Deadline: 13 April 2026 @ 13:00
About TASO
The Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) is an affiliate What Works Centre, and part of the UK Government’s What Works Movement.
Our vision is that everyone has the opportunity to access, succeed and thrive in higher education. Our mission is to close equality gaps in higher education by building evidence on what works and by driving the use of evidence-informed practice.
TASO was set up in 2019 and became an independent charity in April 2021. Our work focuses on the generation, synthesis and dissemination of high-quality evidence about effective practice in widening participation and student outcomes. We primarily focus on developing and disseminating causal evidence.
The role
The Chief Research Officer will ensure the smooth and successful delivery of TASO’s Research & Evaluation programme, with overall responsibility for TASO’s Research and Evaluation budget. This will involve managing the staff involved in these functions to deliver TASO’s research, evaluation, synthesis and evidence mobilisation activities to time and within budget.
Working closely with the Chief Executive, the postholder will help shape TASO’s overall strategic direction and translate this into a clear programme of research and evaluation activity. They will lead and manage the teams responsible for research and evaluation to ensure that TASO’s strategies are delivered effectively, on time and within budget.
The role includes overseeing the delivery of TASO’s research programmes, ensuring compliance, managing research funding rounds, and maintaining strong oversight of subcontracted work. The Chief Research Officer will also oversee the development and implementation of TASO’s evaluation strategy, including the commissioning and monitoring of evaluations and the effective functioning of governance mechanisms such as the Research Sub-committee and Evaluation Advisory Panel.
Working with the Chief Executive, Head of Evaluation, and Head of Communications, they will ensure a strategic approach to communications, dissemination and stakeholder engagement, strengthening awareness and uptake of TASO’s work across the sector. The postholder will champion the quality, accuracy and transparency of TASO publications and act as a credible and respected voice for robust service research and evaluation.
Key objectives of the role
- Act as overall in-house lead on all TASO research and evaluation activities, upholding methodological standards to ensure the production of high-quality casual evidence.
- Plan and oversee TASO’s research and evaluation programmes, including ensuring adherence to all relevant procurement, legal and ethical requirements, delivery of research funding rounds and effective management of research and evaluation partners.
- Take overall responsibility for the TASO research and evaluation budget, including budget allocation, forecasting, monitoring and reporting. Lead resourcing and budgetary planning and reporting for the research and evaluation team.
- Oversee the quality, accuracy and transparency of TASO research and evaluation publications.
- Oversee the running of the Research and Evaluation subcommittee of the TASO Board to ensure effective scrutiny of the Research and Evaluation programme and a clear line of support for the Board to understand our work.
- Act as ambassador and leader of TASO, speaking at external events about the TASO Research and Evaluation programme.
- Provide line management for team members, with overall leadership for a team of seven.
- Work with the Chief Executive to develop and monitor TASO’s overall strategic direction, and to translate this strategic direction into the effective operations and activities of the organisation.
- Lead on work to mobilise Research and Evaluation outputs (e.g. through events, publications and stakeholder engagement) via effective liaison with the Communications team.
What we are looking for
| Criteria | Essential | Desirable |
|---|---|---|
| Education / qualification and training | ||
| Undergraduate degree in relevant discipline | X | |
| PhD or Masters level qualification with evidence of applied research | X | |
| Knowledge / skills | ||
| Overseeing and managing research projects, including scoping, planning, delivering and reporting, and quality-assurance | X | |
| Confident and clear written and verbal communication, and the ability to review and edit others’ work in line with organisational style | X | |
| Considering and synthesising complex information into formats that are useful to a wide range of stakeholders including senior managers, practitioners and the lay public | X | |
| Budget planning and monitoring | X | |
| Coordinating and influencing diverse stakeholders to deliver strategic priorities, including building positive relationships and convening forums where stakeholders can be briefed and issues surfaced | X | |
| Understanding of widening participation and/or student success agendas | X | |
| Experience | ||
| Designing and implementing rigorous quantitative impact evaluations, including and randomised controlled trials, difference in differences, regression discontinuity, and propensity score matching, particularly applied to policymaking | X | |
| Applying academic research to real-world problems | X | |
| Line and project management of staff with a range of development needs, including developmental coaching and performance management | X | |
| Managing multiple projects and competing demands | X | |
| Commissioning and overseeing external research providers | X | |
| Developing and delivering capability-building presentations and workshops for professional audiences | X | |
| Personal characteristics/other requirements | ||
| Committed to evidence-led decision making | X | |
| Determined, resilient and optimistic approach to work | X | |
| Able to advocate for robust evaluation and build enthusiasm and capacity in non-expert collaborators | X |
Position summary
- Remuneration: £65,000 to £70,000 per annum – depending on experience
- Location: Central London office, nearest station London Blackfriars. This post will be hybrid with the expectation that the post holder will be in the office two days a week in addition to attending office based project meetings.
- Term: Permanent, Full-time, 35 hours per week. We are open to part-time applications, minimum 0.8FTE
- Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.
How to apply
We are working with our recruitment partner Whiton Maynard on this role. To apply, please send your CV to tim@whitonmaynard.com together with a separate personal statement (maximum 2 sides of A4) outlining why you’re interested in the role and how you meet the person specification.
If you would like to discuss the role in detail before applying, please contact Tim Hamilton-West via the email above.
Download the job pack (PDF) for further information.
Deadline for applications: Monday 13 April 2026, 13:00.
Interviews are expected to be held on Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 April 2026.