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Job summary

IMPORTANT - This vacancy is using the Civil Service Verbal test. The deadline for completing the test is the same as the vacancy closing date. Please ensure you complete the test with sufficient time to complete the written application.

The Test Learn and Grow Unit

The DfE Test, Learn and Grow Unit will be a new, multidisciplinary team jointly delivered by the Department for Education (DfE) and the Cabinet Office to accelerate innovation across the education system. The unit will bring central government, local government, service providers, and users to tackle the challenges directly affecting people in the places they live.

Over 18 months, the unit will design, deliver and scale high‑impact Test & Learn projects across priority areas, including Cabinet Office “accelerator” projects, DfE place‑based missions as part of the Schools White Paper’s “Call to Action” to the sector, and other departmental innovation priorities.

Alongside delivery, the team will act as a centre of expertise for test‑and‑learn methods, build capability across the department, and develop a sustainable long‑term model for embedding innovation in policy and operational practice.

The Unit brings together expertise from the Behavioural Insights Unit, Regions Group, Cabinet Office TLG, and the Education Policy Innovation Centre (EPIC) — a multidisciplinary team with strengths in participatory policymaking and systems change.

This role will be hosted in EPIC and will work on priority Test, Learn and Grow (TLG) projects as part of a dedicated satellite team. The post is fixed term, ending April 2028.

Job description

We are looking for an outstanding SEO Data Analyst to join the teamwho is:

• a strong generalist problem-solver: able to think strategically to structure issues in complex systems; work confidently in an agile multi-disciplinary environment; help the team to develop solutions to address problems and deliver work at pace.
• an expert data analyst: able to identify hypotheses, research questions and analytical needs; critically assess data requirements and existing sources; select and use an appropriate range of statistical and analytical techniques; conduct technical analysis (eg in R) to answer key questions and meet user needs while understanding potential limitations.

For this role, we are looking for a member of one of the government’s analytical professions (Government Social Research, Government Operational Research, Government Economic Service, Government Statistical Group) to bring an analytical mindset and their professional experience to the team’s portfolio of test and learn projects and the strands that they will confidently lead. This is an exciting role which will involve in-person fieldwork in local areas alongside place-based partners.

Professional Analytical Badging

Candidates must already be part of, or be eligible and willing to join, one of the following professions: the Government Statistical Service (GSS); Government Social Research (GSR); Government Economics Service (GES); Government Operational Research Service (GORS). Please note that if you currently don’t hold this professional badging you will be required to go through the relevant assessment processes– see links for more details.

Although this is an analytical role, the work will involve a balance between hands on delivery of test and learn projects as a generalist alongside applying your analytical skills. This is an exciting role which will involve in-person fieldwork in local areas alongside place-based partners.

Delivering through a multi-disciplinary team, the post-holder will work with other user and social researchers, analysts, data experts, local delivery partners, policy colleagues and others to develop solutions to challenging delivery problems. The role involves close partnership with Cabinet Office, ministers, policy teams, local authorities, and delivery partners such as the Education Policy Innovation Centre (EPIC).

As a Data Analyst in the team, you will:

Apply your analytical expertise to drive rigorous Test & Learn projects

• Apply your analytical mindset to the design and delivery of high‑impact Test & Learn projects, helping shaping project direction, pace and priorities to deliver solutions through iterative testing cycles in partnership with your team and stakeholders.

• Support the team to translate broad policy aims into clear problem statements and testable hypotheses; deliver evidence‑based, user‑centred prototypes; and test and evaluate solutions using various sources of data as part of Test & Learn cycles, feeding back learning and evidence into the delivery process.
• Providing analytical leadership across projects – this could involve advising on data needs/quality, modelling choices, analytical approaches, evaluation design or appropriate levels of rigour.

Deliver and communicate impactful analysis

• Identify research questions to help address emerging problems and fill current evidence gaps aligned to key priorities.
• Assess data requirements, emerging needs and existing data sources (including limitations and opportunities to improve data quality) and manipulate data confidently using appropriate software (eg R).
• Select and use a wide range of appropriate statistical and analytical techniques to deliver solutions to complex problems, deploying your quantitative analysis experience (in areas such as modelling, predictive analysis, evaluation, econometrics etc) while considering the assumptions, strengths, limitations and interpretation of different approaches, ensuring a proportionate levels of quality assurance to manage analytical risks.
• Interpret and communicate analysis, research and evidence, translating this into strategic insights to set the overall direction. Explore and share innovative data visualisation to communicate data findings to users and tell a clear story using plain language to maximise understanding.

Work in effective multi‑disciplinary delivery teams

• Work alongside, and understand the value of, expertise from behavioural scientists, other analysts, user researchers, service designers, delivery leads, policy colleagues and others, incorporating their insights in your own analysis.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with senior stakeholders across DfE, Cabinet Office, EPIC, local authorities and external partners, working confidently to understand real‑world opportunities and drive forward project delivery within the constraints of the public sector.

