Salary: £69,563 – £77,056 a year plus £3,203 car benefit allowance
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Permanent
Are you looking for a rewarding role within Luton Rising, the Luton Council group company that owns London Luton Airport and is the forefront of delivering Luton’s inspiring 2040 vision? This role could be for you!
Join Us in Shaping Luton’s Future
This is a pivotal leadership role at the heart of Luton Rising, responsible for shaping and driving the organisation’s long-term direction. As Head of Strategy & Insight, you will lead the development and integration of corporate strategy, policy intelligence, business planning, and analytics to ensure that decision-making is evidence-based, aligned with Luton 2040 ambitions, and underpinned by robust insight.
You will act as the organisation’s strategic planning authority, ensuring coherence across all strategies, plans, and frameworks. Working closely with senior leaders, you will translate high-level priorities into clear, actionable strategies, goals, and performance measures. A key aspect of the role is leading strategic analysis and foresight—monitoring policy, economic, and market developments to identify emerging risks and opportunities.
You will also take ownership of Luton Rising’s data and analytics capability, driving improvements in data governance, reporting, modelling, and visualisation. By strengthening data literacy and embedding analytical thinking across the organisation, you will enable smarter, more informed decisions at every level.
In addition, you will develop and oversee the corporate performance and reporting framework, ensuring high-quality insight is delivered to executive teams, the Board, and shareholder representatives. You will lead the policy intelligence function, providing strategic advice on national and regional developments, shaping organisational responses, and representing Luton Rising externally where required.
As a leader, you will support and develop analytical capability within your team, fostering a culture of curiosity, accountability, and collaboration.
Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.
You are an experienced strategic leader with a strong track record in corporate strategy, planning, and delivering high-quality insight and analytics. You bring substantial experience of managing complex strategic projects and applying structured frameworks to solve challenging organisational problems.
You combine sharp analytical thinking with sound judgement, able to interpret complex systems and translate them into clear, practical strategies. Your expertise in data analysis, forecasting, and performance reporting enables you to drive evidence-based decision-making and continuous improvement.
A confident and visible leader, you are skilled at inspiring and developing individuals and teams, managing performance, and leading change across organisations. You are commercially aware, financially astute, and comfortable managing budgets and understanding the wider financial implications of strategic decisions.
You are an excellent communicator with the ability to influence and build credibility with senior stakeholders, including executive leaders and boards. Highly organised and detail-focused, you can manage multiple priorities while ensuring alignment and coherence across organisational plans.
You bring a strong understanding of national policy and governance landscapes, alongside expertise in statistical analysis and project management methodologies. You are also committed to equality and inclusion, with the confidence to identify and address discrimination where it arises.
A relevant degree (or equivalent experience) is essential, along with the flexibility to attend occasional evening and weekend engagements within the borough.
Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision – that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty – is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.
The people of Luton depend heavily on this council – and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?
We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough
Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person’s criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.
On occasions, we may close a vacancy early due to a very high number of applications being received.
We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:
– From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
– Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
– Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
– Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
– Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
– Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
– Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
– Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
– Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
– Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
We understand that job applications take time and effort, but a high-quality application shows that you are professional with a good attention to detail. The recruiting manager may receive a number of applications for each job advertised so you want yours to stand out!
Our ‘How to apply’ page has more tips to help with your application: How to apply
