The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) is looking for an exceptional candidate to join as a Principal Advisor working in the Home Affairs team in London. The successful applicant will lead the Home Affairs team, working on a range of projects including largescale field trials with police forces and other agencies that seek to reduce criminal behaviour in a number of areas, like cybercrime, exploitation, and extremism.

The then Prime Minister created BIT in 2010 to apply behavioural science to public policy in the UK. In February 2014 we became a social purpose company, owned by the Cabinet Office, Nesta (an innovation charity) and our employees.

The Behavioural Insights Team works with governments around the world in almost every area of policy. Whilst the subject and output of our projects varies considerably, there are common threads: we try to understand the contexts in which people make decisions; we notice small details; we find out what has and hasn’t worked before; we come up with innovative ideas for solving policy problems and we measure everything we do as robustly as we can.

As well as displaying professional excellence, BIT selects staff on the basis of our company values: always prioritising social impact; empiricism and humility; fresh thinking, collaboration; and public service.

The Home Affairs and Security team currently works with the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Defence, and several Police forces.

The successful candidate will lead the Home Affairs team to deliver high-quality policy advice and implement experiments in the real world, such as in a prison or on the streets with a neighbourhood Policing team. You will have regular exposure to senior decision makers and practitioners and be expected to rapidly develop a reputation as a trusted advisor to them. You will be responsible for overseeing all work in Home Affairs, reporting to a Director, and be expected to deliver all our projects to an excellent standard, and develop new opportunities for as well.

As a specialist in Home Affairs, you will be expected to make a substantial contribution to BIT’s thinking in this policy area. As this is a broad policy area, you will not be expected to demonstrate expertise throughout, but you will be expected to have in depth knowledge of an integral area within home affairs (for example one of crime and policing, justice, security, integration, vulnerability or others) and a strong interest in related areas. You will be able to demonstrate a depth of knowledge relevant to these areas of policy and show that you can generate impactful insights that will inspire our partners, communicating them in a compelling way to a range of audiences. You will be an excellent manager and leader, as well as a strong team player, creating and sustaining relationships with our partners across the country. Ideally, you will have knowledge of relevant government departments and law enforcement agencies and understand how they work.

• An in depth knowledge of an integral area of Home Affairs and how it is administered in the UK;
• A good understanding of the behavioural science literature and how it can be applied to help solve complex policy problems, specifically related to Home Affairs policy issues;
• Demonstrable line management and leadership skills;
• Strong skills in relationship building and project management;
• Excellent written and verbal communication (for example ability to write short, to-the-point policy papers for Government Ministers or senior officials);
• Strategic thinking and creative problem solving skills;
• Ability to support the design and implementation of rigorous evaluations, including but not limited to randomised controlled trials; and
• Strong teamwork skills.

• PhD or Masters degree in a relevant area, like criminology or behavioural science, or relevant work experience.

• If you do not already hold the right to work in the UK and/or require sponsorship in order to continue working here, you should think carefully before applying. This is because we will be unable to sponsor you unless there is no other suitably qualified settled worker available to fill the role or your current immigration status means that the resident labour market test will not apply in your case.
• To find out more about the organisation and the type of people who work in the team visit: http://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk
• The Behavioural Insights Team is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and is determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.