We are recruiting for an Analyst - A Healthy Life

About Nesta

We are Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start, help people live healthy lives, and create a sustainable future where the economy works for both people and the planet.

For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation. We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with frontline organisations to design and test new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early stage businesses, and as a system shaper creating the conditions for innovation.

Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better. Find out more at nesta.org.uk.

Whatever it takes

Everyone works at Nesta because we are driven by a deep commitment to our missions. A guiding principle of our culture is that we do whatever it takes to achieve them, bringing our best to all our work.

We are seeking an Analyst to work in Nesta’s ‘A Healthy Life’ mission. We want to increase the number of years lived in good health for all, and particularly those most affected by health inequalities. We are focusing on tackling one of the biggest drivers of lost years of healthy life: obesity. Our primary focus currently is on improving our food environments; i.e. making healthy food more available, accessible, affordable, appealing and convenient for all. We work across sectors - with businesses, national policymakers, local government, academics and other charities - in order to drive the changes we need to see to improve health.

The role

The following list sets out the core tasks an Analyst in the A Healthy Life team will be expected to participate in. We don’t expect you to be an expert at this stage, but we want you to come to Nesta with a growth mindset where you are ready to experiment and learn.

• Delivery of projects. This could include the following:
  
  • Conducting research. For example: interviews, observations, data collection, data analysis, case studies.
  • Critically appraise and summarise evidence on the problem and identify potential solutions. This means you should be able to interpret statistics, critique research designs and undertake literature reviews.
  • Identify and design solutions to problems.
  • Helping to devise pilots or prototypes and evaluate whether or not they worked.
  • Working closely with food system partners, keeping in mind what is important to them and why, and keeping the project moving by proactively resolving issues and mitigating risks.
• Get to grips with new areas, topics and contexts that the range and variety of your projects take place in.
• Communicate and disseminate the team’s work externally, which may include producing reports and slide decks for partners, writing blogs, public speaking, stakeholder engagement and leading new and creative ways to communicate ideas to different audiences.
• Development of new work, including project idea generation, project scoping, research and writing bids and proposals.
• Collaborate across Nesta drawing in skills and experience from different teams where relevant - including ensuring the use of appropriate research methodologies.
• Effectively engage and collaborate with stakeholders outside of Nesta to secure their input or support on our projects or work.

The person

ESSENTIAL

• Project/ programme management skills: you can plan work and execute against that plan; identify and act on risks and issues; ensure that key stakeholders are engaged throughout; keep track of spend against budget. Willingness to be agile and work on a range of projects across the A Healthy Life Team when necessary.
• Research skills: you understand the fundamentals of research (quantitative and/or qualitative) and evaluation (interpret research findings; understand common statistics, assess the strength of evidence; understand good practice for key research activities). Ability to quickly synthesise evidence or information and communicate this in a digestible and accessible way for a range of key stakeholders.
• Idea and solution development: Ability to quickly build contextual competence in unfamiliar topics (e.g. learn what key jargon means, be credible in conversations with stakeholders, understand what is measured and what is important). Ability to identify and assess different solutions to problems and provide recommendations.
• Communications and presentation skills: you can report back on research findings in a range of settings, including presentations, slide decks, research reports and blog posts. Excellent writing skills to tailor content to different audiences.
• Stakeholder management: Ability to identify and engage relevant stakeholders, to improve the delivery and outcomes of your / the wider team’s work.

DESIRABLE

• Subject matter knowledge: Knowledge or practical experience in health, obesity, or healthy diets. This could be through academic research, policy or experience from working within a business.
• Experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams, making use of mixed research or innovation methods.
• Coding experience in Python, R, or Stata, ideally with some experience of collaborative version-control workflows (Git, e.g. GitHub).
• Facilitation skills, e.g. running workshops.
• Visual communication skills.

What we offer

Salary: £36,400 - £50,000 (offers will not exceed £45k)plus array of benefits, including private medical insurance, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more

Location: This role is based in Blackfriars, London, hybrid working arrangement with a minimum of two days in the office

Term: Permanent

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do.

Reports to: Mission Manager

Making an application

To apply for this role, please submit your CV and a short statement (no more than 500 words) describing how your experience aligns with the essential and desirable qualities for this role by 08.00am on 15th September 2025.

The next stage will be a task. Interviews will take place on the week commencing 29th September 2025.

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.