At a Glance
- Tasks: Analyse data and support business performance through high-quality reporting.
- Company: Join Arriva, a leading European passenger transport partner with a strong sustainability agenda.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, hybrid working, and career development opportunities.
- Other info: Collaborative team environment with exposure to senior stakeholders.
- Why this job: Make an impact by ensuring data accuracy and supporting decision-making across the organisation.
- Qualifications: Experience in data analysis and reporting, with strong attention to detail.
The predicted salary is between 35000 - 42000 £ per year.
Arriva is a leading European passenger transport partner, operating in 11 countries across the UK and Europe. With around 35,000 colleagues delivering more than 1.5 billion passenger journeys each year, we connect people and communities safely, reliably and sustainably. With strong roots dating back to 1938 and an ambitious growth and sustainability agenda, Arriva is focused on building a strong and sustainable future.
We are looking for a curious, detail-oriented Analyst to join our Business Performance team within Group Finance at Arriva, based at our Doxford Park office in Sunderland. This role plays a key part in ensuring the accuracy, integrity and consistency of business performance data, supporting the production of trusted reporting across the organisation. This is an excellent opportunity for an analyst who enjoys working with data and supporting business performance through high-quality reporting and analysis.
You will work across multiple functions to collect, validate, reconcile and analyse data, ensuring that reporting is reliable, aligned and fit for decision-making, including supporting delivery of the Group Performance Dashboard and wider Business Performance reporting. The role offers broad exposure across financial, operational and sustainability reporting, with a strong focus on data quality, reconciliation and continuous improvement of reporting processes.
We are looking for someone with strong attention to detail, a practical, problem-solving mindset, and a focus on improving data quality, reporting controls and process efficiency. This role will be on a hybrid working basis, a minimum of 3 days per week from the Doxford office, with the remainder focused on where you can best deliver for your colleagues while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Key Responsibilities- Own defined inputs and outputs within the Group Performance Dashboard, ensuring accuracy, consistency and alignment with wider Business Performance reporting.
- Assist in the development and enhancement of other dashboards and reporting outputs, ensuring underlying data is reliable and clearly defined.
- Ensure outputs are aligned across operational, financial and KPI reporting, and are suitable for Exec-level reporting and decision-making.
- Work with Finance and wider business stakeholders to understand data requirements, ensure consistent reporting outputs, and act as a key point of contact for reporting queries.
- Support the accurate collection, validation and reconciliation of ESG and other non-financial data, including inputs into planning, forecasting and reporting cycles.
- Identify trends, variances and anomalies, ensuring underlying data is validated before drawing conclusions.
- Explain key movements in performance, supporting business understanding and decision-making.
- Support development of performance commentary and insight used in management reporting and stakeholder discussions.
- Own the collection, validation and reconciliation of performance data across multiple sources, ensuring consistency between financial, operational and KPI reporting.
- Maintain clear documentation of data definitions, sources and reconciliation logic.
- Ensure reported performance reflects underlying business activity.
- Investigate and resolve data discrepancies, working with stakeholders to identify root causes and improve source data quality.
- Maintain data quality standards and support continuous improvement in data integrity and reporting processes.
- Identify and deliver improvements to data quality, reporting processes and performance outputs.
- Support automation, standardisation and efficiency improvements in reporting.
- Work with Group Digital & Technology to support the development and automation of data collection and reporting processes, improving efficiency and reducing manual intervention.
- Assist with ad hoc analysis and projects as required by the Business Performance Manager and wider Group Finance team.
You are analytical, organised and detail-focused, with a strong emphasis on structured analysis, accuracy and data integrity. You are comfortable working across functions and with complex datasets and take a structured approach to ensuring data is consistent, reconciled and reliable before it is used in reporting or decision-making. You enjoy understanding how data flows across systems and processes and are confident investigating and resolving issues where inconsistencies arise.
