Director of Research, Data and Insights

Ambition Institute

Hours
37.5 hours per week

About the Organisation

Ambition Institute, and we are energised about the strategic opportunities ahead. For almost 15 years, we and our predecessor charities have been delivering high-quality professional development programs to educators serving disadvantaged communities. We are now working with more teachers and school leaders than ever before, annually delivering programmes to over 50,000 educators nationwide.

A great teacher changes the future every day. Especially for children who have had a tough start in life, a teacher can be the critical factor in their success. At Ambition Institute, we help schools tackling educational disadvantage to keep getting better and help their teachers and school leaders to become more expert over time. That’s how we’ll make sure every child gets a great education and the best possible start in life.

• We train teachers and leaders at all levels to get better at the things that make the biggest difference: what you teach, how you teach it, and how you create the conditions for schools to thrive.
• We share what works. Everyone can benefit from evidence of how great teaching and leadership can improve schools and change lives, so we connect people to the latest research and best practice.
• We champion every teacher and school leader’s potential to develop, as the driving force for sustainable school improvement.

About the role

At Ambition Institute, we believe a great educator changes the future every day, especially for those who have had a tough start in life. Our mission is to help professionals serving disadvantaged communities keep getting better, so every child can thrive. The Research, Data & Insights team sits at the heart of this work, uncovering what makes a real difference and guiding our decisions with robust evidence.

We are seeking a Director of Research, Data & Insights who shares our belief in the power of education. This is a unique opportunity to lead Ambition’s research strategy and build our reputation as a trusted voice across education settings – including early years, schools and colleges. 

You will set Ambition’s research agenda, provide intellectual and methodological leadership, and develop partnerships to secure external funding. You will oversee our Data & Insights function, making sure we have high-quality data and evaluation to understand our reach and impact. You will champion the use of evidence across Ambition, helping colleagues use data to make decisions that benefit pupils.

As a senior leader, you will inspire a multidisciplinary team and play an active part in shaping Ambition’s wider strategy. We are looking for someone with deep expertise in research design and methodology, experience of leading high-quality research and securing funding, and a passion for improving education for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This is a unique opportunity to lead Ambition’s research & insights strategy and build our reputation as a trusted voice across education settings. Together, we’re shaping the future of education to give every child the best start in life.

Responsibilities

Research Leadership and Strategy:

• Set and own Ambition’s research strategy and agenda, identifying the questions where Ambition can make a distinctive contribution to knowledge, policy and practice and ensuring alignment with our organisational strategy.
• Provide intellectual and methodological leadership across our research portfolio, setting high standards for research quality, ethics and transparency and overseeing the delivery of ambitious and rigorous research.
• Act as Ambition’s senior authority on research, providing expert advice and challenge to senior leaders and ensuring that external research, evidence and emerging developments inform our strategy and work.
• Develop a sustainable pipeline of externally funded research, building strategic partnerships and leading significant funding proposals with trusts, foundations, government, academic institutions and other partners.

Research Influence and External Reputation:

• Build Ambition’s reputation as an authoritative and trusted voice on teacher development, school leadership and educational disadvantage, representing Ambition with researchers, policymakers, practitioners, funders and other influential audiences.
• Develop and maintain senior relationships and partnerships with leading academics, research organisations, funders and sector bodies, using these networks to strengthen the quality, reach and influence of Ambition’s research.
• Ensure our research and insights are translated into accessible and influential outputs, working with colleagues across Ambition so that evidence informs practice, policy and wider sector debate.
• Play an active role in Ambition’s external communications and influencing work, including speaking and writing publicly, identifying opportunities to contribute to debate, and working with colleagues and partners to establish our educational positions. 

Data, Insights and Evaluation:

• Set the strategic direction for Ambition’s Data & Insights function, ensuring high-quality data, analysis, evaluation and reporting enable us to understand and improve our reach, programme quality, outcomes and impact.
• Champion the effective use of data, evaluation and evidence across Ambition, ensuring leaders have accessible and meaningful insight to support strategic and operational decision-making.
• Provide senior sponsorship for significant data projects, ensuring improvements to our data infrastructure, systems, governance and ways of working deliver clear organisational benefits.
• Ensure Ambition continues to strengthen its data and analytical capability, supporting colleagues across the organisation to use data effectively and responsibly.

