Head of Evidence & Improvement

About Nesta

Nesta is a research and innovation foundation that designs, tests and scales solutions for the biggest challenges of our time.

Driven by a vision to improve the lives of millions of people, our focus up to 2030 is on three missions: breaking the link between family background and life chances, halving obesity and cutting household carbon emissions.

We work with partners across the public, private and third sectors to develop high-potential solutions and test them as they evolve, drawing on deep expertise in qualitative and quantitative research, data science, behavioural science and design.

Once confident in the effectiveness of a solution, we are relentless in the pursuit of scale. We create and make the case for ambitious national policy proposals, develop consumer-facing products and services, spin out and support commercial ventures and harness the power of the arts to shape national narratives.

We extend our impact through two specialised units that help others to solve complex problems and achieve their missions. BIT applies a deep understanding of human behaviour to help clients achieve their goals. Challenge Works designs and runs challenge prizes to spark innovation in science, technology and society.

Together, we are building a powerful ecosystem for innovation that delivers proven solutions to create lasting, positive change.

Whatever it takes

Everyone works at Nesta because we are driven by a deep commitment to our missions. A guiding principle of our culture is that we do whatever it takes to achieve them, bringing our best to all our work. You can read more about our culture on our website.

We are recruiting for a Head of Evidence & Improvement
About the mission

Nesta’s A Fairer Start mission aims to ensure that every child has a fair chance of developing to their full potential in the early years. Our portfolio of work spans parenting support, financial support, integrated early years systems, and high quality early childhood education and care. We bridge practical, on-the-ground improvements with long-term policy development and reform. 

As part of our A Fairer Start mission, Nesta is seeking to incubate an ambitious cross-sector initiative focused on improving the quality, evidence base, and real-world impact of parenting and home learning environment programmes in the early years.

Hosted by Nesta,we aim to bring together programme developers, local authorities, practitioners, and evaluators to bridge the gap between research and frontline practice across three core pillars:

• Programme development: Supporting developers to design, adapt, and iteratively improve early years programmes through test-and-learn approaches—ensuring interventions are engaging for families, feasible for teams to deliver, and built for measurable impact.
• Evaluation: Commissioning robust, UK-based evidence on what works, for whom, and in what contexts through rigorous feasibility, implementation, and impact evaluations.
• Evidence into practice: Translating findings into practical tools, guidance, and actionable insights that help commissioners and practitioners use the best available evidence to shape services.

The role

We are looking for a Head of Evidence & Improvement to help lead this programme’s development and evaluation work. This is a 3-year, fixed-term role.

Your responsibilities will include: 

• Strategic decision-making: Shape the EIP’s strategy and translate this into programme development and evaluation priorities, including decisions on portfolio scope, programme prioritisation and delivery plans.
• Evaluation leadership: Oversee a substantial portfolio spanning feasibility studies, pilot and impact evaluations (including RCTs and QEDs), and value-for-money analysis.
• Programme improvement: Oversee a portfolio of test and learn support to programme developers, supporting improvement of key aspects of programme engagement and effectivenessEvaluation standards and processes: Develop, own and continuously improve the EIP’s evaluation standards, policies and processes, including, evidence thresholds, quality standards, and processes for managing evaluations throughout their lifecycle.
• Technical oversight and quality assurance: Provide senior technical oversight across the portfolio, including stage-gate decisions, quality assurance of evaluation designs and findings, and judgements on the strength of evidence.
• Budget and resource management: Support the EIP’s Director with planning the EIP’s budget and resourcing. Oversee substantial budgets, ensuring resources are allocated effectively across the portfolio.
• Relationship management: Build and manage senior relationships with funders, local authorities, practitioners, programme developers, evaluators and other key partners.
• Team leadership: Lead and develop the multidisciplinary Evidence & Improvement team, setting clear direction and priorities.

Candidate criteria

Essential

• Extensive experience in designing, delivering and/or commissioning complex evaluations, including RCTs, quasi-experimental and mixed-method approaches, in early years or a related field.
• Experience improving products, services and/or programmes through short learning cycles, drawing on multidisciplinary R&D approaches such as design and behavioural science to test and iterate improvements.
• Exceptional strategic thinking and judgement, with experience translating strategic objectives into portfolio priorities and delivery plans, and balancing delivery constraints, competing stakeholder priorities, and potential impact.
• Experience leading a substantial portfolio of project activity through others, providing senior technical oversight and holding project teams to account for delivering their work on time and to a high standard
• A track record of driving high standards in research and evaluation, including quality assuring evaluation designs and findings, and making judgements about the strength of evidence.
• Experience leading and developing high-performing multidisciplinary teams, and a passion for supporting others to bring their best and learn on the job.
• Strong relationship and stakeholder management skills, including managing senior relationships with delivery partners, evaluators, government and other partners.
• An impact-focused mindset that reflects Nesta’s ‘whatever it takes’ culture, with a collaborative approach and willingness to learn and adapt.

Desirable:

• PhD or equivalent research experience in a relevant field (e.g., early years, implementation science, social policy, public health, economics) and quantitative research design expertise with a strong grounding in impact evaluation approaches.
• Experience contributing to funding proposals or bids
• Knowledge and experience of the early years sector, particularly parenting and home-learning interventions, and English local authority delivery contexts.
• Experience reporting on portfolio performance and evidence to funders and/or governance bodies.

What we offer

Salary: £79,900 - £90,400 (subject to seniority and experience) plus an array of benefits, including private medical insurance, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave and more  
Location: This role is based in Blackfriars, London, hybrid working arrangement with a minimum of two days in the office
Term: 3 year fixed term contract
Hours: This is a full-time role 

Making an application 

To apply for this role, please submit your application before 8:00am on the 16th of November 2026.

Interviews will take place w/c the 23rd of November 2026.
 
At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results. 
 
We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop. 
 
This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful. 
 
We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.  
 
Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.