Consultant Development Programme at Oxford Policy Management

Position Summary

The Consultant Development Programme is OPM’s entry point for talented and passionate early-career professionals, with a clear commitment to a career in international development. Most Assistant Consultants commence the Consultant Development Programme with limited work experience and no particular sectoral or geographical specialisation. This role gives early-career consultants the opportunity to explore their interests in international development by working on projects across several of OPM’s technical practice areas.

As part of our Consultant Development Programme, you can expect to gain exposure to various strands of international development work, and we are particularly keen to engage candidates with demonstrable experience of core functional skills (Quantitative Analysis, Policy / Report Writing and basic Project Management).

Through the Consultant Development Programme, you will have the opportunity to develop technical, consultancy and management/leadership skills. These skills will be learned through:

• 6–12-month rotations in OPM technical practices
• Project work delivered in collaboration with senior consultants (including new business acquisition, overseas fieldwork and client-facing engagements in diverse settings)
• Mentorship and guidance from experienced colleagues
• Short-term international travel for fieldwork, if opportunities arise
• Seminars, conferences and training opportunities

Successful applicants can expect to provide wide-ranging support in both project acquisition and implementation. Assistant Consultants in the Consultant Development Programme can expect to build:

• General consultancy and development skills
• Primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative research and analysis skills
• Depth and breadth of knowledge and experience both across the policy cycle and the various policy areas in which OPM works
• Effective writing, presentation and communication skills
• Project and people management and leadership skills

After two years, the CDP cohort are expected to progressively start managing their own projects, interacting directly with clients more frequently, and taking on greater autonomy and responsibility for providing advice to policymakers. They may also take on greater people management responsibility, either for interns or other junior consultants.

Key Qualifications/Experience/Skills/Behaviours:

• Completed Masters’ degree in a relevant field, with excellent academic record
• Strong and demonstrated quantitative and/or qualitative research skills
• Demonstrated ability and experience of working with quantitative and/or qualitative packages (e.g. STATA, SPSS, NVivo, Quirkos, etc.)
• Strong and demonstrated written and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrated commitment to international development, ideally evidenced by voluntary or other related work
• Demonstrated interest to live and work in a low- or middle-income country for substantial periods of time
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of multicultural and diverse teams
• Ability to multi-task well and manage multiple deadlines
• Ability to work in at least one language relevant to our international offices would be preferred.

Our Offer:

• We enable colleagues’ capacity to grow professionally through enhanced learning resources, opportunities to work cross functionally, and space to engage with a range of internal and external industry events.
• Our non-hierarchical culture values support, collaboration, intellectual curiosity, and a rich diversity of perspectives.
• We provide an exceptionally generous annual leave entitlement and a hybrid working model to encourage and enable healthy work/life balance.
• Wellbeing resources including a global Employee Assistance Programme and access to the UnMind app.
• Competitive salary and contributory pension scheme.