Shape culture, capability and ways of working

• Support the wider unit in its goal of capability‑building across DfE, offering professional guidance across the department, possibly through tools, training, case studies and thought leadership.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Have the relevant qualifications/ certifications/ experience to be a badged government social researcher. This can be done at interview if you are not ‘badged’ already.
• Ability to think strategically, structure complex problems, identify evidence gaps, and spot opportunities to translate stakeholder needs into (i) clear research questions and (ii) pragmatically scoped analytical projects.
• Very strong quantitative skills relevant to your profession, with broad experience delivering impactful quantitative analytical projects: selecting and justifying appropriate methods, writing code to implement analysis, managing quality assurance, and interpreting outputs appropriately. Particularly relevant experience could include: complex modelling, evaluation design and delivery, economic or statistical analysis, predictive analysis, RCT design, data development.
• Experience delivering projects at pace, navigating uncertainty and managing competing priorities, reassessing workloads and ensuring everyone understands their own roles and responsibilities.
• Experience working in multi-disciplinary teams (including directly with policy or delivery colleagues), proactively seeking input from those with diverse backgrounds and perspectives; building strong relationships and establishing responsibilities; and spotting opportunities to improve processes and ways of working to achieve shared outcomes.
• Demonstrable experience translating data, analysis and evidence into actionable insights, communicating clear strategic recommendations for stakeholders to influence direction and decisions.
• Experience manipulating large and complex datasets using statistical software (such as R) to generate new insights

Desirable criteria

• Experience leading end‑to‑end Test & Learn or experimental projects (hypothesis‑driven design, prototyping, experimentation or evaluation through multi‑disciplinary teams).
• Direct experience delivering impact evaluations, randomised controlled trials, A/B tests or other evaluative methods.
• Experience working directly with local authorities, schools, MATs or other place-based delivery partners.

Desirable criteria will only be assessed at interview, in the event of a tie break situation to make an informed decision.

Technical Skills

You need to either be a badged member of the Government Statistical Service, Government Social Research, Government Economics Service or Government Operational Research Service, or eligible and willing to join. In your application, please clearly state if you are already badged, or eligible to be badged.

To be eligible for this route you should have:

A first- or second-class honours degree (2:1 for Fast Stream applications, 2:2 minimum for all other) in a numerate subject containing taught statistical content (e.g. Statistics, Data Science, Mathematics, Economics, Sciences, Psychology, Geography,)

OR a higher degree, for example MSc or PhD, in a subject containing formal statistical training (e.g. Statistics, Data Science, Mathematics, Economics, Sciences, Psychology, Geography,)

More details on eligibility for the relevant professions can be found here: Government Statistical Service (GSS); Government Social Research (GSR); Government Economics Service (GES); Government Operational Research Service (GORS).

Please note that if you currently don’t hold this professional badging you will be required to go through the relevant assessment processes – see links for more details.

We welcome applications from candidates seeking part time or compressed working patter. However, due to the nature of the work and the shift coverage required, the minimum number of contracted hours for this role is 30 hours per week over a 4 day period.

Qualifications

As per the eligibility requirements for GSS, GSR, GES or GORS.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• Please indicate if you are an existing GSS, GSR, GES or GORS member.If your response to the above question is no, using the links to the frameworks provided in the advert, please confirm you are eligible to become a member.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £42,806, Department for Education contributes £12,400 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.

As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.

You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.

We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.

Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.

Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

To apply for this role, please select 'Apply Now' at the top or bottom of this advert. CV details need to be included in the template within the application form; attached or emailed CVs will not be considered.

Please be advised there are four stages to the recruitment process for this role, these are outlined below.

Stage 1: Civil Service Verbal Test (CSVT)

When you have completed your personal information, you will be asked to complete the CSVT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage.

It is important you allow enough time to complete the test online (within 24-48 hours is recommended), and obtain the result before you can complete your full application online prior to the test closing date and time.

Do not leave completing the test until the last minute in case you experience any access or technical issues. There may not be technical support available after business hours.

While the tests should work on most operating systems and modern browsers with a good internet connection, we cannot guarantee that every combination will work. At the beginning, the test will check which browser you are using, and alert you if it is likely to be incompatible.

It is highly recommended that you complete the online test on a desktop computer, not a mobile phone or tablet.

If you are unsuccessful in passing the online test you will be unable to continue any further in the application process. If you successfully pass the test, you will then progress to stage 2 of completing the full application.

We reserve the right to increase the minimum pass mark for the CSNT and CSVT where there is a high volume of applications or a particularly strong field of candidates. Where this occurs, candidates who do not meet the revised pass mark will not progress further, and their written application will not be assessed.

Stage 2: Application

At sift stage, you will be assessed on your Experience in line with the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job advert.

To apply for this role, please provide:

Your CV – Set out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role.

Your Statement of Suitability – In no more than 750 words, provide examples of how your personal skills, qualities and experience meet the essential criteria. This is not intended to be a cover letter, instead work through each essential criteria in turn. You may wish to follow the STAR technique to help focus your examples. The key things we are looking for are what you did, how you did it and what the outcome was.

To confirm, the maximum word count for the statement of suitability is 750 words. Please adhere to this limit as anything over 750 words will not be taken into account.

Should there be a high volume of applicants, candidates may be sifted on the first three (3) essential criteria. and the Technical Statement.

