Job summary
We are seeking an experienced and motivated Senior People Analyst to join our team on a 15-month fixed-term contract to cover maternity leave. This is a pivotal role at the heart of our People Analytics function, responsible for delivering high-quality, advanced workforce analysis that informs strategic decision-making across the organisation. You will lead on complex analytical projects, develop insightful Power BI dashboards, and apply predictive analytics to address key workforce challenges. As a senior member of the team, you will also line manage and mentor the People Analyst, ensuring the highest standards of analytical rigour and data integrity. Reporting to the Head of People Analytics, you will play a critical role in driving evidence-based workforce planning and supporting improvements in employee experience, retention, and organisational effectiveness.
Main duties of the job
As Senior People Analyst, you will lead on delivering advanced workforce analytics to support strategic planning and evidence-based decision-making across the Trust. This includes managing complex data projects, developing insightful Power BI dashboards, and producing high-quality reporting using ESR and other workforce systems. You will work closely with senior leaders, translating complex data into clear, actionable intelligence that informs organisational priorities.
You will line manage and mentor the People Analyst, promoting analytical best practice, supporting professional development, and ensuring a high-quality, customer-focused service. You will act as a technical expert on ESR data, business intelligence, and Smartcard access, contributing to statutory reporting (e.g. Gender Pay Gap, FOIs) and the development of robust data governance and reporting processes.
We're looking for someone with excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, a strong command of Power BI and workforce systems (particularly ESR), and the ability to communicate complex information clearly to non-technical audiences. Experience of managing projects and supervising staff is essential, as is a proactive, improvement-focused approach. You'll need to be highly organised, detail-oriented, and able to balance competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
About us
- Option to join NHS pension scheme
- A minimum 27 days' holiday each year, increasing after 5 years' service.
- Personal and professional development and training opportunities.
- Salary Sacrifice schemes for cars or push bikes.
- Access to occupational health and counselling services.
- Award winning wellbeing hub
- Back up buddy App
- Access to NHS discounts, offering NHS employees a range of money-saving deals.
Other than in exceptional circumstances, the starting salary for staff new to the NHS will be the bottom point of the band to which they have been appointed.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication and relationship skills
- Provide assurance on the progress of work and any emerging issues or challenges in meeting agreed delivery deadlines.
- Confidently communicate with senior stakeholders, liaising with leads from both inside and outside the Trust regularly.
- Provide highly specialist, expert advice and training on the use of and interpretation of information from Power BI and ESR to internal stakeholders.
- Represent the People Analytics Team at meetings with internal stakeholders to support provision of accurate information to internal working groups, committees, and programmes, making proposals for policy or service changes where appropriate.
- Responsibility for providing and receiving highly complex/ extremely sensitive and contentious People data, communicating both internally and externally to users of various levels of understanding. Information will be regularly communicated to Trust Director/Board-levels. The information may be conflicting with other HR systems and/or subject to further interrogation. People data is often subject to intense questioning and scrutiny and persuasive/reassurance and motivational skills may be needed to overcome this and justify data integrity.
- Utilise compelling visuals, such as Reports and Dashboards to interpret and present insightful analysis on vast People data, ensuring they are captivating, accessible, comprehensible and expertly tailored to the end-user and the diverse, wide audiences across the Trust.
- Demonstrable ability to overcome barriers associated with conveying analytical/technical information to a non-technical audience.
Information management
- To use systematic analysis, intelligence and initiative to provide a customer focussed, proactive and highly-specialist workforce information reporting and service to Trust managers, and both internal and external Stakeholders..
- Devise and provide meaningful improvements to current workforce information and processes, by analysing, reporting and suggesting new procedures to enhance decision making that would be advantageous to the Trust.
- Design new, cutting-edge and enhance existing business intelligence dashboards using people data from ESR and other HR systems, utilising business intelligence systems such as Power BI.
- Ensure timely and meticulously accurate, expert information analysis and reporting to management on agreed areas of work.
- To use this dynamic analysis in the context of the wider system to provide evidence-based recommendations for business intelligence decisions.
- Collaborate with highly complex, diverse, extremely sensitive current and historic workforce data sets drawn from a range of systems, conducting comprehensive analyses with data such as staffing levels, turnover, sickness absence, vacancies, starter/leaver details, and equality data. Present actionable insights through compelling and visually appealing workforce reports and dashboards.
- Utilise a range of external benchmarking tools to ensure access to the latest comparators for Trust data, facilitating accurate, up-to-date and compelling presentations.
- Ensure that regular reporting requirements are prepared and distributed in a timely way and are extremely professional in their presentation and attention to detail. Deliver routine and specialist reporting such as monthly workforce information reports and national returns.
