Contract Analytics Lead & Insights Engineer in Central

1-2 days a month in Cheshire. £450, outside IR35. Help shape the future of data and decision-making in a business investing heavily in its analytics capability. We're looking for an experienced Data Insight Analyst to join a growing Digital & Data function on a contract basis and play a key role in accelerating the development of a Microsoft Fabric and Power BI reporting platform. This is an opportunity to move beyond dashboard delivery and help build an analytics function that genuinely influences operational performance, workforce planning and business growth.

You'll work closely with business leaders, data engineers and reporting developers to turn complex business challenges into meaningful insights, helping decision-makers understand what's happening today and predict what might happen next.

What you'll be doing:

• Shaping the analytical layer of the Microsoft Fabric platform, including data models, KPIs and semantic models.
• Translating business questions into practical reporting and insight solutions.
• Leading the transition from a predominantly Excel-based reporting environment to a modern Microsoft Fabric and Power BI analytics platform, replacing static reports with automated, interactive dashboards and meaningful insights that enable data-driven decision-making across the business.
• Delivering operational insights that drive action across branch performance, workforce planning and quality intelligence.
• Defining and improving data quality, data governance and master data management approaches.
• Partnering with technical teams to ensure data is structured and accessible for effective reporting and analysis.
• Driving the analytics workstream, ensuring priorities are clear, work is coordinated, and the team remains focused on delivering key milestones and business outcomes.
• Providing leadership and direction across analytics initiatives, removing blockers and keeping projects on track.
• Developing predictive analytics and machine learning models to support areas such as recruitment performance, employee retention, referral acceptance, and branch growth and performance.

Why this role is interesting:

This is a highly visible role where you'll have the opportunity to influence how analytics is embedded across the organisation. You'll be joining at a point where there's genuine appetite for data-driven decision making and significant investment in modern data technologies. You'll have the freedom to help shape the roadmap, introduce best practice and establish a more mature analytics capability, rather than simply maintaining existing reporting.

What we're looking for:

• Someone who can comfortably bridge the gap between business, analytics and technology, while also providing leadership to keep analytics delivery moving in the right direction.
• Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Fabric.
• Advanced Power BI expertise, including semantic modelling and enterprise reporting.
• Excellent SQL and Python skills.
• A background as a Data Analyst or Insight Analyst with extensive experience in data analysis and business intelligence.
• Proven experience supporting or leading data migration projects, including ETL processes, data transformation, validation and migration to new business systems.
• Strong experience designing analytical models, KPI frameworks and reporting solutions.
• Essential experience in data insight modelling, predictive analytics and forecasting techniques that support business decision-making.
• Experience working with large and complex datasets to generate actionable business insights.
• A solid understanding of data governance, data quality and master data management principles.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate complex business requirements into practical analytics solutions.
• The ability to coordinate analytics activity, keep teams aligned to priorities, and ensure delivery remains on track.

This role would suit someone who enjoys operating at the intersection of strategy, analytics and technology, and wants to play a hands-on role in building an analytics capability that delivers real business value while providing leadership across key analytics initiatives.