Head of Planning & Performance

St John Ambulance; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent charity organization in the United Kingdom seeks a Head of Planning & Performance to drive strategic delivery and improve organizational effectiveness. The successful candidate will lead planning cycles, provide high-quality insights to senior leaders, and oversee performance management frameworks. The role requires proven leadership experience and strong analytical skills to manage priorities and deliver impactful results. This position offers a hybrid work environment with a competitive salary and benefits, including a pension scheme and generous holiday allowance.

Benefits

Competitive salary and pension scheme

33 days holiday

Flexible working

Cycle to work scheme

Health and Wellbeing support

Various discounts

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading planning and performance functions.
• Ability to provide high-quality reporting to senior leaders.
• Skilled at managing priorities and converting goals into plans.

Responsibilities

• Lead the organisational planning cycle, ensuring alignment across plans.
• Oversee performance management framework and track progress.
• Develop consistent planning and reporting tools and guidance.
• Provide reporting and analysis to the Executive Leadership Team.

Skills

Organisational planning

Strong analytical capability

Collaborative skills

Strategic thinking

People management

Planning methodologies

Job description

Head of Planning & Performance

Hybrid
Full Time/Permanent

Our offer to you

• Competitive salary and pension scheme
• 33 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays) - increasing to 38 days over 5 years
• Hybrid, Flexible working
• Cycle to work scheme
• Electric Vehicle Scheme
• Health and Wellbeing portal – access to financial, health and wellbeing support and an Employee Assistance Programme
• Discounts – you will have access to Blue Light and NHS Discounts as well as discounts on mobile phones, gym membership, cinema tickets, restaurants, holidays and shopping

About Us

This is a fantastic opportunity to join a team of over 1,400 employees and over 28,000 volunteers, united by our goal of saving lives through essential first aid services, training and campaigning. As a charity with rich heritage and a long history of serving humanity, we are proud of our past and excited about creating a healthier, safer, more resilient future.

St John Ambulance works at the heart of communities, supporting and enabling them to access and receive physical and mental health first aid. We do this through developing and providing effective community response and outreach services (e.g. Ambulance response) and using our longstanding expertise to empower people with vital clinical skills and the confidence to use them (e.g. our Volunteers and Community Advocates, and Young Responders programmes).

Job Summary

As Head of Planning and Performance, you will play a pivotal role in driving St John Ambulance’s strategic delivery and organisational effectiveness. You will develop and lead robust frameworks that turn our strategy into clear, achievable plans, and ensure we have the right systems in place to monitor, report and improve performance against our goals. Leading our annual planning and performance cycles, you’ll work closely with senior leaders to embed strong governance, accountability and cross-organisational alignment. You will also provide timely, high-quality insights and reporting to the Executive Leadership Team and Board, helping the organisation adapt, learn and respond confidently to a changing environment.

About You

• Proven experience leading organisational planning and performance functions, with the ability to develop and continuously improve effective frameworks.
• Strong analytical capability, translating data into clear insights and providing high-quality reporting and analysis to senior leaders and Boards.
• Skilled collaborator with excellent interpersonal and influencing abilities, supporting cross-functional alignment across finance, people, governance and operations.
• Strategic thinker with strong problem-solving, planning and organisational skills, able to manage shifting priorities and convert goals into measurable plans.
• Experienced people manager with authentic, compassionate leadership and the ability to drive change and embed new ways of working.
• Knowledge and experience of planning and performance methodologies, alongside the ability to work effectively in a charity environment with diverse teams.

About the Role

• Lead the organisational planning cycle, ensuring alignment across strategic, financial, people and operational plans, and drive continuous improvement of planning and performance processes.
• Oversee the organisational performance management framework, ensuring meaningful indicators are set, measured and reported to track progress effectively.
• Develop and maintain consistent, high-quality planning and reporting frameworks, tools and guidance that support visibility, assurance and risk management.
• Provide timely, accurate reporting and analysis to the Executive Leadership Team and Board, enabling evidence-based decision-making.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, supporting the creation of SMART objectives, robust delivery plans and effective performance metrics, while contributing to business intelligence and organisational insight.
• Lead and develop the planning and performance function, providing effective line management and supporting wider capability-building across the organisation.

Apply

Please see the job description for more detail (this can be viewed on our website or once you click apply)

If you are a current St John Ambulance employee, please apply here: Click here

For all other candidates, or St John Ambulance volunteers wishing to apply: please apply below

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive high volume of applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

St John Ambulance are committed to increasing the diversity of our team and making sure we best reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. At St John, everyone is valued and supported to thrive, we have several networks including Multi Culture, Disability and Accessibility, Pride, Family and Carers and Women’s groups. We do nottolerate any form ofdiscriminationandengendera sense of belonging for all, by creating an environment of mutual respect, where we value unique differences and demonstrate authentic allyship. We believe passionately in equality, diversity and inclusion.

St John Ambulance is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice. Therefore, all successful applicants will undergo pre-employment checks, including DBS Clearance, as part of the onboarding process, if applicable to the nature of the role.

Please note: St John does not accept speculative CVs and will only review CVs sent in application for an advertised vacancy.