About the programme

Social Finance is an entrepreneurial, forward-thinking organisation looking for the next generation of social innovators to start their journey on our Analyst Programme in Autumn 2025, working on our UK based work. The programme is three years in duration and includes opportunities to work across a variety of issue areas/projects, experiencing different ways of working and differing roles within projects, allowing you to develop a broad skillset. Training, both on the job and in group settings, coaching and mentorship opportunities are used to equip you with the skills and experience required to build your career.

This programme is designed for those who do not have a degree but have up to three years’ work experience or those who have just completed their degree and are looking for their first role.

We are looking for individuals who are:

• Passionate about making a difference
• Intellectually curious
• Innovative thinkers, willing to challenge the status quo
• Self-motivated, adaptable, and confident to work independently
• Team players who can build good working relationships with a variety of internal and external partners

We work at the intersection of public services, user data, digital tools, and philanthropic and private investment, and ask questions like:

• Where should governments, donors and philanthropy focus their efforts to improve society?
• How do you design public services that can respond to changing user needs and stay focused on meaningful outcomes?
• How can data and digital tools be used to support better decision-making?
• How do you align financial success with social impact?
• How do you avoid introducing ethical, social, or cultural bias into solutions and services?

You will need to show potential and interest in the following areas, which will be developed over the course of your time on the programme. You are not expected to arrive with a full skillset, as this programme is designed to support you to learn:

Data and analytical skills: You have an aptitude for numerical information and analysis, including the ability to collect, gather and analyse information. You show attention to detail and can quality control your own work to produce accurate and reliable outputs in PowerPoint, Excel, and Word. During the programme, you will learn how to create the financial and operational models that support our work, drawing from comparable models in the business, social and development sectors.

Problem solving: You are able to look at a problem creatively and suggest alternative, viable and Impactful solutions.

Project management: You can document and organise your work, are able to prioritise and plan your own work streams, communicate project progress effectively, and invest your time appropriately to create high- quality products and meet deadlines reliably.

Communication & relationship building: You have excellent writing, listening and inter-personal skills, can summarise and share information effectively. You are able to develop insightful presentations of findings and conclusions. During your time on the programme, you will learn how to establish, support, and build strong relationships within and outside Social Finance.

Teamwork: You work well in teams and independently, are receptive to feedback and use it to continually improve.

User research & design thinking: You can design, coordinate, and implement research plans to understand service users and their needs. You can synthesise research data to build clear pictures of potential service users to feed into project/product design.

About your work here

As an Analyst, you will work on various types of projects, supported by a more senior member of staff and project team. Social Finance aims to create social change in partnership with like-minded organisations, and we use various avenues to do this.

Systems thinking and design: Developing innovative and long-lasting ways of solving social issues, ranging from new funding models to policy approaches, to service re-design solutions. For example, we have brought together several front-line charities to design a new programme of behaviour change to reduce domestic violence that is being scaled with support from the Home Office.

Data analysis and research: From carrying out detailed data analysis to understand complex social issues, to conducting market research to advise investors on how they can generate a social and financial return, to helping government use their data effectively to make better decisions. For example, we draw together multiple data sets to identify which groups of young people are most at risk of poor long-term outcomes, such as unemployment, and use our conclusions to influence policy.

Advisory work: Assisting social sector and development organisations, and governments, to create new approaches to services and innovative funding mechanisms to underpin them. For example, we work with local authorities to design contracts based on the achievement of social outcomes to prevent young people going into care.

Market building: From developing national strategies to creating and developing social impact bond (SIB) markets, to designing knowledge platforms that support the sharing of learning, to building the capacity of other players in the market to help replicate our work. For example, we work with governments and donors to help create outcome-focused funds to improve the quality of primary and secondary education.

Fund management: From supporting the development of an investment pipeline and carrying out due diligence on potential investments, to monitoring the performance of existing investments and supporting investees achieve their targets. For example, we manage a social investment fund in the health & care space which invests in social enterprises and projects with the aim of improving community health and wellbeing.

Partnership building and relationship management: From working with frontline delivery partners, to coordinating with a range of local authority partners, to bringing together diverse sets of funders and investors. For example, through a Collective Impact model, the Black Thrive initiative is bringing together the council, health commissioners, charities, and community groups in Lambeth to tackle high rates of mental illness amongst the local black community.

About Social Finance

We are an ambitious not for profit organisation that helps to design, fund and scale better solutions to complex social problems. Our vision is a fairer world where together we unleash the potential of people and communities. We do this by working in partnership with local and national governments, funders, communities and the social sector to tackle complex and enduring social problems in the UK and across the world.  

Our skills include financial analysis, data and digital insight, outcomes-focused partnerships, strategy, research and design. We combine these specialisms in different ways to address specific social challenges. We create effective solutions that blend the expertise of communities and professionals to deliver better outcomes in issues such as homelessness, domestic abuse, children’s services, health, employment and skills. 

Ready to make your own impact on these issues? Then come and join us.  

Our multi-skilled team of over 120 people come from diverse backgrounds in the public, private and charity sectors, all sharing a passion for making change happen. We provide a high-quality training and development programme in-house with great opportunities for career progression. We’re a friendly and intellectually curious bunch, always up for a debate. Read more about what it’s like to work here.  

Our Values 

Everyone at Social Finance believes that change for communities is possible. To help us achieve it, we have three core values that guide everything we do. We are curious, empathetic and pioneering. 

Working at Social Finance

The fixed salary for this position is £33,000 per annum. Working for a mission driven organisation is more than just what we pay though, it’s about our culture, our approach and what else we offer. Read more about working at Social Finance here.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

We actively encourage applications from under-represented and minoritised groups, including those with lived experience of the social issues we are working to address. We are an equal opportunities employer. 

We support a range of flexible working options and welcome UK based applications from outside of London/the Southeast so far as they can meet the in-person meeting requirements for the role. We can also accommodate secondments and part-time working. Read more about our approach to equity, diversity and inclusion here. 

We work on some projects where our clients may require different levels of DBS checking for our employees. Candidates deemed suitable for a role after interview will be asked to declare any unspent convictions to ensure that we are able to resource them to projects appropriately. 

How to Apply

We use Applied, an application platform developed by the Behavioural Insights Team, to record your application. Applied uses behavioural and data science to improve hiring decisions and minimise unconscious bias in the recruitment process.  

You will be asked to respond to situational based questions which will allow you to express your ability. Your answer to each question will be viewed in isolation. Please therefore ensure there is enough detail in that single response, without any references to your other responses. 

NB: While we are asking for your CV, please note that we will not be viewing your CV during the initial sift process. The selection panel will not have access to your CV, so it is therefore essential that you respond to each question fully.