Senior Continuous Improvement & Assurance Adviser

Salary Band 10, £50,154 – £54,696 (Please note it is Northumbria Police policy to appoint at the beginning of the band)

Location: Agile, Middle Engine Lane with a requirement to travel across the organisation as required

Hours/Contract: 37 hours per week, permanent

The role

Here at Northumbria Police, we think our region is amazing! It takes a great deal of people from different backgrounds, with diverse skills and experience to serve our force area effectively. This could be the perfect time for you to join us in our Corporate Hub as a Senior Continuous Improvement and Assurance Adviser. You will lead the development and delivery of innovative continuous improvement initiatives that enhance operational efficiency, boost productivity, and elevate service quality across the Force. You’ll use recognised methodologies such as Lean, problem solving, systems thinking, and demand analysis to pinpoint inefficiencies, reduce waste, and address service pressures. Whilst the role is based at Middle Engine Lane Police Station, there may be occasions where travel across the Force to engage with business areas as part of the planned programme of improvement work is required.

What you’ll do

• Provide strong leadership to the Continuous Improvement and Assurance Team, ensuring all improvement, assurance, and evaluation activities are delivered to a high standard and align with organisational priorities.
• Facilitate workshops, improvement events, and problem solving sessions, while coaching leaders and staff to build lasting continuous improvement capability across the organisation.
• Build and maintain effective partnerships with internal and external stakeholders, leading collaborative improvement work including workshops, reviews, and process mapping to design practical, impactful solutions.
• Translate complex operational issues into structured improvement programmes with clear outcomes, identifying opportunities to reduce cost, demand, and duplication while enhancing victim experience and organisational capacity.
• Deliver internal audits and assurance reviews, assessing compliance with standards, legislation and policies, and ensure delivery of clear, evidence based reports and presentations with actionable recommendations for improvement.
• Present these findings confidently to a range of stakeholders.

What you’ll bring

• Educated to degree level (or able to demonstrate equivalent experience), with strong knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods, evaluation techniques, and advanced improvement methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, and PDSA.
• Proven leadership and people management capability, with experience setting objectives, managing performance, and delivering evaluation, quality assurance, or continuous improvement activity within a complex organisation.
• Demonstrated ability to manage resources effectively, prioritise workloads and balance competing demands to meet deadlines, while successfully leading research and evaluation projects.
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills, with the ability to interpret complex data, develop actionable insights, and use research to inform strategic decision making and solve business problems.
• Demonstrated commitment to continuous professional development, with experience leading research projects and improvement activity, strong relationship management and teamwork skills, and the confidence to act as a trusted adviser to senior managers.

We know it’s important for you to feel that you’re not only part of a great team, but part of a community. We welcome applications from suitably qualified people from all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Harnessing these differences creates a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, and their talents are fully utilised. Appointments are based on merit alone.

Just so you know

Our application form will help us understand how your work, education and life experience has prepared you for the role of a Senior Continuous Improvement and Assurance Adviser with #TeamNP. To help support your application research what makes us tick here at Northumbria, the role you’re applying for and the values and behaviours that contribute. The recruitment process will consist of the initial application form followed by a face-to-face interview including a presentation. Just so you know, you can save your application and come back to it any time prior to the closing date on the advert.

We are proud members of the Business Disability Forum, working together to improve the lives of disabled employees. As a Disability Confident Leader, we are committed to offering an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role. In cases of very high application volumes, we may prioritise those who most closely meet the criteria, applying the same fair approach for all candidates. If you tell us that you have a disability, we can make adjustments to support you through the recruitment process (for example we can arrange extra time for tests or provide a sign language interpreter).

You can get in touch with us via careers@northumbria.police.uk for any support regarding the application process. Please provide us with plenty of notice so we can ensure your visit goes smoothly.

Use of AI in Applications: At Northumbria Police, we embrace innovative technologies to enhance our recruitment process. We understand that candidates may use AI tools to assist with their applications. While AI can be a valuable resource, we encourage applicants to ensure their submissions accurately reflect their personal qualifications, experiences, and skills. Our selection process includes thorough evaluations to verify the authenticity and suitability of all applications. We value genuine and thoughtful responses that showcase your unique strengths and perspectives.

If your application is successful, we’ll ask you to complete a Recruitment Vetting (RV) form, therefore you must be a resident of the UK for a minimum period of 3 years to ensure vetting checks can be successfully performed. A job offer will be dependent upon vetting clearance, medical information, and references.

Terms of appointment

This is a permanent role subject to a six-month probationary period. If you are successful in your application, you will have a six-month probation period with us where you will be unable to apply for any other post advertised internally or externally. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.