Locations: London, Sheffield, Darlington
Homepage: bis.gov.uk/

Departments

• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
• Department for Education
• Department for Transport
• Department for Work and Pensions
• Department of Health
• Export Credits Guarantee Department
• Food Standards Agency
• HM Revenue & Customs
• Home Office
• Ministry of Justice
• Office for National Statistics

Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills headquarters, London.

Investing in Our Future

Only an inclusive society that creates opportunities for all its people will have the strength and resource to be at the leading edge of the world economy or meet the global challenges of the 21st century.

Operational Research at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

The OR group in Department for Business, Innovation & Skills is relatively small but has made a significant contribution to the achievements of the Department since its creation in June 2007, including:

• Producing forecasts of the costs of student support and fee income to English institutions.
• Leading and managing a project to develop Performance Indicators for the Higher Education Programme and to develop a Knowledge Management system for Higher Education Directorate.
• Simulation modelling of student loan repayments to estimate the Resource Accounting and Budgeting charge for student loans.

What to Expect

The majority of OR analysts are based in London although the department also has analysts working in Sheffield and Darlington. We're a friendly group working alongside economists, statisticians, social researchers, data collection and administrative staff and we work very closely with our policy partners. For the more experienced analysts, there is the possibility of working within a policy team.

As a new OR recruit you will be assigned a mentor to guide you through the first months of your career. In addition, we are committed to developing both your OR and consultancy skills, as well as providing training in our wide range of IT facilities. Career development is also a high priority, so you will be encouraged to change project responsibilities about every 18 months to 2 years.

Promotion up to and including GORS level 3 can occur within post and is based on displayed competencies and how individuals perform in work, through a process of bi-annual promotion rounds to assess suitability for progression. Thereafter, promotion happens by successfully applying for vacant posts.