- Develop written reports and expert analyses, as directed by the Head of People Analytics for Trust Board, committees and managerial meetings, etc.
- Provide workforce information for statistical returns and Freedom of Information (FOI) queries and to ensure other surveys are completed in a timely and accurate manner.
- Proactively manage the submission process for Gender Pay Gap (GPG) reporting, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements by submitting data to the relevant .gov platforms.
- Create and sustain reports that support prompt and high-quality reporting. Collaborate with the People Analyst(s) to facilitate crucial data quality monitoring from ESR.
- Lead on the production of workforce trend and projection reports that support workforce planning and transformation.
- Provide expert production and analysis to managers, advise on the best use of information and develop reports to aid them in understanding information and the use of it in achieving key targets.
- To analyse highly-specialist workforce information and People data, and be able to present conclusions clearly in writing and in person using appropriate tools, visual aids and business intelligence systems (such as Power BI).
- To act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME)/ ESR Lead in ensuring the effective use and maintenance of the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) and other HR systems such as e-expenses.
- Extensive knowledge of Power BI, including developing captivating Dashboards, utilising vast and complex data sets held in SharePoint and the local data warehouse.
Team Management
- Responsibility for quality first line supervisory management and coaching of the People Analytics team (Band 5 Analysts) to oversee the delivery of specific and transactional services.
- Identifying development and knowledge gaps within the team and allocating appropriate training when required.
- Deputising in Head of People Analytics absence. Ensure effective performance management and business improvement of the People Analytics team by means of monitoring KPIs, activity reports, appraisals and 1:1s with individual team members, in line with agreed Trust standards.
- Responsibility for ensuring the People Analytics Team have appropriate equipment and resources.
- Monitor and approve team annual leave requests, timesheets and expense claims.
Service Development
- Contribute to the review and development of existing information management systems and contribute to the development of an integrated approach to, workforce information and workforce planning.
- Support the Head of People Analytics in working with directors, senior managers, finance and senior colleagues to design, develop and implement new workforce information and business intelligence reports, scorecards/dashboards and analyses to support the Trusts workforce and finance planning requirements.
- Support the development of the Trusts critical workforce information infrastructure in response to organisational service and financial planning needs.
- Research the impact of service changes due to ESR updates which could impact multiple ESR users/the Trust and must be communicated effectively with appropriate stakeholders.
- Identify missing or conflicting areas of information with the HR systems and problem solve these.
- Develop and maintain specialist People Analytics technical procedures and policies.
- Ensure that the People Analyst(s) provides a customer focused service, responding to appropriate deadlines, including collation of complex and highly sensitive information and using specialist expertise to give guidance and advice to customers in regard to their requests and enquiries
Planning and organisation
- Contribute to the strategic planning of Team projects, identifying interdependencies across projects/functions, potential impacts on wider organisation, resource requirements and building in contingency and adjustments as necessary.
- Contribute to short-, medium- and long-term workforce plans, achieving quality outcomes.
- Continually review information provision, adapting information production in response to changes both within the department and wider organisation. Identify the need for new and additional in line with any changes.
- Responsibility for managing the workload of the People Analyst(s), providing guidance, planning, prioritising and re-allocating tasks, setting targets and assigning projects.
- Provide highly specialist training for staff on access to information and analyses held by the People Analytics team.
- Daily interruptions which may change workload priorities will need to be efficiently managed by the post holder whilst keeping the quality of work intact.
- Ability to work flexibly to meet the Trusts needs, whilst balancing opposing priorities and managing internal and external stakeholder expectations and timelines.
- Desk-based for duration of daily office hours, ability to attend meetings where required.
- Capable of intense concentration whilst interrogating highly complex data and/or problem solving for prolonged periods of time.
Systems and Registration Authority
- Act as an Advanced Registration Authority Agent.
Representation as an Advanced RA Agent, for example in the RA Working Group, which involves providing expert knowledge to support the development of wider divisional and Trust policies and practices in relation to Smartcards.
- Register users and provide them with NHS Smartcards and other registered devices.
- Grant user access assignment.
Undertaking specialist training and regular audit activities to support correct usage and service development.
- Responsible for ensuring users at the time of registration or assigned a role in the organisation comply with the terms and conditions of NHS Smartcard/Authorized Security Device usage.
- Responsible for ensuring users are compliant with the terms and conditions of Smartcard usage.
- Ensure that relevant training is up-to-date with Smartcards, Care Identity Service (CIS) and ESR.
- Adhere to local processes that meet policy and guidance for the creation of digital identities, production of NHS Smartcards, allocation and registration of other approved devices, assignment of access rights, modifications to access and people and certificate renewal and card unlocking, adhering to national requirements.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication and relationship skills
- Provide assurance on the progress of work and any emerging issues or challenges in meeting agreed delivery deadlines.
