Job title: Senior Intelligence and Policy Officer
Salary: PO4 £44,711 - £47,754
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Temporary until 30 March 2026
Location: Hybrid
Adoption England is a collaboration of regional adoption agencies working together supported by a central national team, which is hosted by Leeds City Council. This is an exciting new role to support Adoption England to achieve its ambition to modernise adoption so that it better meets the needs of children and families.
About the role
- You will provide practical and strategic advice on one or more functions and service responsibilities within Adoption England and play a key role in the development and delivery of Adoption England priorities. Your responsibilities will include Data Analysis, Business Planning and Policy Development and Support.
- You will work closely with the National Adoption Strategic Lead, the Adoption England National Team and the Adoption Agencies across England to build and provide responsive, timely and accurate intelligence and analysis of key data. You will support the development of the Adoption England’s strategic plan and provide support to key stakeholders around key national, regional and local policy areas.
About you:
Are you ready to undertake a senior role, which comes with an expectation to work flexibly at pace whilst managing a demanding workload, working across a range of initiatives as part of a team and adapting to changing needs and priorities?
- You know how to use analytical software and tools appropriate for the role and can analyse and interpret complex qualitative and quantitative information from multiple sources. You can develop resolutions to complex issues and effectively communicate with a variety of audiences complex information and challenging messages in person, in presentations and writing.
- You have a good understanding of Adoption England’s strategies, policies and national policy direction around children’s services and adoption, the local authority role, sector-led improvement, intelligence needs, practice requirements and performance expectations.
- You have experience of working at a principal officer level in one or more of the specific responsibility areas outlined in the job advert: data analysis, business planning and/or policy development and can demonstrate that you are able to deliver work to expected quality and to meet deadlines.
What we offer you:
We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:
- a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays.
- membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions.
Post holders will work flexibly both at home and will be available to attend an in person meeting every 8 weeks in Leeds and be able to attend in person meetings at other events/conferences across the country as required.
How to apply
Please upload your CV and complete a personal statement which explains how you meet the criteria for this role.
If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role, please contact Sarah Johal on 07891277316 or email sarah.johal@adoptionengland.co.uk or Eva Booth on 07712 215736 or email eva.booth@adoptionengland.co.uk
This role is open to secondment by agreement with your line manager for internal candidates.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.
A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s barred list will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.
We promote diversity and want a workforce that reflects the population of Leeds and the communities we serve. Leeds City Council is recognised in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index 2024. We are also an Age-friendly Employer, a Mindful Employer and a Disability Confident Leader.
All new Leeds City Council appointments are made subject to the satisfactory completion of a six month probationary period.
This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.
If you do not have the right to work in the UK, candidates must consider their own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the 'standard' salary rate of at least £38,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. For more information visit Skilled Worker visa on the government website. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.
Job Description
Job Purpose The post-holder will provide practical and strategic advice on one or more functions and service responsibilities within Adoption England. Adoption England is a collaboration of regional adoption agencies working together, supported by a small central team working nationally. Adoption England aims to modernise adoption to better meet the needs of children and families.
Responsibilities
The post-holder will play a key role in the development and delivery of Adoption England priorities in one or more of the following areas.
Data Analysis
- Provide responsive, timely and accurate intelligence and analysis that meets the needs of stakeholders.
- Support and build intelligence capacity through enabling self-service, encouraging innovation, involving partners and thereby making data more accessible, better integrated and readily used; in a manner that is consistent with good information governance.
- Ensure intelligence informs improvement conversations and consequent actions, supporting managers and leaders to own and use intelligence, linking data with other evidence and taking consideration of trends, benchmarking, forecasting, underlying need and equalities characteristics including disadvantage.
- Support teams to further develop, improve and implement intelligence and data analytical systems and processes, including support to underlying data quality and the promotion of data as an asset. This will include cross-sector partnership and regional/national sector best practice.
