Job Description

Details

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Reference number

430524

Salary

37,523 - 44,766
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP

Job grade

Higher Executive Officer

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

WP - Research Service

Type of role

Other

Working pattern

Full-time

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

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Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information

Location

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Cardiff

About the job

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Job summary

We are recruiting a Higher Research Officer within the Children, Education and Lifelong Learning Team in the Research Service at the Senedd. The team comprises a team leader, two senior research officers and one higher research officer (this post). The purpose of this post is to provide impartial, independent, and expert factual briefing on all aspects of pre-16 education policy, legislation and statistics to support Senedd Members and committees. This briefing can involve secondary research and requires a critical analysis of a range of information sources. The role also involves writing and publishing articles to inform debate and scrutiny, while aiding understanding of the Senedd's wider work.



The role of a Higher Research Officer involves understanding areas of devolved policy as well as having the ability to work flexibly, leading on your own research work and supporting senior researchers on their subject areas. This post has particular responsibility for supporting the senior researcher who leads on pre-16 education but, as demand requires, will also involve work in the other subject areas covered by the team (children and early years, and post-16 education).



You will need to have a thorough understanding of current Welsh policy alongside an overview of relevant legislation and statistics in the policy area of pre-16 education. You will need to demonstrate excellent research and briefing skills. You will be expected to be flexible, work proactively with research colleagues across a range of policy areas and work across the whole Service providing support to teams where there is high demand. You'll be responding to enquiries from Senedd Members; preparing briefing for committees; creating digital content to be published via our social media channels and identifying opportunities for cross service working. You will have the opportunity to develop digital skills, including producing data visualisations and helping to create interactive content.



We work as 'one team' and have a culture of working across teams to help support each other in times of high demand. You will therefore be expected to adapt as the role evolves and to work across teams as required. You will work in an agile way to support and develop ways of working in Senedd Research, through participation in cross service improvement groups, editorial board activities and any service plan priorities where opportunities arise.



For more information, please view the job description.

Job description

Key tasks:

Undertaking research and analysis to produce written briefings and responses in response to requests from committees or individual Senedd Members and their staff. Supporting Senedd committees with scrutiny of legislation, policy and financial issues, working independently as well as with the team leader and senior researchers. Further developing and maintaining your comprehensive understanding of pre-16 education policy, and developing the skills and knowledge to assist with work across the Children, Education and Lifelong Learning Team's policy areas; using this expertise to improve services to committees, Senedd Members and information available to the wider public. Producing engaging proactive content, including research articles, data visualisations, and supporting other researchers to deliver content that contributes to open and well-informed debate. Supporting the publication and promotion of external content through social media. Developing and maintaining digital skills and expertise to improve the information available to Members of the Senedd and the wider public. Working with stakeholders to develop a network of expertise, identifying opportunities to work with academics and other knowledge mobilisers so that Members of the Senedd have access to a wide range of evidence. Developing effective relationships with Senedd Members and their staff and working collaboratively with colleagues from different service areas across the Welsh Parliament and other UK parliaments. Contributing to the development of Senedd Research ways of working and contributing to a one team ethos.

Person specification

Job Specific criteria:

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Communication skills: You have a proven professional track record of using your excellent written and oral communication skills to produce impartial briefings. Research and briefing skills: You have a demonstrable ability and/or experience in undertaking secondary research to identify and review relevant information and statistics, synthesising these into written briefings for others. Sound judgement: You have extensive experience of making effective decisions in a challenging environment and at short notice. You are also able to give impartial advice and produce briefings that are objective and sensitive to political issues. Subject knowledge: You have an in-depth understanding of all aspects of Welsh pre-16 education policy, legislation and statistics. You are also able to work independently to quickly learn new subjects.

Desirable criteria:

The following qualities are not essential for this particular post but have been deemed as desirable. These will only be taken into account in the event of two (or more) candidates acquiring the same score at either application or interview stage.

Digital skills: You will have good digital skills including any of the following: social media content development, media production, digital storytelling, data visualisation, and experience of content editing.

Welsh language criteria:

The language skills for this post have been assessed Courtesy Level Welsh.


Candidates should have the ability to:

To pronounce Welsh names, answer the telephone, greet people or make introductions bilingually. To understand and use proactively familiar, everyday, expressions. To understand very short texts where people are giving basic information about themselves or others in correspondence, on forms or to interpret content using the technology available.
If the successful candidate does not possess these skills, they will be expected to commit to learn them during an agreed period. For further information on the Welsh language levels, please

visit our website

.

Benefits

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Alongside your salary of 37,523, Welsh Parliament contributes 10,870 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Learning and development tailored to your role An environment with flexible working options A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

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Selection process details

Your application must be submitted before midnight on the closing date.


You will be updated on your progress via the email address you first register with. Please check your Junk Mail and Spam folders to make sure you don't miss any future correspondence.


Candidates that are successful at sift will be invited to a

virtual written assessment

to be conducted on the week commencing 27 October 2025.


Only the successful candidates at the assessment stage will be invited to interview.

Interviews will then be held

in-person only

in T? Hywel, Cardiff Bay on

: Thursday 20 November 2025.



Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check .



See our vetting charter .
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.



We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles .
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

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Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

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Job contact :

Name : Sian Thomas Email : Sian.thomas@Senedd.wales
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Recruitment team

Email : jobs@senedd.wales

Further information

https://senedd.wales/commission/work-for-the-senedd-commission/