

This is a high profile analytical role, involving close collaboration with senior policy makers within DSIT and across the civil service. Some of the responsibilities will include:

Overseeing evaluation work on individual projects and the programme as a whole – developing robust monitoring and evaluation plans for the programmes.

Commissioning and project managing external contractors who are delivering evaluations for us. This involves writing research specifications, procuring research, managing delivery, and communicating findings to inform policy.

Acting as subject matter expert on evaluation and benefit realisation – identifying what information needs to be gathered and analysis required to ensure that we have successful monitoring and sufficient evidence for future planned evaluations.

Provide technical support and advice to policy colleagues on research methods, including advising on the relative robustness of competing sources of evidence and the interpretation of findings.

Leading regular assessments of the Programmes against our key success measures – communicating and promoting evaluation across Digital Infrastructure.

Provide quality assurance on research projects and ensure they are focused on delivering insights for research questions most relevant to achieving the department’s objectives.

Ensure regular reporting of market monitoring and performance of the Programme to the Digital Infrastructure Portfolio Boards and Delivery Management Boards.

Mentoring junior analysts and contributing to analysis across DI, and wider DSIT Evaluation and GSR Community, particularly providing peer review and sharing knowledge and best practice – with the possibility of line managing one or two junior analysts.

Evaluation: Experience of evaluating projects or policy interventions according to best practice (Magenta Book).

Delivering at pace: Ability to deliver high impact analysis to tight deadlines focusing on what matters most to inform decisions – using forward planning and good judgement to identify risks and issues and where to make trade-offs to address them.

Analysis of data: Strong analytical experience in analysing costs and benefits of complex policy projects or government interventions, and presenting a range of information and evidence from diverse sources to inform decision making.

Communicating and influencing: Experience of effectively communicating complex issues to senior colleagues or stakeholders. Experience of establishing relationships and influencing a range of people to build support for a common goal.

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

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

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

• Analysis and Evaluation experience

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an average employer contribution of 27%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
• A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.

Job contact :

• Name : Jibirila Leinyuy
• Email : Jibirila.Leinyuy@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

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