Service and Systemic Change Evaluator
We're looking for a full-time (or 0.8 FTE), Service and Systemic Change Evaluator to join our fully remote and impact driven team.
Deadline for applications Sunday 3rd November 23:00
Permanent, £46,725 FTE
Do you feel passionately about improving the life chances of children, young people and families? Are you an experienced social researcher experienced in a range of evaluative methods and approaches? Want to work in a dynamic and practically applied context, with a smart, supportive team?
Dartington Service Design Lab is an internationally respected social research and design charity focussed on using evidence to help those working with children and young people have a greater impact. We have over 60 years of experience working across the public and voluntary sectors to improve the lives of children and young people.
We are seeking an experienced mixed methods social researcher, with a particular interest and expertise in evaluation. Whilst the role is varied, the primary focus is the formative, developmental and summative evaluation and iterative refinement of a range of service-level and place-based and/or systemic change initiatives focused on improving outcomes for children, families and communities. The work involves applying mixed methods and working with an inter-disciplinary team (internally and with collaborating partners).
Approaches will be tailored depending on the needs of each project but are likely to include theory-driven approaches such as theory of change, realist evaluation and contribution analysis alongside experimental or quasi-experimental methods. The candidate need not be expert in all but must have a curiosity and willingness to learn and apply different methods in a range of contexts.
The role is practically applied, varied and fast-paced - leading and contributing to multiple projects, concurrently. It involves working closely with internal and external collaborators, innovating to blend robust research methods with human-centred design and systems thinking approaches. We value curiosity, relational approaches, and evidence-informed approaches to advancing social justice.
The role will suite someone who is impact-driven, able to lead and thrives in a dynamic and applied research environment. The successful candidate will enjoy a varied and independent role - working with great colleagues and partners on a wide range of projects and initiatives.
If we’re going to design impactful supports for children and families, we need to ensure our team is inclusive. Dartington Service Design Lab encourages applications from all backgrounds and strives to have a team with diverse skills, experiences and abilities. We are committed to progressing an anti-racist approach in all areas of our work.
Don’t meet every single requirement outlined in the Job Description? Studies have shown that women and racially minoritised groups are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single requirement. Dartington Service Design Lab is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace for everyone. So, if you’re excited about this role but your experience or qualifications don’t match the job description exactly, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might just be the right person to help us achieve our impact for children and young people.
As a team, we operate remotely across the UK. The successful candidate may be based anywhere in the UK. Our staff tend to work from home or when appropriate, together in local co-working spaces, and normally, every quarter we meet as a whole team in our beautiful Devon office.
The post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate and pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed.
The full Job Description can be downloaded here
Thank you for your interest in working at the Dartington Service Design Lab. We are an independent research and design charity. We believe that the generation and use of evidence can inform the design and improvement of services and supports for children, families and their communities.
This has been our focus for over 60 years, and during this time we’ve been an influential voice for greater investments in early intervention, prevention and evidence-informed practice.
In recent years we have explored innovative ways of bringing together different sources of insight to ensure that evidence is practically useful, locally nuanced and is centred around the voices and experiences of young people. This includes the fusion of social research, user-centred design, data science and systems thinking.
We’ve been applying these approaches with a diverse range of community and public system partners, trusts and foundations, ‘what works’ centres and service delivery organisations. We are confident in the potential for our approaches to bring about positive change.
We are looking to boost our exceptional team with a Service and Systemic Change Evaluator. This role will lead the evaluation of a range of service-level and place-based or systemic change initiatives focused on improving outcomes for children and young people.
It is an exciting time to join our team. We’ve got big ambitions for what we can achieve having recently refreshed our strategy. If you care about social justice and equity, progressive and anti-racist research, and want to work in a dynamic environment with a smart team, then read on. In the following pages you will find information about the charity, our work, our values, and how to apply.
Thank you for your interest in our team. I hope you are tempted to join us.
Tim Hobbs
CEO, Dartington Service Design Lab
The Dartington Service Design Lab is part of the Warren House Group, a charity registered in England, Wales and Scotland. All our work is not-for-profit and in service of improving outcomes for children, young people and families.
Our vision:
Dartington Service Design Lab’s vision is for all children to thrive, supported by communities, services and systems that prioritise their health, wellbeing, safety and potential.
Our purpose:
We work in partnership to design, implement and evaluate systemic change efforts to improve outcomes for children, young people and families. We work with others to create the conditions and environments for systems change and ensure that knowledge, evidence and learning is implemented into policy and practice.
