Deadline: 9am, Monday 3rd February

The Sutton Trust delivers a suite of programmes in partnership with leading universities and employers, which offer young people from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to explore highly competitive universities, courses, apprenticeships and a range of the UK’s leading professions.

This is a new role within the Programmes Directorate to bring together in-house capacity and lead on the impact evaluation of our programmes. The Sutton Trust has an excellent reputation in this field with well-developed theories of change, robust evaluation framework and extensive data and feedback from programme participants. This role will be central in evolving and implementing our impact strategy, leveraging sector best practice, and embedding a culture of learning. The role will lead on the analysis, and delivery of internal evaluation reports, commission external evaluators as appropriate and oversee dissemination of impact to key stakeholders, working closely with members of our Development team in relation to dissemination to funders.

The role will be expected to liaise with relevant colleagues in university and delivery partner organisations and chair the Evaluation Working Group comprised of colleagues in impact roles at university partners.

We are looking for an experienced impact and evaluation manager who will passionately thrive in a fast-paced environment. The role will report to the Director of Programmes working closely with the Head of University Access and Digital, Head of Employability Programmes and Head of Alumni. The role will manage the Systems and Evaluation Manager, be a member of our Extended Senior Leadership Team and we see the function growing in future to include junior support and with excellent progression opportunities.

Main duties

• Providing operational management of the Trust's strategic approach to impact, improving monitoring and evaluation, and embedding the integration of impact across our programmes. This includes the creation and development of theories of change, evaluation frameworks and approaches.
  
• Working with colleagues across the Programmes team and within our delivery partners (such as universities) to ensure our approach to evaluation is streamlined and complementary. This will include chairing the Evaluation Working Group.
  
• Lead and manage the collection and storage of all qualitative and quantitative data necessary to evaluate programmes, developing methodologies and encouraging best practice across the whole team.
  
• Support the Systems and Evaluation Manager to continue the development of our CRM, Salesforce, to support data collection.
  
• Manage the delivery of impact and evaluation reports and presentations across all programmes for a range of technical and non-technical audiences to share outcomes and impact
  
• With support from the Director of Programmes and relevant programme leads, commission and manage third parties to deliver research and evaluation work, providing quality assurance and adhering to project timelines and budgets.
  
• Conduct analysis and run internal evaluation from time to time to support programme management and requests from funders and other key stakeholders.
  
• Working with colleagues across the Trust, including the Development team, on annual impact reports and updating of external facing assets such as our website in respect to programme impact.
  
• Line managing one direct line report with a view to building additional junior support into the team as appropriate.
  
• Represent the Trust and share learnings at external events
  
• Other duties as necessary from time to time

Person Specification

We welcome applications from individuals who have experience in:

• Thorough understanding of impact collection and evaluation processes within a charity, tools and methods to maximise learning at all organisational levels
• Demonstrable experience in using quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques in social impact evaluation settings
• Proven ability to develop impactful public-facing reports, creating compelling narratives supported by rigorous evidence for different audiences.
• Experience of line management and working across teams to achieve shared goals
• Experience of procuring services, setting up contracts with external partners and ensuring projects are delivered on time and on budget
• Strong stakeholder and project management skills
• Working within or an understanding of the not for profit sector;
• Excellent verbal and written communication and strong analytical skills
• Good knowledge of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act
• High degree of initiative and the ability to take responsibility for projects
• Personable, flexible and discreet; able to fit in to a small team

Experience in/knowledge of the following areas will help you to stand out, but is not required:

• Has knowledge and experience of the higher education and/or education sectors
• Has knowledge of the access and participation sector including the Office for Students’ standards of evidence and TASO HE guidance;
• Has knowledge of young people career transition related programmes

We are also looking for an individual who:

• Is sympathetic to the aims of the Trust and its mission to address educational disadvantage;
• Has excellent attention to detail;
• Has first-class interpersonal skills - a natural ambassador able to represent the Sutton Trust in a range of settings;
• Has experience of working with CRM systems (e.g. Salesforce)
• Is eligible to work in the UK (see here for information about right to work)

Terms of Appointment

• Contract: Full-time, Permanent
• Salary: £50,000-£55,000
• Working location: Minimum of 2 office days per week
• Office location: The Sutton Trust, 9th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP. Our home working policy gives staff the option to work from home for up to 60% of the time, with approval from their line manager.
• Hours: The standard working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday and may also be required to attend events / meetings outside of their normal working hours during weekday evenings and occasionally at weekends
• DBS check will be required


Scroll down to find out about our staff benefits!

Please note that your application should be submitted in one go - you can view the questions by clicking on the link if you would like to prepare in advance.

Interviews

Applications should reach us by 9am, Monday 3rd February, with first round interviews held over Zoom on Wednesday 12th February and Thursday, 13th February, and second round interviews held at our London offices on Tuesday, 25th February.

Safeguarding statement

The Sutton Trust believes that a child, young person or vulnerable adult should never experience abuse of any kind. We all have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people and to keep them safe. Therefore all posts undergo a safer recruitment process, including but not limited to, disclosure of criminal records where necessary and eligibility to work in the UK. We have procedures in place to promote safeguarding and a safe culture at the Trust.

Contextual recruitment

The Trust is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity and that all applicants receive equal consideration for employment. We strongly encourage individuals from all backgrounds, including those underrepresented at present at the Trust, to apply for this role. As such we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds. We are committed to being an inclusive and welcoming place to work and know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for the young people we support.

We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates throughout our recruitment process and during employment.

We also operate contextual recruitment at the Sutton Trust. Our application process gives you the option to include information about your background, such as whether you were eligible for free school meals, whether your parents went to university, or whether you attended a state school. For more examples and information on contextual recruitment, please see our website.