Analytical Assistant

We are looking to recruit to an expanding team to help the Council harness the potential of data, using evidence and best practice to support and inform the development of policy, strategy, plans and budgets, and in turn deliver the Corporate Strategy for Cambridgeshire County Council. The post holder will support with a range of data and analytical tasks that support the Council's education and children's social care functions plan and deliver good quality services.

The post holder will lead on primary data collection and extraction, data handling, data analysis and visualisation, supporting team and service colleagues make the best use of our data. The post holder will work with a large volume of complex data from multiple sources. As an Analytical Assistant, you will provide practical support to team colleagues working on different projects as required to enter, clean, reformat and analyse data, and be able to think strategically about how the Council can use it.

The post holder will need to be able to draft clear report work specifications, work to deadlines, produce accurate analysis and high-quality outputs, scorecards and management, performance and benchmarking information. This position offers an exciting opportunity for the post holder to develop and strengthen their analytical skills and to build a strong understanding of how education and children's services operate, as well as experience of how the Council works as a whole.

The breadth of the work will help the post holder build transferable skills, learn new ways of working, grow confidence in supporting a wider range of services, refine problem-solving and collaborative skills and support longer-term career development. The demand for our services has never been greater! With budgets of millions of pounds that impact on thousands of vulnerable people every year, services rely upon the analysis, information and advice provided by our team to make informed decisions – so you'll really have a chance to make a difference.

The roles sit within Cambridgeshire County Council's newly formed Policy, Performance & Intelligence Service. A team of 50 individuals who provide data, analysis, insight and policy expertise to support the operational management and strategic planning of services. We are a family-friendly employer and will be happy to negotiate on working arrangements to achieve a good work/life balance. Both roles are available on a fixed-term basis with the option of flexibility on working hours.

What will you be doing?

• This is an exciting role supporting the council and partners through the collection and provision of data, insight, and analysis.
• Obtaining, extracting and analysing national and local datasets.
• National and regional benchmarking.
• Dashboard creation using Power BI.
• Assisting in the provision of statutory inspection datasets.
• Assisting in the compilation and submission of statutory data returns.
• Assisting in the analysis to support FOI requests.
• Ad hoc data provision and analysis for a range of teams within the Children & Families directorate.
• Work with other experts within the team as well as colleagues from the wider service to support directorate change programmes.

About you

Can you help data make a difference? Are you ambitious, innovative, good with data and passionate with an enthusiasm for supporting evidence-led decision making? If so, we may have the role you've been searching for! We are looking for individuals with strong technical skills, with a sound understanding of a range of data sources and a hunger and curiosity to get behind the numbers and understand how they can be applied to service improvement.

Good communication skills, both oral and written, are essential as you will be given the opportunity to work closely with service leads and present complex, and sometimes technical information, to a range of internal and external audiences. Experience in a similar field is preferable. A high level of competence with Power BI, data analysis, and specialist data analytical software are also desirable. Successful applicants will be well supported to further develop their subject knowledge and technical skillsets.

Our benefits

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family.
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme.
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances.
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings.
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth.
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day.
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network.
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards.
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do. We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you do not meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, don't be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and to monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs.

Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.