Business Planning
- Support the development of the Adoption England’s strategic plan, working with colleagues to ensure consistency with other key council and partnership strategies and in line with the authority’s policy direction and strategic narrative.
- Support the management team with further developments of and improvements to the corporate risk management and performance management frameworks, facilitating informed decision-making, benchmarking and service improvement.
- Support the strategic leadership of a co-ordinated approach to online and offline consultation and engagement, including survey design and analysis and community engagement.
- Support Adoption England with the further development of a portfolio approach to cross-council programmes and projects, applying appropriate portfolio/programme/project management tools and techniques to aid delivery of Adoption England’s priorities.
Policy Development and Support
- Provide support to senior managers and elected members around key national, regional and local policy areas.
- Collaborate with colleagues across the organisation to improve cross-policy co-ordination and promote a common strategic narrative, aligned with the Adoption England’s strategic plan.
- Provide and communicate socio-economic insights and analysis to inform council and city policies, priorities and decision-making.
- Represent Adoption England at external policy meetings, ensuring the views of Adoption England are reflected.
- Work with partners across England, to provide proactive input to policy development.
The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.
Qualifications
Degree level qualification or equivalent knowledge, experience and skills.
Essential requirements - It is essential that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements.
Skills Required
- Able to manage and monitor performance, setting clear objectives for the review of individual, team and service level performance.
- Able to engage and influence senior managers and partners.
- Able to analyse and interpret complex qualitative and quantitative information from multiple sources.
- Able to effectively communicate and distil complex information and challenging messages in person, in presentations and in writing.
- Able to write reports and communicate in a business context for a variety of audiences.
- Able to undertake a senior role promoting organisational values within the service and in relationships with other services and partners.
- Able to support the negotiation of service commitments, ensuring these are manageable and that resources are being used for the greatest benefit.
- Able to work flexibly at pace and manage a demanding workload.
- Able to develop resolutions to complex issues.
- Able to work across a range of simultaneous initiatives and as part of a larger team adapting to changing needs and priorities.
- Able to use Microsoft packages proficiently.
- Project management skills.
- Change management skills.
- Use of analytical software and tools appropriate to the focus of the role.
Knowledge Required
- A good understanding of Adoption England’s strategies, policies and current direction.
- An understanding of the council's political context, including the pressures facing public services in their drive to improve service delivery and outcomes.
- Detailed and up-to-date knowledge of one or more of the Intelligence and Policy functional areas, as described in the job advert. This includes good practice, methodologies and legislative / regulatory requirements.
- Knowledge of the area of adoption, as outlined in the job advert, including national policy direction, the local authority role, sector-led improvement, intelligence needs, practice requirements and performance expectations.
Experience Required
- Experience of working at a principal officer level in one or more of the specific responsibility areas outlined in the job advert: data analysis, business planning and/or policy development and support.
- Experience of managing staff.
- A record of building positive and collaborative relationships that have enabled the effective application of insight to improve services and outcomes.
- Experience of delivering performance improvement.
- Managing and contributing to delivery within complex environments involving various stakeholders to achieve positive outcomes.
- Managing and prioritising competing work pressures and the relationships underpinning these.
- Delivering work to expected quality and to meet deadlines.
- Experience of changing and evolving how services are delivered in terms of approaches used, service priorities and service relationships.
- Supporting the management of budgets.
Desirable requirements - It is desirable that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates are not required to meet all the desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates
- Knowledge of national frameworks and sources of intelligence specific to the focus of this role, as outlined in the job advert. This includes, where relevant, the local authority role in the management, collection and submission of the underpinning data.
- Managing and / or commissioning research projects.
- Supporting the specification and contracting of technical solutions and processes.
Essential Behavioural & other Characteristics
- Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct.
- Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon.
- Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council equality and diversity policies.
- Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
- Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities.
- Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
- Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
- Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
- Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity policies of Leeds City Council.
- Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person.
- The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.
