Strategic Lead for Intelligence &Insight

Job Title: Strategic Lead for Intelligence &Insight
Starting Salary: £72,268 per annum
Hours: 37
Location: Stevenage
Contract Type: Secondment / Fixed Term opportunity until March 2027 with the potential for extension
Directorate: Children’s Services

About the team

The Improvement & Transformation service plays a critical role in delivering this ambition—bringing together data, intelligence, finance, and systems to enable evidence-based decision-making and sustainable service improvement across the Inclusion and Skills and Education services and the local area SEND partnership.

This is a high-profile, fast-paced environment where collaboration across education, health, social care and corporate services is essential to achieving meaningful impact.

About the role

We are seeking a strategic leader to deliver our Intelligence & Insight function across SEND & Inclusion.

This role will lead a programme of transformation to strengthen how we use data, intelligence and insight to drive improved outcomes, ensure financial sustainability, and meet increasing statutory and regulatory requirements.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading a programme of improvement and transformation across data, intelligence and insight, delivering strategic benefits across the directorate and multi-agency partnerships
• Shaping the strategic direction of intelligence and insight for SEND and Inclusion in line with national SEND and education reforms and Local Government Reorganisation in Hertfordshire
• Embedding a culture of evidence-based decision-making and continuous improvement underpinning system transformation, service improvements and operational decision-making.
• Leading high-quality reporting across the directorate, translating complex data into meaningful insights for a range of audiences
• Providing leadership and oversight of insight and intelligence to support robust budget monitoring, modelling and reporting for high-risk areas such as High Needs funding
• Establishing a strategic overview of resource use, supporting and challenging senior leaders to mitigate financial risks
• Overseeing information systems and championing innovation, including the adoption of new digital tools and reporting platforms (e.g. Power BI)
• Leading and developing data and finance teams, ensuring clarity of vision, high performance, and professional growth
• Coordinating analytical resources across services to drive efficiency and coherence
• Contributing to wider leadership within the Improvement & Transformation service, deputising when required
• Working collaboratively across the Council and with external partners to meet corporate and statutory reporting requirements
• Building strong partnerships locally, regionally and nationally to support the directorate’s data and insight ambitions
• Ensuring timely and high-quality responses to statutory returns, inspections, FOI requests and partner queries

About you

You will be a confident and credible senior leader with a strong track record of driving transformation through data and insight. You will be comfortable operating in a complex and politically sensitive environment and able to influence at the highest levels across organisations.

Essential:

• Exceptional skills in data gathering, analysis and interpretation, with the ability to present complex information clearly to different audiences
• Strong analytical thinking, with the ability to draw conclusions and translate insight into action for senior leaders, elected members and operational services.
• Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills, with the ability to engage partners at every level across a multi-agency system
• Proven leadership and team management experience, with a focus on developing others
• Strong political awareness and ability to work effectively in sensitive and high-profile environments
• Good understanding of programme and transformation leadership and management approaches
• Ability to thrive in a complex, fast-paced and dynamic environment
• Thorough knowledge of national SEND policy, inclusion, and/or support for children with additional learning needs

Desirable:

• Experience of leading intelligence, performance or analytics functions within a local authority or public sector setting
• Experience of financial oversight, budget monitoring and managing high-value funding areas
• Experience implementing or optimising data systems, business intelligence tools (e.g. Power BI), and case management systems
• Knowledge of statutory reporting requirements and inspection frameworks within SEND/Inclusion
• Experience working across multi-agency partnerships at a strategic level

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is Level 15. Please locate the job profile here: Organisational Leadership

To hear more about this opportunity please contact David Butcher - david.butcher@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: 17th June - Stevenage

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Secondment
This role is open to secondments for eligible employees who work for HCC. If you wish to apply on a secondment basis, you must have your line manager’s approval before submitting your application. You will be asked to confirm this within your application form. If you are not eligible for a secondment (e.g.you are currently on a fixed‑term contract that would end before this positions ends) or you indicate that your manager cannot support a secondment, your application will be considered on a fixed‑term contract basis instead.

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.