Head of Analysis

Job summary

Are you a strong analytical leader with the ability to build, support and develop a high-performing technical team?

Can you lead the delivery of complex analytical, research and evaluation work to high professional standards?

Do you communicate clearly and build trusted, collaborative relationships with senior stakeholders, partners and delivery teams?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Active Travel England is an executive agency of the Department for Transport. We lead on all things walking, wheeling and cycling across England, helping people and communities be more active by making our streets safer and more accessible. We do this by building skills, providing expert design and planning advice, as well as strengthening the case for investment.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at Active Travel England

Job description

We are seeking an experienced, delivery-focused Head of Analysis to lead a multidisciplinary analytical team and drive the delivery of our analytical programme. As the organisation’s authority on analytical quality, you will ensure our work is designed, commissioned, and delivered to be robust and impartial. Working closely with the Head of Impact, you will translate strategic questions into timely, high-quality research, analysis and evaluations and deliver them on time, budget and quality. You will also collaborate across the agency to generate high-quality evidence of what works, that supports development of guidance and products to help local authorities deliver effective active travel investment.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Provide clear technical leadership and line management to the analytical team
• Develop the culture and actively promote transition towards using modern digital and data technologies, using reproducible analytical pipelines
• Own the development and delivery of our analytical and evaluation strategies
• Commission and manage suppliers and contractors for evaluation, analysis and research

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills set out in the Civil Service Line Management Standards .

Flexible resourcing

Colleagues are expected to work with a degree of flexibility, meaning responsibilities may change to support priority delivery.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile which is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

You will be required to provide evidence that you hold any essential qualifications at some point during the recruitment process. If you cannot provide evidence, your application will be withdrawn.

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

• Demonstrable experience of leading, managing and inspiring multidisciplinary analytical teams and projects to deliver a cohesive and strategic vision.
• Proven experience applying Green Book, Magenta Book or Aqua Book principles to provide technical advice and lead analytical assurance.
• Proven experience delivering complex analytical programmes, including end-to-end commissioning and managing contractors to deliver large-scale or high-value work on time and to a high standard.
• Proven experience transforming analytical teams to utilise modern digital and data technologies to embed a culture of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines
• Experience designing and delivering monitoring, evaluation, appraisal, data science or analytical work.
• Experience shaping the analytical delivery strategy, capability and methods of an analytical function.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, able to build effective, collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to establish credibility with senior stakeholders and to influence and challenge effectively to support decision making.
• Experience creating a positive, inclusive culture where team members enjoy their work, even under challenging delivery circumstances.

Additional Information

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 30 hours per week.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

Regular weekly travel to York offices will be required, which may involve overnight stays.

If you have a question about hybrid working, part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role (see below for contact details).

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Licence sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Candidates must ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application.

Qualifications

You must meet the minimum qualification requirements for either:

• Government Economic Service (GES)
• Government Operational Research Service (GORS)
• Government Social Research Service (GSR)
• Government Digital and Data (GDD) Data Head of Data Science
• Memberships

You must be aligned to either:

• Government Economic Service (GES)
• Government Operational Research Service (GORS)
• Government Social Research Service (GSR)
• Government Digital and Data (GDD) Data Head of Data Science
• Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Government Economic Service (GES)

• Government Operational Research Service (GORS)
• Government Social Research Service (GSR)
• Government Digital and Data (GDD) Data Head of Data Science

• Government Economic Service (GES)

• Government Operational Research Service (GORS)
• Government Social Research Service (GSR)
• Government Digital and Data (GDD) Data Head of Data Science

• Government Economic Service (GES)

• Government Operational Research Service (GORS)
• Government Social Research Service (GSR)
• Government Digital and Data (GDD) Data Head of Data Science

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £69,501, Active Travel England contributes

£20,134 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave).
• 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King’s birthday.
• Access to the staff discount portal.
• Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
• Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Find out more about the benefits of working at DfT and its agencies (opens in a new window).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

How to apply:

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's qualifications, skills, and potential fit within our organisation.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

Stage 2: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (1000-word count). Please provide evidence of your experience of the following:
• Demonstrable experience of leading, managing and inspiring multidisciplinary analytical teams and projects to deliver a cohesive and strategic vision.
• Proven experience applying Green Book, Magenta Book or Aqua Book principles to provide technical advice and lead analytical assurance.
• Proven experience delivering complex analytical programmes, including end-to-end commissioning and managing contractors to deliver large-scale or high-value work on time and to a high standard.
• Experience shaping the analytical delivery strategy, capability and methods of an analytical function.
• Your personal statement must include which of the 4 Frameworks you align to – GES, GORS, GSR or GDD and that you meet the minimum qualification requirements for the framework.

The sift will take place week commencing 21/09/2026.

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Experience
• Technical – Government Economic Service (GES) – 1. Application of Knowledge 2. Effective Communication
• Government Operational Research Service (GORS) – 1. Knowledge and application of OR skills and techniques 2. Achieving impact with analysis
• Government Social Research Service (GSR) – 1. Senior Principal Research Officer: Technical Skills 2. Senior Principal Research Officer: Using & Promoting Social Research
• Government Digital and Data (GDD) Data Head of Data Science – 1. Delivering business impact 2. Applied maths, statistics and scientific practices

The interviews will take place week commencing 05/10/2026.

This interview will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on ou