Analyst Opportunities

Location: London or Newcastle

Salary: Salary: £36,407- £45,206 p.a. (London) £29,527- £38,215 p.a. (Newcastle)

Purpose of the role:

Each year we produce around 65 major Value for Money (VFM) reports examining various aspects of government programmes and projects. VFM reports are multi-method reports delivered to demanding timetables. The main role of Analysts in the NAO is to apply strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills to our VFM work and contribute to planning and drafting these reports, working alongside sector or topic specialists and qualified accountants.

Some analysts work in our central Analysis Hub to provide more specialist analysis support to teams across the office, and to develop and deliver business critical analytical tools. Analysts also contribute to other assurance work, investigations - where concerns have been raised with us - and supporting Parliamentary select committees.

All Analysts are expected to spend part of their time using their expertise to contribute to our analytical and other networks across the office. This includes providing analytical support or advice to others outside of their team on analytical techniques and methods where they have experience, in areas such as data analytics, economic analysis; quantitative research methods; GIS mapping and spatial analysis, qualitative research methods; social research and surveys; statistics, modelling; and financial analysis.

For more information please kindly attend our opening evening on the 4 July 2022 at 5pm. Email abusayeed.ahmed@nao.org.uk for more information and to register your attendance.

Responsibilities

The main responsibilities include:

• Gathering, analysing and interpreting data on a wide range of relevant public policy topics, using a range of quantitative and qualitative methods
• Interpreting and presenting findings clearly and succinctly and contributing to the drafting of reports
• Providing written and oral briefings to managers and senior staff
• Supporting wider assurance work and assisting teams during engagement with Parliament and wider select committees, particularly the Public Accounts Committee.
• Gaining insight and knowledge of the client and developing and maintaining good relations with them and engaging with wider external analytical communities.
• Providing advice and support to other teams using your analytical expertise.

For more information on the role please see the candidate pack (follow the apply link).

Skills required:

Education/work experience

• A strong academic background. This means either:
• A minimum of a 2:1 degree in a discipline with a substantial quantitative, qualitative; mixed methods component (e.g. statistics, economics, management science/operations research, finance, data analytics, or social research methods) and relevant experience working as an analyst, or;
• A Masters degree with a substantial quantitative or research component.

Abilities

It will be essential that you can demonstrate the ability to:

• Deliver insightful quantitative and qualitative analysis to time and quality
• Produce clear, well-structured and succinct written work which can be easily understood by non-technical readers
• Draw valid and succinct conclusions that are clearly evidence based
• Present complex data or other findings in a way which can be easily understood by the various audiences
• Engage confidently with colleagues and clients at all levels
• Use a range of software packages especially (and not limited to) MS Excel, and other analytical packages such as R, Python and SQL to manipulate and analyse data

Attributes

In addition, we are looking for the candidates with the following attributes:

• Intellectual curiosity, especially about using data and evidence to answer questions
• Flexibility to make a significant contribution across a range of topics and outputs
• A strong interest in the work of the NAO and public policy
• Ability to work co-operatively and collaboratively as part of a team to deliver outputs
• Drive and determination to overcome obstacles, resistance or challenges in order to achieve goals
• Commitment to personal development and keeping technical skills up to date.

Nationality Requirements:

UK nationals

Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with (or eligible for) status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

Please note, we are not able to sponsor work visas. Please contact us by an email should you have any questions on your nationality eligibility.

For the full list of skills required for this role please see the candidate pack (follow the apply link).

How to apply

The closing date for applications is 11:55pm on 13 February 2022.