Senior Research Analyst - Crime and Justice - Netherlands

RAND is an independent not-for-profit research institute, whose mission is to help improve public policy- and decision-making through objective research and analysis. Part of the RAND Corporation, RAND Europe has over 30 years of experience in conducting client-funded policy research for governments, international organisations, research councils, charitable foundations, and other organisations. Our mission is to help improve public policy and decision making through evidence-based research and analysis. RAND Europe has offices in Cambridge, Brussels, and the Netherlands, and employs approximately 140 researchers: just over half of our research staff have doctorates with the balance holding other post-graduate degrees.

The Home Affairs and Social Policy Research Group undertakes contract research and analysis in a range of public policy areas: education (including early childhood education and care, school effectiveness); employment and social policy (including skills, employability, migration, gender equality, child, and family policy); crime and justice (including responses to offending, international law enforcement cooperation, organised crime and illicit markets). Our recent work in the Netherlands includes studies for the House of Representatives, the Research and Documentation Centre (WODC), the Ministry of Justice and Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security and various charitable foundations. We collaborate widely with like-minded academic and other organisations across Europe and with colleagues based in RAND’s U.S. offices. We employ robust methods and offer multi-disciplinary perspectives.

Due to a growing portfolio of research projects with Dutch clients, RAND Europe has recently established an office in the Netherlands. As part of its strategy to grow our work in the Netherlands, RAND Europe is looking for an experienced researcher and project leader with a research background in organised crime, illicit markets, criminal justice, policing, discrimination, migration and/or related fields.

This is an exciting opportunity to work with a truly multidisciplinary team in one of the world’s most respected public policy research organisations.

The successful candidate will thrive on teamwork and collaboration with colleagues and research funders, take an active role in project management, and be keen to grow a body of work through active business development and proposal writing.

The role is ideally suited to an individual who is committed to applying a mixed methods approach to drive impact in policy and decision-making. Demonstrable experience of working on multiple projects in parallel and communicating with decision-makers in government, industry, academia, and wider policy communities is highly desirable. 

Key responsibilities

Your primary role will be to design, manage, and lead research and analysis on complex policy questions on behalf of our clients. You will work as part of our wider research team to ensure that projects are delivered on time, on budget and to the highest quality standards.

Specifically, the Senior Analyst role will involve:

• Undertaking qualitative (interviews, literature reviews, focus groups) and/or quantitative analysis (regressions, MLMs, DiD) with minimal supervision.
• Contributing to studies including research design, selection of appropriate analytical approaches, undertaking data collection and reporting findings.
• Identifying business development opportunities and acting on them with senior support.
• Managing projects with minimal supervision to deliver high quality work within available time and resources. (Desirable)
• Ad hoc duties as required

Requirements

Management – essential

• Experience managing research projects in professional services or public sector domains.
• Track record of undertaking research for policy and/or practitioner audiences.

Commercial awareness – essential

• Experience drafting and leading proposals that secure research funding in competitive environments.
• Experience of effectively managing small to medium-sized project budgets.

Personal skills and experience – essential

• Excellent problem-solving skills.
• Ability to multi-task and prioritise work.
• Ability to work flexibly and to deadlines.
• Ability to effectively process large amounts of information, translate and presenting complex research findings to policy, practice, and lay audiences.

Thematic expertise - essential

• Direct or indirect expertise in at least one of the following