Office for National Statistics
Principal Statistical Methodologist
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
The locations for this role are Newport, Titchfield (Fareham), Manchester, & Darlington.
This role is aligned to ONS hybrid working principles, which are based on attending the office with purpose. The postholder will be expected to contribute to the organisation’s overall 40% office attendance, in line with business and role requirements.
The induction process for the role will be conducted in person.
Due to workforce controls you can only select Manchester, & Darlington if you are an existing ONS employee contracted to that location. If you are not contracted at one of these sites, these options are not available to you.
Applicants who select a location they are not eligible for will be removed from the recruitment process and will not be considered for alternative locations.
Please refer to attachments for further terms and flexibilities.
Job Summary
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.
Quality and Improvement Division provides support for ONS and across government on statistical methods and quality improvement. The Statistical Head of Profession office for the Government Statistical Group (GSG) also sits within this division. The division is focused on continuous improvement with a focus on understanding, improving and communicating quality through standards, guidance, methods development, assurance and advice.
Job Description
Principal Statistical Methodologists in MQD are responsible for a variety of technical and branch-head roles across a range of specialist subject areas. As examples, areas of expertise which a Grade 7 might lead include, among others: Time Series, Statistical Disclosure Control, Sample Design or Data Linkage. This role will be based in the Integrated Data & Methods Hub and will have initial responsibility for data linkage and assurance, particularly in relation to Census.
Each Grade 7 is responsible for organising and delivering a programme of different projects for a variety of stakeholders, working with them to determine their needs, and supporting them pro-actively and often at short-notice with ad hoc requests; sound project management and organisational skills are required in these roles.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead a team aligned with the specialisms of Methodology & Quality.
- Lead the delivery of a range of methodological and analytical research projects.
- Apply your skills and knowledge to assure and improve the quality of methods used in the production of official statistics.
- Work closely with customers to establish their needs, agree delivery timelines, communicate your team’s findings, and manage your customers’ relationship with Methodology & Quality.
- Ensure the projects you lead contribute to the wider strategic objectives of the directorate and ONS as a whole.
- Support, develop, and coach Methodologists and Assistant Methodologists in technical and other competency areas.
- Safeguard the wellbeing of your team and those you manage.
- Support the wider technical development of the directorate through contributing to the leadership of a technical working group.
- Support the wider improvement of directorate working practices through contributing to the leadership of non-technical working groups.
- Principal Methodologists work with a wide variety of stakeholders at all levels within, and sometimes outside, the office too: collaboration with other government departments, national statistical institutes and academia at times is likely.
- Outside of the remit of their team or usual work, Principal Methodologists will be involved in the management and running of the Division, with opportunities to take the lead or contribute to a range of cross-cutting or strategic initiatives and may become involved in similar operations further afield too.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Person specification
Essential Criteria:
- Experience in managing and delivering methodological/analytical research and development projects to a high quality.
- Excellent communication skills, including report writing, making presentations to a variety of audiences, delivering training, and explaining methodological work to non-specialist audiences at all levels.
- Experience in building relationships and supporting a diverse range of stakeholders, with strong interpersonal and collaborative skills.
- Excellent leadership skills in order to manage a small team of analysts, which includes, development, coaching and quality assurance in both technical and non-technical areas.
Qualifications
- A 2:1 degree in a mathematical or statistical discipline, or other subject with substantial statistical content.
- Clearly demonstrated equivalent experience, knowledge or qualifications may also be considered.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
- Developing Self and Others
- Leadership
- Communicating and Influencing
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Acquiring Data
- Analysis
- Dissemination
Alongside your salary of £56,861, Office for National Statistics contributes £16,472 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.
Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.
Inclusion & Accessibility
At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.
As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.
If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.
ONS are committed to flexible ways of working that support a healthy work-life balance. ONS has already considered how this job could be right sized for applicants working flexibly and we are happy to explore options with you about working part time, in a job share or flexibly, in line with our hybrid working policies.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
Security Clearance
For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.
At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:
- Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
- UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
- Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
- Security Services records
Visa Sponsorship
ONS may be able to provide visa sponsorship where the role meets ONS sponsorship criteria and all relevant Home Office requirements. Applicants must hold, or be eligible to obtain, the right to work in the UK before employment commences.
At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:
- Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
- UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
- Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
- Security Services records
For full guidance in relation to the use of AI through the recruitment process, please read A candidate’s guide to artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment
Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.
Application Process
Number of Stages: 2 stage process
Stage 1: Application
Stage 2: Interview
Stage 1 – Application
The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, skills, experience, CV, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.
A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum wordcount allowed is 1000, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.
When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location