- Confidently communicate with senior stakeholders, liaising with leads from both inside and outside the Trust regularly.
- Provide highly specialist, expert advice and training on the use of and interpretation of information from Power BI and ESR to internal stakeholders.
- Represent the People Analytics Team at meetings with internal stakeholders to support provision of accurate information to internal working groups, committees, and programmes, making proposals for policy or service changes where appropriate.
- Responsibility for providing and receiving highly complex/ extremely sensitive and contentious People data, communicating both internally and externally to users of various levels of understanding. Information will be regularly communicated to Trust Director/Board-levels. The information may be conflicting with other HR systems and/or subject to further interrogation. People data is often subject to intense questioning and scrutiny and persuasive/reassurance and motivational skills may be needed to overcome this and justify data integrity.
- Utilise compelling visuals, such as Reports and Dashboards to interpret and present insightful analysis on vast People data, ensuring they are captivating, accessible, comprehensible and expertly tailored to the end-user and the diverse, wide audiences across the Trust.
- Demonstrable ability to overcome barriers associated with conveying analytical/technical information to a non-technical audience.
Information management
- To use systematic analysis, intelligence and initiative to provide a customer focussed, proactive and highly-specialist workforce information reporting and service to Trust managers, and both internal and external Stakeholders..
- Devise and provide meaningful improvements to current workforce information and processes, by analysing, reporting and suggesting new procedures to enhance decision making that would be advantageous to the Trust.
- Design new, cutting-edge and enhance existing business intelligence dashboards using people data from ESR and other HR systems, utilising business intelligence systems such as Power BI.
- Ensure timely and meticulously accurate, expert information analysis and reporting to management on agreed areas of work.
- To use this dynamic analysis in the context of the wider system to provide evidence-based recommendations for business intelligence decisions.
- Collaborate with highly complex, diverse, extremely sensitive current and historic workforce data sets drawn from a range of systems, conducting comprehensive analyses with data such as staffing levels, turnover, sickness absence, vacancies, starter/leaver details, and equality data. Present actionable insights through compelling and visually appealing workforce reports and dashboards.
- Utilise a range of external benchmarking tools to ensure access to the latest comparators for Trust data, facilitating accurate, up-to-date and compelling presentations.
- Ensure that regular reporting requirements are prepared and distributed in a timely way and are extremely professional in their presentation and attention to detail. Deliver routine and specialist reporting such as monthly workforce information reports and national returns.
- Develop written reports and expert analyses, as directed by the Head of People Analytics for Trust Board, committees and managerial meetings, etc.
- Provide workforce information for statistical returns and Freedom of Information (FOI) queries and to ensure other surveys are completed in a timely and accurate manner.
- Proactively manage the submission process for Gender Pay Gap (GPG) reporting, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements by submitting data to the relevant .gov platforms.
- Create and sustain reports that support prompt and high-quality reporting. Collaborate with the People Analyst(s) to facilitate crucial data quality monitoring from ESR.
- Lead on the production of workforce trend and projection reports that support workforce planning and transformation.
- Provide expert production and analysis to managers, advise on the best use of information and develop reports to aid them in understanding information and the use of it in achieving key targets.
- To analyse highly-specialist workforce information and People data, and be able to present conclusions clearly in writing and in person using appropriate tools, visual aids and business intelligence systems (such as Power BI).
- To act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME)/ ESR Lead in ensuring the effective use and maintenance of the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) and other HR systems such as e-expenses.
- Extensive knowledge of Power BI, including developing captivating Dashboards, utilising vast and complex data sets held in SharePoint and the local data warehouse.
Team Management
- Responsibility for quality first line supervisory management and coaching of the People Analytics team (Band 5 Analysts) to oversee the delivery of specific and transactional services.
- Identifying development and knowledge gaps within the team and allocating appropriate training when required.
- Deputising in Head of People Analytics absence. Ensure effective performance management and business improvement of the People Analytics team by means of monitoring KPIs, activity reports, appraisals and 1:1s with individual team members, in line with agreed Trust standards.
- Responsibility for ensuring the People Analytics Team have appropriate equipment and resources.
- Monitor and approve team annual leave requests, timesheets and expense claims.
Service Development
- Contribute to the review and development of existing information management systems and contribute to the development of an integrated approach to, workforce information and workforce planning.
- Support the Head of People Analytics in working with directors, senior managers, finance and senior colleagues to design, develop and implement new workforce information and business intelligence reports, scorecards/dashboards and analyses to support the Trusts workforce and finance planning requirements.
- Support the development of the Trusts critical workforce information infrastructure in response to organisational service and financial planning needs.
- Research the impact of service changes due to ESR updates which could impact multiple ESR users/the Trust and must be communicated effectively with appropriate stakeholders.
