Head of Planning, Performance and Insight

UHI partnership; Inverness; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

42 days’ annual leave

Pension scheme

Flexible working

Employee Assistance Programme

Discounts

Cycle to Work

LinkedIn Learning access

Long-service awards

Job summary

The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) is recruiting for the role of Head of Planning, Performance and Insight in Inverness. This newly created post will lead a strategic capability shaping planning, performance and evidence-informed decision-making across the UHI Partnership.

Working closely with the Director of Planning, People and Culture and the Chief Operating Officer, you will establish planning and performance frameworks and deliver high-quality analysis to senior leaders,

Qualifications

• Significant experience in strategic planning, organisational performance or related field in education or the public sector.
• Experience supporting senior leaders through strategic analysis and evidence-informed advice.
• Ability to build trusted relationships and influence across organisational boundaries.
• Excellent analytical, communication and organisational skills with the ability to translate complex information into strategic insight.
• A passion for improving organisational effectiveness and enabling better strategic decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate the University's approach to strategic planning, organisational performance and institutional insight.
• Develop planning and performance frameworks and provide strategic analysis for senior leaders.
• Build trusted relationships across the University and Academic Partners to ensure collaborative, value-adding arrangements.

Skills

Strategic planning

Organisational performance

Stakeholder engagement

Analytical thinking

Communication

Job description

UHI is the United Kingdom’s leading integrated university encompassing both further and higher education. We are more than a college and more than a traditional university: a diverse, flexible partnership, rooted in our communities and driven by their needs. Our network of colleges, specialist teaching centres and internationally recognised research institutes delivers supported, flexible learning from access level to PhD.

To support our work we are recruiting to the following role:

Head of Planning, Performance and Insight

Salary range

Duration

Duration Permanent

Working hours

Location

Closing Date

Closing Date 04 October 2026

Help shape the future of one of the UK's most distinctive university partnerships.

The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) is entering a significant period of transformation as it develops a new operating model to strengthen one of the UK's most distinctive tertiary education partnerships.

We are creating a new Planning, Performance and Insight function to strengthen the University's strategic planning capability, improve organisational understanding and support evidence-informed decision-making across the UHI Partnership.

This newly created role offers an exceptional opportunity for an experienced strategic planning professional to establish a function that will help shape the University's future.

Working closely with the Director of Planning, People and Culture and the Chief Operating Officer, you will coordinate the University's approach to strategic planning, organisational performance and institutional insight. You will develop planning and performance frameworks, provide strategic analysis for senior leaders, and build trusted relationships with colleagues across the University and Academic Partners to ensure that planning and performance arrangements are collaborative, proportionate and demonstrably add value.

Success in this role will depend as much on your ability to build trust and influence through professional credibility as it will on your technical expertise. We are looking for someone who can demonstrate:

• Significant experience in strategic planning, organisational performance, organisational effectiveness or a closely related field, ideally within education or the public sector.
• Experience of supporting senior leaders through high-quality strategic analysis and evidence-informed advice.
• The ability to build trusted relationships and influence across organisational boundaries where success depends on collaboration rather than formal authority.
• Excellent analytical, communication and organisational skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear strategic insight.
• A passion for improving organisational effectiveness and enabling better strategic decision-making.

This is a rare opportunity to help shape the future of a university partnership that transforms lives and communities across the Highlands and Islands, Moray and Perthshire.

This is more than a Head of Service appointment. It is an opportunity to establish a new strategic capability at the heart of the University and to help shape the future of one of the UK's most distinctive university partnerships.

Interviews will be held in Inverness on 05 November 2026.

At UHI, we offer a supportive, flexible and rewarding place to work, with a range of benefits including:

• 42 days’ annual leave (pro rata)
• Attractive pension scheme and options for additional contributions
• Flexible working and family-friendly policies
• Occupational sick pay and an Employee Assistance Programme (incl. spousal support)
• High-street and online retail discounts
• 10% off Highlife Highland memberships
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Contribution towards DSE prescription glasses
• Free parking and EV charging (where available)
• LinkedIn Learning access for ongoing professional development
• Long-service awards and active social events