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Evaluation Specialist

Salary: £58,461.00 - £60,573.00 pa inclusive

Grade: 14

Fixed-term contract and/or secondment opportunity for 12 months

This is an exciting opportunity for someone passionate about using evidence and learning to drive real-world impact. The role leads evaluation capacity building activities across a high-profile programme focused on tackling health inequalities, working at the intersection of local government, academia, and local community organisations. It offers a strong blend of strategic influence and hands-on delivery, supporting teams to design robust evaluations, build their capacity, and embed a culture of learning and reflection. The position provides the chance to shape how evidence is used across the council, collaborate with leading research partners, and develop innovative approaches to understanding change and impact.

You’ll be joining a supportive and purpose-driven team, with meaningful opportunities to influence systems-level change, it’s an ideal role for someone motivated by impact, collaboration, and continuous learning.

Ealing Council is seeking a dynamic Evaluation Specialist for 12 months fixed term maternity leave to lead and grow our evaluation capacity as part of Evidence and Learning for Health, the NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) Ealing. This is a unique opportunity to embed evaluative thinking across council services and community partnerships, ensuring our work delivers real, measurable change for residents.

Ealing Council’s vision is to improve the lives of our residents by building healthy and connected communities. The council is one of four London boroughs (and 30 across the UK) to be awarded £5 million from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to create the NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration Ealing. This will enable us to have the capacity and infrastructure to do meaningful research and evaluation on the health determinants in Ealing, learning together how to promote more healthy, thriving and equitable communities.

As a partnership with local community organisations- Golden Opportunities for Skills and Development, Ealing and Hounslow Community and Voluntary Service, and Southall Community Alliance, and research institutions -London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London, and the Institute of Development Studies, the HDRC Ealing will bring a new approach to collecting and learning from data and insights on the building blocks of health, with stronger community involvement in research and evaluation.

We are looking for an exceptional candidate who has the expertise and passion to drive forward this exciting programme of work. You will be skilled in developmental evaluation approaches as a key requirement of the post is to build and embed capacity in using evaluation for measurement, evaluation and learning across Ealing Council.

This is a fixed term contract for 12 months to provide maternity cover for this post; secondments from academic institutions and VCSFE organisations are welcomed. Please contact Lily Mellor on lmellor001@ealing.gov.uk for more information.

What You’ll Do

1. Build evaluation capacity across council teams and community partners by:

• Providing guidance, coaching, and practical support to embed evaluation and learning into day-to-day practice.
• Co-developing robust evaluation approaches, including theories of change and evaluation frameworks, to strengthen the link between activities, outputs, and outcomes.
• Advising on and supporting the design and implementation of data collection methods and tools, ensuring they are proportionate, practical, and aligned to evaluation objectives.
• Supporting teams to synthesise evaluation findings that are clear and actionable to inform decision-making and continuous improvement.

2. Develop and deliver training on Measurement, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)

3. Collaborate with academic and community partners on research funding and evaluation projects

4. Support developmental evaluation of the HDRC programme, working as evaluation co-lead with LSHTM academic partners

What We’re Looking For

• Expertise in diverse evaluation approaches, including skills in qualitative methods, systems informed methods, MEL (measurement evaluation and learning) and developmental evaluation.
• Proven ability to deliver training and support on evaluation.
• Strong understanding of local government, academic and voluntary/community sectors.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and leadership skills.
• A Masters degree (or equivalent evaluation experience) in public health, evaluation, or related fields.

Why Join Us?

• Be part of a forward-thinking team committed to health equity.
• Work with leading academic institutions and vibrant community organisations.
• Shape a culture of learning and impact across Ealing.
• Help secure funding and drive innovative evaluation projects.

The position is for a fixed period of 12 months. External applicants will be offered a fixed-term contract and existing Ealing Council employees will be offered the opportunity of a secondment. Ealing Council employees must ensure that a secondment release form is signed by their line manager before applying and emailed to Recruitment@ealing.gov.uk by the application closing date.

• evaluation specialist JD _ mat leave cover.pdf