Impact and Evaluation Lead (Prisons and Justice)

At Samaritans, our vision is that fewer people die by suicide. We are looking for an Impact and Evaluation Lead to play a pivotal role in strengthening the way in which we measure and articulate the impact of our work in prisons. This is an opportunity to contribute to life-saving services by ensuring we understand what works, why it works, and how we can do more of it.

Based in our Performance and Insight Team, and working closely with our Prisons & Justice Team, you will lead monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) work across some of our most impactful programmes, including the Prison Listener Scheme and Postvention in prisons. You’ll collaborate closely with our operational teams, volunteers, prison Listeners, people with lived experience, and external partners to generate meaningful insights that shape service design and delivery.

This role is integral to helping Samaritans build a stronger evidence base for suicide prevention in prisons, ensuring that our work continues to evolve and deliver the greatest possible impact for those who need us most.

If you have experience identifying practical ways to collect data, generate meaningful insights from it, and embed learnings into service or project design, delivery and adaptation, ideally within prisons or the criminal justice system, we’d love to hear from you.

Contract terms:

£45,000 per annum, plus benefits

12-month fixed term contract, with potential to extend dependant on funding

Full time hours are 35 hours per week, but we are passionate about flexible working, talk to us about your preferences

Linked to our Ewell (Surrey) office

Hybrid: Meeting in person and working collaboratively are things we value. We work in person around 2 days or more per month

What you'll do:

Lead our monitoring, evaluation and learning work across our work in prisons Analyse and interpret complex quantitative and qualitative data sets from multiple sources Generate clear findings, conclusions and actionable recommendations Influence stakeholders to use data and evidence in operational and strategic decisions Embed meaningful involvement of lived experience in evaluation work Attend and present at external events to share findings and lessons, contributing to the sector knowledge Drive excellence in our monitoring, evaluation and learning practice in prisons

What you’ll bring:

Significant experience of designing and delivering monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) frameworks, or leading evaluations of services or programmes of work Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret qualitative and quantitative data Experience of critically appraising evidence, and translating findings into practice A commitment to embedding lived experience in evaluation work Experience working within prisons or the criminal justice systems Ability to produce high-quality reports and outputs Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills

Why Samaritans?

At Samaritans, you’ll be part of a people-first organisation deeply committed to inclusion, compassion and learning. You’ll contribute to a team where your voice matters, your expertise makes a difference, and your work helps save lives.

We welcome applications from individuals with lived experience and encourage those from underrepresented communities to apply. We are committed to creating an environment where all our people feel seen, heard and supported.

You’ll join a values-led organisation with a powerful mission and a collaborative culture. We offer flexible hybrid working, excellent benefits, and the chance to make a tangible difference in suicide prevention across the UK and Ireland.

We recognise the enormous benefits and the social justice imperatives of ensuring diversity at every level of our organisation. Samaritans is wholly committed to inclusion and diversity and to building a culture and environment where everyone is appreciated for the unique person they are. To ensure Samaritans is representative of those we support and who support us, we particularly welcome applications from disabled, racialised minority and LGBTQ+ candidates, as these people are under-represented at Samaritans.

Criminal record check (DBS):

We take safeguarding seriously at Samaritans and follow safe recruitment practices. As this role has direct contact with children and adults at risk, this role may require an Enhanced DBS check.

At offer stage, as part of the conditional job offer, we will require the candidate to disclose in full, spent and unspent convictions by completing a declaration form. The declaration form will only be seen by those who need to see it as part of the recruitment process.