Location
Blackfriars, London - hybrid working

Hours
Full Time - 37.5 hours per week with flexible working arrangements encouraged

Salary
Circa £38,600 per annum plus a range of benefits including private medical insurance, dental insurance, ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more

About the Role
Challenge Works designs and runs challenge prizes to solve pressing societal problems that lack existing solutions. We incentivise diverse groups worldwide to take action and support bold ideas that seed long-term societal change. Challenge prizes reward those who first or most effectively meet defined challenges, spanning frontier technology and social impact.

The Research and Design team plays four key roles: targeted research to inform prize design, horizon scanning and expert engagement to identify new projects, evaluating prize impact, and thought leadership on outcome-based innovation. We also provide consultancy to governments, NGOs and philanthropic institutions globally.

Recent projects include the Aqualunar Challenge (space water purification), the Wellcome Snakebite Envenoming Prize (improving snakebite outcomes), and the Smart Data Challenge (transformative data use cases). Consultancy work has involved collaborations with Bloomberg I-Teams, ARIA, and UNIDO.

The Researcher will report to the Senior Design Lead and collaborate with a multidisciplinary team including researchers, designers, project managers, evaluators, and communications experts. Responsibilities include conducting desk research, landscape mapping, summarising findings, co-designing prize concepts, facilitating interviews and workshops, refining programme designs, developing research methods, and communicating work externally.

This role offers the opportunity to work on a broad range of innovation topics in a fast-paced, impactful environment focused on breakthrough innovations and systemic change.

Experience
- Strong analytical skills with ability to synthesise evidence, strategic priorities and stakeholder preferences into clear recommendations
- Experience or interest in technological or social innovation
- Ability to work on unfamiliar topics and rapidly get up to speed
- Strong communication skills
- Experience in fast-paced consultancy, research or think tank environments is desirable
- Knowledge of research methods such as design thinking, user journey mapping, impact evaluation or ethnography is desirable
- Data and AI literacy, including quantitative methods and data analytics, is desirable
- Experience developing proposals and securing funding is desirable
- Interest in innovation, science and technology policy is desirable

About you
You are curious, adaptable and motivated by social purpose. You have a broad interest in breakthrough innovations and the innovators behind them, with an understanding of their wider societal impact. You may come from diverse backgrounds such as entrepreneurship, service design, policy research, civil service, science or technology PhD, or management consulting. You thrive in collaborative, multidisciplinary teams and enjoy balancing short-term research sprints with long-term strategic vision.

Qualifications
There are no strict qualification requirements; however, relevant academic or professional experience in research, design, innovation, technology or social impact is advantageous.