Principal Performance and Research Analyst

at  Sheffield City Council

Job description

PRINCIPAL PERFORMANCE AND RESEARCH ANALYST

Are you an experienced and forward-looking lead performance analyst looking for a new challenge? Are you curious, proactive, delivery focused and understand the potential of data and insight to drive knowledge, understanding and improvement?
This is an exciting time to be joining the Performance and Insight team within Sheffield City Council – having agreed a four-year Council Plan in 2024 we’ve been busy developing a performance system to support, monitor and assist in the delivery of these Outcomes and Priorities. As an organisation we’re currently on a data maturity journey improving how we deliver and use evidence and insights, training and upskilling our workforce and getting involved in the delivery of a new Digital Strategy. This is a great opportunity to be a leading part of the team that embeds and supports the organisation’s ambition to have a strong performance culture.
The Performance and Insight service is located within Strategic Enabling Services, part of the essential wiring that supports Sheffield City Council to work well. We are a small, dynamic, motivated team of performance analysts, data scientists and GIS specialists, we collaborate and work with services and functions across the organisation, as a corporate hub we are continually developing our expertise and have a key role in driving the Council’s data, analysis, performance management and improvement.
As a lead performance analyst, you will work with colleagues across the organisation developing performance monitoring, management and reporting approaches, problem solving and advising on how to track and evidence the impact Council services are having on Sheffield and its citizens. A trusted and knowledgeable go to person you’ll advise colleagues on anything from performance best practice and efficient data models, through to engaging report development that makes complex data understood at a glance. You will be confident to undertake investigative analysis of emerging issues, develop corporate data products and work with senior leaders to ensure evidence and insight are clearly presented, understood, and can be used as part of important decision-making processes.

You’ll have knowledge of statistical analysis, data extraction and transformation and the ability to create automated reports. With strong expertise in Power BI and the wider Microsoft Power Platform you’ll use those skills in your day-to-day role as well as mentoring and coaching others. You’ll be experienced at building strong relationships and have great communication skills, taking an active role in discussions, challenging existing practice and making suggestions for improvements. If you meet most of the requirements for this job and are passionate, positive, willing to learn and share the SCC values we’d love to hear from you.

• People are at the heart of what we do
• Openness and honesty are important to us
• Together we get things done

Sheffield - resourceful, inventive, welcoming, rooted in its history and ambitious for the future, a brilliant and diverse city of nearly 600,000 people. We have amazing environmental, cultural, sporting and heritage assets, with two world-class universities, a thriving Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District and we are proud of the fact that our outdoor city has been named as the greenest in the UK.
Interviews will be held in early February 2024.
For informal enquiries please contact nicola.mchugh@sheffield.gov.uk (Service Manager – Corporate Performance & Insight)
We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.
It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application.
Under the Disability Confident Scheme, disabled applicants, who meet the essential criteria of this job, are guaranteed an interview.
Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.
If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade.

• People are at the heart of what we do
• Openness and honesty are important to us
• Together we get things don