Our aim is for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.

The Vision and Strategy team has been established to support the whole Church in its embrace of and engagement with the national Vision and Strategy for the Church for the 2020s, and to support implementation of the Emerging Church programme. As well as wider leadership and engagement, the Vision and Strategy team consults on and manages the distribution of around £80 million per annum of national funding, making it one of the largest funders in the country. The team is building on a history of using analysis and insight to inform strategic questions in the Church, and to measure impact. This analysis has enabled an evidence-based approach to questions of mission and evangelism, and has helped build a culture of accountability, realism, action, and learning.

The team will champion these three strategic priorities:

• Missionary Disciples – every churchgoer being helped to connect their faith with their daily life.
• Younger and more Diverse – churches where all kinds of people are represented and valued.
• Mixed Ecology – churches meeting in different ways to serve different people in their communities.

As Strategy and Impact Analyst, you will work closely with the Lead Strategy and Impact Analyst to provide analysis and insight for the work of the Vision and Strategy Team.

You will understand the issues being faced by the Directors, Churches and Networks teams, and provide them with critical and relevant insights for influencing key Church stakeholders.

This will include drawing on outcomes collected from funded projects, you will analyse and present data and relevant insights to enable learning about what works and instil good governance.

To arrange an informal discussion about the role, please contact Tom Conway at tom.conway@churchofengland.org

Closing date for applications will be on Friday 10^th February 2023.

Interviews will be held on Monday 20th February2022.

We offer a unique environment with opportunities for continuous learning, generous annual leave for work life balance, season ticket loans and a range of benefits including discounted entry to attractions and what we feel is a market leading package when it comes to our pension scheme.

The Role

The actual work of the post-holder will vary over time in line with the Teams’ evolving objectives, but their duties and responsibilities will fall within the following broad headings:

1. Analyse operational, monitoring and evaluation data generated by the Strategic National Investment to create relevant insights:

• Provide analysis of the management information of the funding programme, understanding the strategic questions of stakeholders and presenting the results in actionable formats.
• Make sense of outcomes collected from funded projects through the shared outcome framework and turn the data collected into relevant insights.
• Use insights from quantitative research outside the Church to provide context to the impact of funding, including government statistics, other public data and mapping.
• Undertake relevant calculations to inform the distribution of funding, including the £30m p.a. Lowest Income Communities Funding and other funding streams which take account of differences in financial capacity.
• For the Lowest Income Communities Funding, analyse the impact data to discover relevant insights and develop recommendations for policy improvements and next steps.
• Communicate data from the funding programme to external audiences through the use of data visualisations, presentations, and well-designed charts.
• Gather, analyse and advise on measures of impact and lead measures in learning projects undertaken by the team (e.g., participants in webinars, feedback on learning networks).

2. Provide analysis and insight to the Vision and Strategy team to enhance their evidence-base and improve impact:

• Support the Vision and Strategy team’s directors and senior team as they prepare material for senior stakeholders including governance boards and senior Church and secular leaders in support of evidence-based decision making for the Vision and Strategy.
• Work with the Data Services team to understand the different data being collected by the national church, analyse what it represents, and connect it to questions asked in the Vision and Strategy team.
• Create informative and inspirational data visualisations to support the Vision and Strategy team’s engagement with the Church, such as maps, charts and infographics.
• Create a standardised report of management information about dioceses and their engagement with the Vision and Strategy to be accessible to the whole team and provide background to their conversations.
• Undertake deep dive research into specific projects or church activities to inform the directors and management team.
• Work closely with Data Services, Ministry and Finance to keep abreast of key trends in the church as they relate to the Vision and Strategy, including worshipping community and attendance trends, demography, deployment and financial trends.
• Support and advise the Vision and Strategy team in their use of data and analytical techniques to support the development and evaluation of strategy.

3.Analyse data to create insights for learning, working with the Lead Strategy Analyst:

• Generate strategic insights to support the progress of the Vision and Strategy and assess the impact of interventions.
• Evaluate and draw on external research and analysis as it applies to the critical missional challenges facing the Church.
• Work with diocesan stakeholders to understand their needs around analysis and research.

4.Involvement in strategic analysis of the Vision and Strategy as required:

• The overall aim for cross team projects is 20% and it is likely that this role and its direct report will spend a significant amount of time working across the team supporting projects.
• Contribute to the collaborative development of analytical practice in the Vision and Strategy Team, including supporting the work of other analysts as required.

The Requirements

Skills/Aptitudes:

• Experience of using analytical insights to influence strategy or policy development.
• Experience of working with complex datasets, different strategic modelling approaches, and data visualisation.
• Experience of identifying suitable data sources for analysis.
• Experience of interpreting and communicating the results of analysis and research.
• Ability to think strategically, and to see both the wider picture and attend to detail.
• Experience of monitoring and evaluating the impact of funding programmes and projects.
• Experience of identifying and sharing key learning from grant funding programmes and projects.
• The ability to present work attractively, persuasively and accurately, both spoken and in writing.
• Ability to influence others at all levels of seniority.
• Good relationship management and communication skills (including experience of working with trustees and senior colleagues).
• An understanding of how to support the mission and ministry of the Church effectively and a passion for encouraging the growth of the Church.
• An understanding of the structures and workings of the Church of England and an ability to work effectively within them.

Personal Attributes:

• Strong analytical abilities, able to assimilate and analyse information quickly, identifying issues and priorities.
• Ability to meet tight deadlines and work under pressure when required.

• Highly pro-active and resilient, demonstrating resourcefulness and energy with a commitment to making a difference.
• Ability to apply understanding, judgement, tact and discretion.
• Demonstrates enthusiastic commitment to the priorities of the Church of England.

In the National Church Institutions (NCIs), we support the mission and ministries of the Church of England. We work with parishes, dioceses, schools, chaplaincies and other ministries, and with national and international partners including mission agencies, and other denominations and faith groups.-.

Find out more about working for the National Church Institutions at Careers | The Church of England

Our emerging values

• We strive for excellence
• We collaborate
• We act with integrity
• We show compassion
• We respect others

We welcome everyone and we accept and value people for who they are and what they contribute, treating others in the way we would wish to be treated ourselves. We actively listen to and include others, encouraging and enabling everyone’s voice to be heard in discussions and decisions. When we disagree, we aim to disagree well with respect and kindness.

We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you. If there is anything we can do to support you in your application please get in touch via email to hr.recruitment@churchofengland.org.

• As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.
• We are a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.