Join Early Years – The Organisation for Young Children as an Insight and Evaluation Strategic Lead

Location: Early Years Headquarters, 6c Wildflower Way, Belfast, BT12 6TA 

Hours: 37 hours per week

Tenure: Fixed term until December 2029 (extension subject to funding)

Salary: Points 47-50 (£59,705.73 - £63,329.08) per annum

Do you have a passion for making a meaningful impact in early childhood education?

Do you believe in the power of play to unlock potential?

Be part of our team and help shape the futures of children by fostering growth and learning through purposeful opportunities.

At Early Years, we are committed to fostering growth for both children and our staff. Joining us provides an opportunity to enhance your skills, make a meaningful difference, and collaborate with a team that upholds dedication, compassion, and excellence in early years care and education.

In return, Early Years provides a comprehensive rewards package, including a competitive salary, 36 days of annual leave (pro-rata), inclusive of statutory/public holidays, a contributory pension scheme, options to purchase additional leave, and access to healthcare schemes.

The role

The Insight and Evaluation Strategic Lead will support the leadership of Early Years’ organisational intelligence and evidence function. This senior role is responsible for generating high-quality evidence, evaluation findings and strategic insights that inform policy development, advocacy priorities, organisational performance reporting and Executive-level decision-making.

We're looking for people who at the closing date have:

Essential criteria

• Postgraduate qualification in Social Science, Education, Public Policy, Research Methods, Data Analytics, Community Development, Organisational Development, or a related discipline with significant relevance to research, monitoring and evaluation, organisational performance, or data analysis.
• A minimum of three years' substantial experience leading the design, implementation and continuous improvement of monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) frameworks, organisational performance systems, or multi-programme evaluation approaches, including the development of indicators, reporting mechanisms and performance measures.
• Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex research, evaluation findings and performance information clearly to a range of audiences, and to produce high-quality reports, briefings, business cases and evidence summaries demonstrating accuracy, insight and attention to detail.
• Demonstrable experience applying qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation methodologies to generate robust evidence, translate complex findings into strategic insight, and inform organisational planning, service improvement, policy development, advocacy and strategic decision-making.
• Experience working collaboratively across teams and stakeholders to promote evidence-informed practice, improve organisational learning and embed a culture of continuous improvement and performance accountability.
• A full current driving licence enabling the holder to drive in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and access to a vehicle for business use, or access to a suitable form of transport that enables the full requirements of the post to be met.

Desirable criteria

• Experience using data management, analysis and visualisation tools such as SQL, Python, Advanced Microsoft Excel, Tableau, Microsoft Power BI or similar platforms to analyse data, develop dashboards and support organisational reporting and decision-making.

An information pack containing the job description and personnel specification is available by clicking here.

Please note, the information pack will not be available after the job posting closes therefore you may want to download it.

As part of the application process, you will need to demonstrate how you meet the criteria as outlined above and on the personnel specification, and provide a copy of your CV.

Shortlisting will be completed based on the information contained with the application form, therefore it is important to clearly outline how you meet the criteria.

Please note that your CV will only be used to support your application in assessing employment history.

Once you begin the application, it must be completed in one session, as there is no option to save and return to it later.

The closing date for receipt of completed applications is Friday, 20 November 2026.

For successful applicants, the interview date will be Friday, 4 December 2026.

A reserve list may be held for a period of up to six months for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via email.

Should you need to contact us, please use the following methods:

Email: monitoringofficer@early-years.org

Phone: 028 9066 2825 Option 5

Early Years is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to providing flexible, friendly working conditions. As Protestants and males are currently known to be under-represented in the Organisation, we would particularly welcome applications from these groups.