32371 - Senior Evaluation Advisor - Water Industry Enforcement
| Posting date: | 24 November 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £54,940 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 14 December 2025 |
| Location: | UK |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 5 days per week |
| Company: | Environment Agency |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 32371 |
Summary
The Environment Agency are fully committed to having an inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve. We don't just talk about diversity; we seek it, embrace it, and live it, for the benefit of our staff, our communities, and our environment.
The Agency is transforming its regulation of the water industry. The last two years have seen an investment in new resources, and new powers such as those in the Water (Special measures) Act. We need to make sure we maximise the impact and public value of these investments, which are a key part of our Corporate Strategy, EA2030.
We are looking for a Senior Evidence Advisor to work in our Evaluation Team. You will:
- Focus on ‘what works’ in the sphere of or the Environment Agency’s water industry enforcement actions, providing evaluation leadership in this topic area;
- Design and implement evaluation frameworks covering process, impact and value for money
- Build an evidence base, increasing the rigour of our evidence as measured against the Nesta scale;
- Implement qualitative and quantitative research methods
- Make recommendations for change to senior leaders with the aim of improving our operational performance, efficiency and effectiveness.
The role will involve working with managers across the Environment Agency who are responsible for our water enforcement strategy at conceptual and operational levels. You will help them to understand how effective and cost–effective our interventions are, whether we’re using the best mix of interventions, and whether our interventions are generating deterrence which changes the behaviours of the industry. Sometimes you will need to use your influencing skills to present information that is new, complex and occasionally unwelcome or counter-intuitive. You will also commission and manage work delivery through contractors, and sometimes in partnership with academia, or colleagues across Defra Group.
The team
The Evaluation Team is in the Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group, part of the Environment and Business Directorate. We use evidence, expertise, engagement, and innovation to enhance and support delivery, influence policy and legislation, and secure resources to do more for the environment. In E&B we promote a positive, inclusive, and supportive culture where everyone feels valued. We’re a dispersed team and work with a wide range of technical and project teams across the country.
Experience/skills required
You will need an excellent knowledge of current approaches to evaluation. Taking HM Treasury's Magenta Book as a foundation you will understand a broad range of evaluation methods including qualitative and quantitative techniques and how to deal with complexity. In this work area we expect to use robust, theory based impact evaluation and or / quasi-experimental methods. You will possess good people skills, (e.g. structured interviewing, workshop facilitation), along with the ability to distil and present key evidence based messages. You may ideally also bring specialist skills that are relevant to evaluation such as economics, statistics, or broader understanding of social/operational research methods. Our focus is regulatory enforcement and so if you have background enforcement evaluation experience from another sector, or an understanding of water regulation from an operational perspective, that would be a bonus. You will have exemplary project and contract management skills and ideally some line management experience.
The Agency is transforming its regulation of the water industry. The last two years have seen an investment in new resources, and new powers such as those in the Water (Special measures) Act. We need to make sure we maximise the impact and public value of these investments, which are a key part of our Corporate Strategy, EA2030.
We are looking for a Senior Evidence Advisor to work in our Evaluation Team. You will:
- Focus on ‘what works’ in the sphere of or the Environment Agency’s water industry enforcement actions, providing evaluation leadership in this topic area;
- Design and implement evaluation frameworks covering process, impact and value for money
- Build an evidence base, increasing the rigour of our evidence as measured against the Nesta scale;
- Implement qualitative and quantitative research methods
- Make recommendations for change to senior leaders with the aim of improving our operational performance, efficiency and effectiveness.
The role will involve working with managers across the Environment Agency who are responsible for our water enforcement strategy at conceptual and operational levels. You will help them to understand how effective and cost–effective our interventions are, whether we’re using the best mix of interventions, and whether our interventions are generating deterrence which changes the behaviours of the industry. Sometimes you will need to use your influencing skills to present information that is new, complex and occasionally unwelcome or counter-intuitive. You will also commission and manage work delivery through contractors, and sometimes in partnership with academia, or colleagues across Defra Group.
The team
The Evaluation Team is in the Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group, part of the Environment and Business Directorate. We use evidence, expertise, engagement, and innovation to enhance and support delivery, influence policy and legislation, and secure resources to do more for the environment. In E&B we promote a positive, inclusive, and supportive culture where everyone feels valued. We’re a dispersed team and work with a wide range of technical and project teams across the country.
Experience/skills required
You will need an excellent knowledge of current approaches to evaluation. Taking HM Treasury's Magenta Book as a foundation you will understand a broad range of evaluation methods including qualitative and quantitative techniques and how to deal with complexity. In this work area we expect to use robust, theory based impact evaluation and or / quasi-experimental methods. You will possess good people skills, (e.g. structured interviewing, workshop facilitation), along with the ability to distil and present key evidence based messages. You may ideally also bring specialist skills that are relevant to evaluation such as economics, statistics, or broader understanding of social/operational research methods. Our focus is regulatory enforcement and so if you have background enforcement evaluation experience from another sector, or an understanding of water regulation from an operational perspective, that would be a bonus. You will have exemplary project and contract management skills and ideally some line management experience.