Contract: Permanent

Salary: £37,221 to £41,740 (London).

Closing Date: 18th August 2025

Interviews will be held w/c : 25th August 2025

Centrepoint, the UK’s leading youth homelessness charity, is looking for Senior Research, Policy and Databank Officer to join our Policy and Research Team based in our London office.

About us

We help vulnerable young people by giving them the practical and emotional support they need to find a job and live independently. Centrepoint provides homeless young people with accommodation, health support and life skills in order to get them back into education, training and employment. We want to end youth homelessness by 2037.

Together with our partners, we support over 16,000 young people each year.

The Policy and Research Team at Centrepoint leads the organisation’s efforts to build a strong, evidence-based case for ending youth homelessness. A core part of this work involves designing and delivering high-quality research projects to inform policy recommendations. The team is responsible for the Youth Homelessness Databank, ensuring it remains the UK’s most comprehensive source of youth homelessness data and continues to align with Centrepoint’s strategic priorities. In close collaboration with staff and young people, the team helps shape Centrepoint’s policy positions and messages and plays a key role in influencing government policy by building and maintaining strategic relationships with policymakers and voluntary sector partners.

Hybrid Working

Centrepoint operates a hybrid working model. The requirement is a minimum of 50% of your working week. For most full-time colleagues, this means attending the office for five days over a two-week period (e.g., two days one week and three days the next). For colleagues on different contracts (including part-time or compressed contracts) this will be adjusted accordingly.

About you

• Effective communicator with natural ability to facilitate open and honest conversations.
• Able decision maker with a can do attitude.
• Respectful and empathetic, always considering the impact on our young people.
• Flexible, always adapting to changing needs.
• Engaging, committed to self-development by engaging with training and continuous learning.
• Proactive, always looking for creative ways of working.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead on the development and delivery of research projects, with a particular focus on the quantitative data analysis required to create a robust evidence base needed for Centrepoint’s policy and research work.
• Leading on the Youth Homelessness Databank project, ensuring it remains the most comprehensive source of youth homelessness data in the UK and continues to meet the strategic needs of the organisation.
• To work with Centrepoint staff and young people to shape Centrepoint’s policy messages and further Centrepoint’s mission to end youth homelessness.
• To build strategic relationships with key policy makers and relevant voluntary organisations needed to influence government policy.
• Work with young people and Support and Housing colleagues to make sure the policy team’s work is informed by young people’s views and experiences.
• To initiate, develop and maintain working relationships and partnerships with key external stakeholders, including senior civil servants and other organisations in the third sector.

What we’d be looking for from you…

• Strong understanding of both quantitative and qualitative data methodologies, with the ability to apply these in policy and research contexts.
• Experience of conducting quantitative data analysis, including creating and managing complex databases.
• Experience of analytical software including SPSS, R, Tableau (or similar)
• A demonstrable ability to build and maintain strategic relationships with stakeholders across the sector.
• Excellent communication and analytical skills, with the ability to present complex data clearly and persuasively to diverse audiences through both written and verbal formats.
• Understanding of the Freedom of Information request process and the ability to use the findings to develop data insights and trends.
• Experience of analysing, interpreting and developing social policy.

Why join Centrepoint?

In return for your efforts you’ll receive a competitive salary, excellent training and development, and a host of staff benefits including:

• 25 days of annual leave per year, rising by one day per year to a maximum of 27 days
• Healthcare cash plan (Cover the costs of a wide range of medical treatment including Dental, Optical,Complementary and Alternative therapies).
• Private Medical insurance
• Income protection
• Employer pension contributions of 5%
• Access to Cycle 2 Work loan scheme
• An interest-free travel loan

At Centrepoint we challenge the discrimination within society that contributes to youth homelessness, and we are just as committed to fairness and equality within Centrepoint itself. We are passionate about ensuring all of our colleagues are made to feel included in the work we do and that we value the rich diversity within the organization.

We are an equal opportunities employer and we welcome applications regardless of sex, gender, race, age, belief in any religion and none, gender identity, ethnic origin, class, sexuality, nationality, appearance, unrelated criminal activities, disability, responsibility for dependents, part time or shift workers, being HIV positive or living with AIDS, lived experience of homelessness or using young people’s services and any other matter which causes a person to be treated with injustice.

Centrepoint’s policy is to recruit, employ and promote people on the basis of their suitability for the work to be performed, and to this end, our aim is to ensure that all applicants, employees and volunteers receive equal treatment.

Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to join our team as a Senior Policy, Research, Databank Officer click ‘Apply’ now!