Essential Skills & Experience- Demonstrable experience in a data, reporting, finance, or business performance role, with the ability to analyse data, produce insights, and support business decision-making.
- Strong experience working with data validation, reconciliation and issue resolution.
- Experience working with financial, operational and/or non-financial performance data.
- Strong Excel skills and confidence working with large datasets.
- High attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy and integrity.
- Ability to trace and resolve data issues across multiple sources and processes.
- Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
- Ability to communicate findings clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Experience owning or leading delivery of reporting outputs or datasets.
- Experience supporting ESG, CSRD or other non-financial data collection and reporting.
- Experience using Power BI to develop reports, dashboards or visualisations.
- Familiarity with data modelling, reporting tools or business intelligence platforms.
- Experience working within Finance, Corporate Finance or a Business Performance environment.
- Understanding of data governance, controls and reporting accuracy.
- Interest in improving data quality, reporting controls and process efficiency.
- Competitive salary and benefits package.
- Hybrid and flexible working opportunities.
- Exposure to senior stakeholders and strategic business initiatives.
- Opportunities to develop technical, analytical and commercial skills.
- A collaborative and supportive team environment.
- Career development within a progressive Group Finance function.
The closing date for applications is Sunday 2 August 2026. Arriva Group reserves the right to close this vacancy early.
Business Performance Analyst (12-month FTC) in Sunderland employer: Arriva Rail London Ltd
Arriva UK Bus is an excellent employer for skilled engineers, offering a supportive team environment and opportunities for career progression within one of the UK's leading transport operators. With competitive pay, ongoing training, and benefits like free or discounted bus travel, employees can build a stable, long-term engineering career while contributing to the safety and reliability of public transport in the community.
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We think this is how you could land Business Performance Analyst (12-month FTC) in Sunderland
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We think you need these skills to ace Business Performance Analyst (12-month FTC) in Sunderland
Some tips for your application 🫡
Highlight Your Analytical Skills:In the business intelligence field, showcasing your analytical skills is a must. Make sure your CV includes relevant experience with data analysis tools, programming languages like SQL or Python, and any projects where you've interpreted complex data sets to drive business decisions.
Showcase Your Business Acumen:Don't just focus on data; show us how you can apply your insights to real-world business problems. Highlight projects where you made a tangible impact on company performance, and be prepared to explain your thought process in your cover letter.
Tailor Your Documents for Us:When applying for a full-time role at Arriva Rail London Ltd, tailor your CV and cover letter to reflect our organisational goals and strategies. Mention specific tools and methodologies that align with what we do—this shows you’ve done your homework and are genuinely interested in our mission!
Include Relevant Certifications:Certifications like Google Data Analytics or similar qualifications can really make you stand out in business intelligence. Include these in your application, as they demonstrate your commitment to the field and your willingness to stay current with industry standards.
How to prepare for a job interview at Arriva Rail London Ltd
✨Show off your analytical skills
In a business intelligence role, you're going to need to demonstrate your analytical prowess. Be prepared to discuss specific tools you've used, like SQL, Tableau, or Power BI. Have real-world examples ready where you’ve turned data into actionable insights – this is what makes us shine in interviews!
✨Practice your technical know-how
Expect some technical questions during the interview that dive deep into your understanding of data modelling and analytics frameworks. Brush up on your knowledge of data warehousing concepts and be ready to tackle any real case scenarios they might present. They’ll want to see how you approach problems using your BI toolkit.
✨Portfolio of Projects
Since it's a full-time role, having a strong portfolio is key! Compile case studies demonstrating your previous projects, preferably showing how your insights led to business improvements. This can help us display how you think through complex datasets and your problem-solving process, which is what employers are keen on seeing.
✨Know their business model
Get familiar with Arriva Rail London Ltd’s business model and recent data-driven decisions. Be prepared to discuss how your skills can specifically support their objectives or challenges. Understanding their landscape shows that you’re not just a data buff, but you’re also genuinely interested in how BI can impact their bottom line.