Sifting is expected to take place in the week commencing 03 August 2026. Please note these dates are subject to change.

Please note, CV details must be contained within the template on the application form. Any CV or Statement of Suitability that has been emailed to our team will not be considered.

Stage 3: Interview

The interview will be a 2-part process:

Part 1 - Prepare and deliver a short presentation (approx.10 minutes) to the panel. Please be prepared to answer follow up questions on the presentation. Presentation details will be provided at least 1 week prior to interview. The presentation will assess the Technical Skills against one of the following, Government Statistical Service (GSS); Government Social Research (GSR); Government Economics Service (GES); Government Operational Research Service (GORS) frameworks. You may use AI to support your research and thinking, but you should not use AI to generate your presentation and script wholesale.

Part 2 - The interview will last approximately 60 minutes. You will be asked questions on the Behaviours listed above to determine your level of experience in these areas. Questions will typically ask for a brief and broad overview of your experience relevant to a criteria (e.g. tell us about your experience delivering policy projects) and/or a specific example (e.g. tell us about a time when you….). We may also ask you some follow-up questions.

We will also ask you Strengths based questions.

Behaviours are the actions and activities that people do which result in effective performance in a job. We want to get an understanding of the actions and activities that you have done (or would do) that result in effective performance.

Strengths are a way for Hiring Managers to understand what motivates you and what you enjoy doing, which helps the panel to understand your areas of strength. Evidence shows that people do better work when a job aligns well with what they enjoy and find motivating. We don’t advertise which strengths we are going to assess you on as we want to be able to assess your first, natural response to the questions.

Interviews will take place at toward the end of August 2026. Please note these dates are subject to change. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Interviews will be held over video conferencing using MS Teams. If you are invited to interview, please ensure that you have access to this software and that you have your video turned on. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We receive many applications, and unfortunately we’re not able to provide feedback for candidates who aren’t shortlisted. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

All communications will be electronic therefore it is vitally important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder.

Important Information

If you fail to complete the test before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn. Guidance will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are untimed, administered via Civil Service Jobs, and applicant guidance is available during the test and online on GOV.UK Online Tests guidance.

Applicants must complete the test on their own, without help, and Departments reserve the right to retest applicants under supervised conditions at later stages of the selection process. Doing this can provide reassurance to recruiters who are concerned about the authenticity of one or more test results.

Please ensure you allow yourself sufficient time to complete both assessments and submit your application before the advertised deadline.

Reasonable adjustments & test accessibility:

See our reasonable adjustments guide for candidates (online tests), or some example case studies, to act as a guide. You can use these to help you decide whether to ask for help or take the test without help.

More information about online tests can be found here: Preparing for the Civil Service Verbal and Numerical tests - GOV.UK. You will also find practice tests on this page if you would find them helpful prior to completing the live test.

Other Information

Interviews may be via Microsoft teams or face to face; the vacancy manager will confirm prior to the Interview.

In your application, please don’t include personal information that identifies you.

This means we can recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - it's called name blind recruitment (opens in a new window).

Please ensure that you remove from your application, all references to your:

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status

We reserve the right to raise the minimum pass mark in the event of a high volume or strong field of candidates.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK from the location options provided and not from overseas.

The government is committed to supporting apprenticeships, enabling people to learn and progress in a role whilst earning. We want to monitor the number of people who have completed apprenticeships who are now applying to progress further in their career and are asking this question to all candidates, on all vacancies. You will be asked a question as part of the application process about any previous apprenticeships you have completed. Your response to this question will not affect your application and it is not a requirement of the role to have completed a previous apprenticeship.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check maybe carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstance some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Department of Education of your intention by emailing Pre-Employment.Checks.DFE@education.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Department for Education do not cover the cost of travel to your interview/assessment unless otherwise stated.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Candidates will be posted in merit order based upon location preference. Where more than one location is advertised you will be asked to state your preferred location.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

Terms and conditions of candidates transferring from ALBs and NDPBs

Bodies that are not accredited by the Civil Service Commission and are not able to advertise at Across Government on Civil Service jobs will be treated as external new starters and will come into DfE on modernised terms and conditions with a salary at the band minimum.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission but do not have civil service status will be offered modernised terms and will not have continuous service recognised for leave or sickness benefits. Salaries should be offered at band minimum, but there is some flexibility where this would cause a detriment to the individual.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission and do have Civil Service status will be treated as OGD transfers. Staff appointed on lateral transfer will move on to pre-modernised DfE terms (unless they were on modernised terms in their previous organisation). Staff appointed on promotion will move on to modernised DfE terms. Staff will transfer over on their existing salary (on lateral transfer) and any pay above the DfE pay band maximum will be paid as a mark time allowance. Staff moving on promotion will have their salaries calculated using the principles set out in the attached OGD transfer supplementary information.

Reasonable adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Department of Education via centralrecruitment.operations@education.gov.uk soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Please refer to the attached ‘Reasonable Adjustments Guide 05_2025 – accessible version’ at the bottom of the advert, for further information.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to Department for Education (DfE) will mean you will no longer be able to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

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