- Identify missing or conflicting areas of information with the HR systems and problem solve these.
- Develop and maintain specialist People Analytics technical procedures and policies.
- Ensure that the People Analyst(s) provides a customer focused service, responding to appropriate deadlines, including collation of complex and highly sensitive information and using specialist expertise to give guidance and advice to customers in regard to their requests and enquiries
Planning and organisation
- Contribute to the strategic planning of Team projects, identifying interdependencies across projects/functions, potential impacts on wider organisation, resource requirements and building in contingency and adjustments as necessary.
- Contribute to short-, medium- and long-term workforce plans, achieving quality outcomes.
- Continually review information provision, adapting information production in response to changes both within the department and wider organisation. Identify the need for new and additional in line with any changes.
- Responsibility for managing the workload of the People Analyst(s), providing guidance, planning, prioritising and re-allocating tasks, setting targets and assigning projects.
- Provide highly specialist training for staff on access to information and analyses held by the People Analytics team.
- Daily interruptions which may change workload priorities will need to be efficiently managed by the post holder whilst keeping the quality of work intact.
- Ability to work flexibly to meet the Trusts needs, whilst balancing opposing priorities and managing internal and external stakeholder expectations and timelines.
- Desk-based for duration of daily office hours, ability to attend meetings where required.
- Capable of intense concentration whilst interrogating highly complex data and/or problem solving for prolonged periods of time.
Systems and Registration Authority
- Act as an Advanced Registration Authority Agent.
Representation as an Advanced RA Agent, for example in the RA Working Group, which involves providing expert knowledge to support the development of wider divisional and Trust policies and practices in relation to Smartcards.
- Register users and provide them with NHS Smartcards and other registered devices.
- Grant user access assignment.
Undertaking specialist training and regular audit activities to support correct usage and service development.
- Responsible for ensuring users at the time of registration or assigned a role in the organisation comply with the terms and conditions of NHS Smartcard/Authorized Security Device usage.
- Responsible for ensuring users are compliant with the terms and conditions of Smartcard usage.
- Ensure that relevant training is up-to-date with Smartcards, Care Identity Service (CIS) and ESR.
- Adhere to local processes that meet policy and guidance for the creation of digital identities, production of NHS Smartcards, allocation and registration of other approved devices, assignment of access rights, modifications to access and people and certificate renewal and card unlocking, adhering to national requirements.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree level qualification in relevant subject area or equivalent relevant experience.
Desirable
- Big Data, STEM or a similar field
- Master's degree or equivalent relevant experience and extensive knowledge of specialist areas
Knowledge
Essential
- Expert knowledge of Electronic Staff Record (ESR), including experience and practical knowledge of running and adapting ESR Business Intelligence and ad-hoc reports in ESR
- Detailed knowledge of HR and workforce metrics, and an understanding of the challenges with people data
- Expert knowledge of Microsoft Office packages, especially Excel and Word, including the use of pivot tables and Power Query
- Knowledge of Analytical Software: e.g. MS SQL 2019, SSAS/SSIS/SSRS, Microsoft Power BI
Desirable
- Knowledge of Workforce Planning methodologies
- oIn-depth, specialist knowledge and experience of NHS Agenda for Change
Experience
Essential
- Experience of expert data analysis
- Substantial experience of using an ESR HR System
- Expert understanding of the concepts and techniques of spreadsheets and relational databases
- Experience of SQL querying techniques/DAX/M-Code
- Significant Excel experience
Desirable
- Experience of HR practices
- Recent experience of working in the NHS or other healthcare provider
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree level qualification in relevant subject area or equivalent relevant experience.
Desirable
- Big Data, STEM or a similar field
- Master's degree or equivalent relevant experience and extensive knowledge of specialist areas
Knowledge
Essential
- Expert knowledge of Electronic Staff Record (ESR), including experience and practical knowledge of running and adapting ESR Business Intelligence and ad-hoc reports in ESR
- Detailed knowledge of HR and workforce metrics, and an understanding of the challenges with people data
- Expert knowledge of Microsoft Office packages, especially Excel and Word, including the use of pivot tables and Power Query
- Knowledge of Analytical Software: e.g. MS SQL 2019, SSAS/SSIS/SSRS, Microsoft Power BI
Desirable
- Knowledge of Workforce Planning methodologies
- oIn-depth, specialist knowledge and experience of NHS Agenda for Change
Experience
Essential
- Experience of expert data analysis
- Substantial experience of using an ESR HR System
- Expert understanding of the concepts and techniques of spreadsheets and relational databases
- Experience of SQL querying techniques/DAX/M-Code
- Significant Excel experience
Desirable
- Experience of HR practices
- Recent experience of working in the NHS or other healthcare provider
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
