Head of Strategic Analysis & Insight in South Shields

Salary Band 12, £64,959 – £70,071 per annum

Location: Agile, Middle Engine Lane and homeworking

37 hours per week / Permanent Contract

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 new Corporate Hub as a Head of Strategic Analysis & Insight. This is an exceptional opportunity for a senior analytical leader to shape the future of insight‑driven policing and ensure that evidence and analysis sit at the heart of strategic and operational excellence.

As Head of Strategic Analysis & Insight, you will play a pivotal role in shaping how the force uses data, evidence, and analytical intelligence to understand demand, drive improvement and support high‑quality decision‑making at every level of the organisation. This is a senior leadership post requiring advanced analytical expertise, strategic vision, and the ability to turn complex data into clear, actionable insight.

What you’ll do

• You will lead the Force’s analytical and performance capability, bringing strong statistical skills to develop high‑quality analytical products, predictive models, diagnostic insight, and robust performance reporting frameworks.
• You will champion the use of advanced analytical techniques, such as forecasting, trend analysis and modelling to support senior leaders in understanding risks, opportunities, and organisational performance.
• You will oversee the design and implementation of the Force’s analytical and performance framework, ensuring high standards of data quality, governance, and ethical data use.
• Your leadership will ensure analytical output is not only technically accurate but strategically impactful, directly informing strategic planning, operational delivery, continuous improvement, and organisational change.
• Operating at the centre of the Force, you will provide professional advice on performance, demand, and risk, influencing decision‑making with clarity and evidence.
• You will also lead a high‑performing team of analysts, building capability in advanced analytics, promoting innovation in methods and tools, and embedding a culture of continuous learning.

What you’ll bring

• Advanced analytical expertise, supported by a degree (or equivalent experience) in a relevant field, strong knowledge of performance frameworks and data analysis methods, and high proficiency in tools such as Power BI, Excel, SQL, R and Python.
• Proven leadership in complex organisations, with significant experience leading analytical/performance functions, strong team management capability, and a solid understanding of data governance, compliance and ethical standards.
• Extensive planning and organisational capability, demonstrated through leading complex strategic and operational planning, managing multiple priorities and stakeholders, applying strong analytical skills to translate data into actionable plans, developing planning frameworks and reporting tools, and working collaboratively across departments and external partners to align resources and objectives.
• Strong strategic problem solving capability, demonstrated through critical and long term thinking, the ability to analyse and synthesise complex data to inform decisions, identify and act on opportunities for improvement or innovation, diagnose root causes to design sustainable organisational solutions, and make sound, evidence based judgements in ambiguous or fast changing environments.
• Proven people leadership and collaboration skills, demonstrated through building and developing high performing teams aligned to organisational values and the policing Code of Ethics, working effectively across departments and partner agencies to achieve shared outcomes, and setting clear objectives while managing performance in a supportive and accountable way.

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 Head of Strategic Analysis & Insight 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 and a presentation.

If your application is successful, we’ll ask you to complete a Management Vetting (MV) form, therefore you must be a resident of the UK for a minimum period of 5 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.