Our approach:
We work with funders, commissioners, community partnerships and service providers to use evidence, design and systems thinking in innovative and practical ways.
We do this through:
1. Strategic partnerships and non-profit consultancy.
We work with partners to:
Co-design strategies and services to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for children and families: We create trusted partnerships and give voice and agency to young people, families and communities in a design process.
Contextualise data and evidence: We use data to explore local needs and inequalities, and consider how evidence applies to the nuances and realities of different places and contexts.
Inform decision-making when things are complex: We use a Systems Thinking approach to see the bigger picture and identify systemic opportunities for change.
2. Working in partnership to advance systemic change.
As a charity, we are committed to creating an impact for children, families and communities that extends beyond our consulting work. We form partnerships with those committed to advancing change in their local communities or public services. We work together to build knowledge, skills, confidence and capabilities of young people and partners to advance systemic change. We do so by helping partners to integrate systems thinking, evidence and co-design in innovative ways. We freely share our learning, write, deliver training - and are continually learning ourselves.
You can read more about our integrated approach by clicking here.
We place great importance on our values, which are:
We are curious
We listen carefully and attentively
We approach things from different angles and perspectives
We challenge assumptions, our own included
We strive for social justice
We surface and address systemic drivers of social inequality and injustice
We embed antiracist and inclusive principles and practices to all our work
We are committed to promoting youth and community empowerment
We are collaborative & relational
We value and respect a multitude of voices
We build relationships with people
We develop purposeful partnerships to achieve more than we could alone
We are evidence-informed
We are methodical, transparent and ethical
We value different forms of evidence, guided by the questions we are exploring
We exercise our best judgement, carefully weighing up the available information
Inclusion and anti-racism
Explicit in our values is a commitment to embedding equitable and inclusive approaches across all our work. In particular, we are focused on becoming an anti-racist research organisation and creating an open, inclusive working environment where everyone feels safe, included and can voice challenge, be heard and backed-up. We don’t claim to have figured all this out, but we are committed to continually learning and improving our practices.
Flexible and remote working, connecting and having fun
Since 2016, the Lab has operated in a distributed, flexible and remote working way. Most of the team work predominantly from home, across the UK, being well equipped with great technology and working from home allowances. To support the removal of barriers to colleagues contributing fully as employees and to address equity considerations, we have a flexible working policy that trusts individuals to manage their time, working flexibly to deliver against our commitments. Individuals are asked to work a minimum of four hours between 8am and 6pm but the remainder is up to them (balanced against business needs with a pro-rata number of days minimum based on the FTE).
The team regularly travel and connect through project-based and business development work, and we also make available a co-working budget, enabling members of the team to regularly work out of local co-working spaces (kept under review subject to affordability).
We also get together as a whole team three or four times a year in our beautiful South Devon base. During this time we collaborate, connect, explore ideas and have fun together.
Other benefits
In addition to a competitive salary, we also offer a decent pension, great technology and a Health and Wellbeing Allowance (used as you see fit), alongside training and progression opportunities. (subject to affordability)
We are committed to a recruitment approach that is inclusive and de-biased to ensure all candidates can be fairly assessed.
All candidates are asked to complete the application form online and submit a resume/CV at the same time after which you will receive confirmation of receipt. You are not required to submit a covering letter as these will not be considered.
The application form includes three questions which will be scored by the selection panel. The questions will be extracted and assessed without reference to any other documentation that could bias the review of responses (i.e. Name, CV, etc). The questions can be seen on the second page of the application form and we would encourage candidates to work on the answers offline, and copy and paste the answers into their form when they are ready to submit.
Following the scoring of questions, those candidates meeting a minimum threshold will have their redacted CVs assessed and scored against objective criteria. CVs will have all identifiable information removed such as name, address, university attended (if relevant).
Those candidates scoring highest at this stage will be invited to an online interview with the selection panel. When invited you will be informed of the panel membership and also the questions that you will be asked, allowing you to prepare appropriately. We may hold a second round of online or in-person interviews, if required.
Please let us know if you require any special provision or have access requirements and we will accommodate these should you be invited for interview.
Kindly note we are committed to safer recruitment practice and pre-selection checks including an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check and referencing will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed.
In line with our commitment to equity across the Lab, we have made the decision not to negotiate regarding salary on appointment or progression. The evidence shows that negotiation of salary is an inherently inequitable process that marginalises women and those from racially minoritised communities. We do, however, have a transparent grade and scale structure for all those in the Lab which, based on organisational affordability and satisfactory performance in role, will result in an increase to salaries every two years up until the ceiling of that particular role’s banding.