Organisational, People & Resource Leadership:

• Lead, develop and inspire a high-performing multidisciplinary Research, Data & Insights team, creating clarity of purpose, building capability and fostering an inclusive, collaborative and learning-focused culture.
• As a member of Ambition’s senior leadership team, contribute to organisational strategy and decision-making beyond your functional remit, providing evidence-informed advice and constructive challenge to senior colleagues and Trustees.
• Lead significant organisational priorities and change where required, working collaboratively across functions and creating alignment between our research, data and insight capabilities and Ambition’s wider strategic objectives.
• Manage the department’s budgets and resources effectively, making strategic choices about priorities and investment and ensuring value for money.

Skills, Competencies, Experience & Attributes

Skills & Experience Essential:

• Significant experience of leading a varied portfolio of high-quality research, with the intellectual credibility and methodological breadth to guide research across different topics, methods and types of projects.
• An established external profile, communication skills and appetite to develop an authoritative voice on teacher development, school leadership and wider education workforce issues.
• Deep expertise in research design and methodology, supported by a PhD in a relevant field or an equivalent record of high-quality research and publication.
• A strong track record of building successful research partnerships, contributing to wider collaborative research and securing external funding.
• Significant experience of providing strategic leadership to data, insights and evaluation, including using data and evidence to strengthen organisational decision-making and impact.
• Experience of leading and developing multidisciplinary teams, managing significant resources and contributing to organisation-wide strategy and change.
• Strong knowledge of the English education system and educational disadvantage, with excellent judgement and communication skills and the ability to influence senior internal and external stakeholders.

Desirable:

• Experience of senior leadership within a charity, research organisation, university or other mission-led organisation.
• Experience of working in or closely with schools and/or organisations supporting teachers and school leaders.
• Experience of leading significant data improvement or transformation projects.
• Knowledge of the evidence base relating to teacher professional development and school leadership development.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive annual salary
• Professional development for all staff
• 25 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays and 'winter shutdown’ at the end of December/beginning of January
• Employer pension contribution of 11%
• Agile, hybrid working culture, so you can manage when and where you work
• Staff affinity networks that help keep equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
• Blind recruitment process to ensure equality and fairness in our hiring
• Enhanced maternity pay after a year’s service
• Shared parental leave package
• Access to a free, confidential 24/7 wellbeing and support line
• Comfortable and collaborative workspaces in the city centres of Manchester, Birmingham and London
• Work-from-home technology package to support hybrid working
• Interest-free season ticket/bike loans

Conditions of employment

• You must have the right to work in the UK

Working locations

• Hybrid model, working in the Birmingham office and remotely

How to apply

• Apply on our website
• Applications will be accepted for all office locations.
• All applications must be received by the closing date of 9 pm on 2nd November 2026.
• We recognise that AI function tools (such as ChatGPT or other generative AI tools) are here to stay and can be helpful for applications, including to assist in researching for application responses and to shorten your first draft. However, we are observing a growing trend in the use of AI, and we would caution applicants against relying too heavily on such tools when drafting responses.  
• The pitfall of such tools is that they produce generic responses that don’t showcase individuality, specific experiences, or real-life examples. This usually results in applications being unsuccessful. We want to evaluate your response, and we will be looking for answers that use examples and experiences that are clearly specific to you. You are more likely to successfully demonstrate your soft skills like communication and teamwork when preparing answers to application questions yourself, and this helps mitigate the unintended consequences of AI-generated responses.
• For any questions or queries, please review our FAQs in the first instance. If we've not addressed your question in this section, please email us at [email protected]

Interviews

• First stage interviews are expected to take place on 9th November 2026. Second stage interview dates are to be confirmed.

Policies

Ambition Institute is proud to be a Disability Confident Committed employer. We welcome applications from disabled people and, as part of our commitment, offer an interview to applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role (although where we receive a particularly high number of applications through the scheme, we may not be able to interview everyone who meets the criteria). We are committed to making reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process and encourage you to let us know if there are any adjustments that would help you participate fully. 

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and the most vulnerable in our society and, as such, we are unable to employ individuals with relevant convictions, including the following: a conviction for an offence involving violence or dishonesty, of a sexual nature or against minors, or for any other offence that is relevant to the nature of the services provided by our organisation.

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