Head of Data Insight

The Strategic Development & Delivery team works in partnership with stakeholders across the institution, combining our specialist expertise, sector knowledge and institutional awareness to support the delivery of our vision to 2028 and beyond. This is a new Directorate for UEL and comprises of four main portfolios.

Insights & Decision Support, Strategy & Performance, Portfolio & Benefits, and Change & Improvement. These four service areas will facilitate effective decision making, improve our staff and student experience, and deliver lasting positive change.

About the Job

The Head of Data Insight provides strategic leadership for UEL's insight capability, ensuring leaders have timely, trusted and actionable insight to support decision-making and deliver Vision 2028. The role shapes how insight is produced and used across the University, combining data, context and narrative to strengthen evidence-led planning and performance conversations., * Lead the Data Insight function, setting priorities aligned to university strategy and Vision 2028.

• Deliver a high-quality insight service: reporting, interpretation and narrative to support planning, performance and decision-making.
• Act as the main interface for insight requirements-define business questions, prioritise work, and translate needs into clear requirements.
• Combine internal data with sector intelligence and benchmarking (e.g., UCAS/HESA) to provide meaningful context
• Ensure dashboards remain relevant, high quality and trusted, including market-facing and regulatory/equality/outcomes reporting.
• Champion consistent definitions, standards and best practice, building confidence in a "single version of the truth."
• Build organisational capability through coaching, guidance and engagement, reducing duplication and improving insight maturity.
• Contribute to UEL's data strategy, ensure appropriate governance, and identify/mitigate data and insight risks.

Do you have experience in Power BI?, You're an experienced insight leader, with a strong track record of managing a data insight / analytics / performance function and delivering trusted insight that supports planning, forecasting and strategic decision-making. You're confident working with senior stakeholders to define the right questions, prioritise activity, and translate analysis into clear insight and recommendations - using tools such as Power BI (and ideally data transformation tools such as Alteryx) and modern data platforms. You bring strong strategic thinking, analytical judgement and communication skills, with the ability to tell the story behind the data, influence decision-making, coach others, and promote a culture of evidence-led practice across the University.

At UEL, we believe that a great role is about more than just a salary. It's about the complete package, including our outstanding work environment and inclusive culture.

We offer a genuinely competitive salary, dependent on experience (DOE), and a range of excellent benefits.

You can explore our full benefits package here:

https://uel.ac.uk/benefits-professional-services-positions

Equal Opportunities

UEL is an inclusive equal opportunities employer and are proud of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity achievements, including: zero gender pay gap, members of Stonewall and have won Athena Swan awards. We expect all employees of UEL to accept our EDI policy and will not tolerate discrimination in any form.

We're a disability confident employer and value all applications. Please let us know if you require any reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process.

So, if you'd like to take your career to the next level with us here at the University of East London and are inspired by our environment and commit to success, we want you to apply today!

We're the University of East London (UEL) founded in 1898 and proud to change lives through education. Our goal is to advance industry 5.0 careers-first education and provide a clear path to the jobs and opportunities of the future. We're committed to driving diversity in the 5.0 talent pipeline, working in partnership to promote talent wherever it is found and creating a balanced, inclusive, and green future. But we can't achieve this goal alone. We need forward-thinking, innovative, and curious individuals like you to join our community and help us craft our future. As part of our team, you'll have the opportunity to work with a diverse range of people who share your passion for creating positive change. We're an inclusive and welcoming community that is constantly moving forward, never satisfied with the status quo.