Chief Scientist

Are you an analytical, highly organised and influential individual with strong business acumen and a proven record of overseeing the design, prototyping and rigorous testing of interventions as well as of leading effective teams that maintain high research standards?

If so, Nesta is looking for a Chief Scientist to play a key role in Nesta's new strategy, where you will contribute to a transformative agenda to improve the lives of millions of people by leading teams who apply a range of innovation capabilities, such as data science, design, experimentation, to prove the potential of innovation to achieve social impact.

About Nesta

Nesta is an innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality. It also means changing lives for the better. We use our expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society, from the frontiers of personalised healthcare to stretched public services and a fast–changing jobs market. Nesta is based in the UK and supported by a financial endowment. We work with partners around the globe to bring bold ideas to life to change the world for good.

As part of Nesta's upcoming new strategy, we will focus on three innovation missions, comprising of work to equalise life chances, to increase the number of healthy lives for people most affected by health inequalities, and to secure a post–COVID–19 economy that works better for people and the planet.

About this exciting opportunity

As Chief Scientist, you will focus on building and combining world–class innovation practices within Nesta to achieve the outcomes of our Missions and our overall strategy. You will achieve this by overseeing teams of experienced data scientists, researchers, and designers to develop their methodological expertise, and apply their practice to develop interventions that drive innovation for social good. You will also be expected to:

• Champion and drive an organisational culture of exploration, learning, development, and rigour
• Clearly communicate and mobilise staff around Nesta's vision and direction
• Support the development and delivery of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion goals
• Contribute at all board meetings and represent Nesta in external fora as an expert
• Lead and manage Nesta's methods teams to produce excellent work and develop their skills and influence
• Proactively identify research grants and design, staff, run and publish research projects

What we are looking for

Curious about new methods, open to contributions and ideas from all sources, and keen to push the pace and scale of our impact, our successful candidate will be used to working as part of a senior management team, supporting executive level colleagues and possess experience in an executive role with authority for strategic decisions affecting organisational impact, profitability, partnerships, and staffing.

An outstanding communicator, you will also have a proven record leading multidisciplinary teams, including those working on randomised controlled trials, data science, design, arts and culture, and a sound understanding of different innovation methods and disciplines. A recognised academic contribution in a relevant field and the ability to translate the findings of your research into applied insights for non–academic audiences are also vital.

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.

Closing date: 5 October 2020.