Senior Business Intelligence Analyst – School Census Lead

Stockport Council; Stockport; Hybrid; GBP 37,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

A local authority in the UK is seeking a Senior Business Intelligence Analyst. This role involves leading the termly School Census submissions and analytics, working within the Education Data Team. The ideal candidate will have strong experience in SQL and Tableau, excellent analytical and presentation skills, and a background in project management. The position is hybrid, offers a salary between £37,280 and £41,771, and seeks someone enthusiastic about data-driven decision making.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Commitment to employee wellbeing

Recognition under the Good Employment Charter

Qualifications

• Experience with SQL for writing and editing queries.
• Experience working with Tableau or similar data visualization tools.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the termly School Census data return.
• Collaborate with internal and external teams.
• Create and maintain data dashboards in Tableau.

Skills

SQL proficiency

Experience with Tableau

MS Excel proficiency

Project management

Interpersonal skills

Analytical skills

Presentation skills

Education

Maths and English GCSEs at Grade C / Level 4

Tools

Tableau

MS Access

Job description

Senior Business Intelligence Analyst School Census Lead

SO2 (£37,280 - £41,771)

37 Hours, Full Time

Permanent

Hybrid Stopford House office base

Application Deadline : 11 : 59pm 11th January 2026

Please be aware that we may close this vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Shortlisting Date : 12th January 2026

Assessments / Interviews : 14th January 2026

Interview Type : Shortlisted candidates will be offered a one-hour online assessment, those who are successful will be invited an interview via Microsoft Teams

While we embrace the use of AI as an innovative tool to maximise our services at Stockport Council, we are looking for authenticity in applications we receive. We therefore ask you to think carefully if choosing to use AI when completing your application and ask that you ensure you read all instructions carefully and that your application is written by you and reflects your skills, knowledge and enthusiasm.

Join us at Stockport Council MJ Local Authority of the Year 2025

Your Role

We are seeking a talented School Performance Senior Analyst to join our Education Data Team at Stockport Council.

The successful candidate will work with the Education Data Manager and a School Performance Analyst within the Education Data Team.

About You

The ideal candidate will have :

• Previous experience working with SQL specifically including writing and editing queries.
• Previous experience working with Tableau (or another industry-standard data visualisation tool such as Power BI) and producing dashboards.
• Experience of MS Excel and other Microsoft tools. Experience of MS Access (or another relational database management system) would be very desirable, but not necessarily essential.
• Experience of leading on and managing projects from scoping to completion, achieving time and quality objectives.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including a high standard of written and oral communication, to work with both internal and external teams to achieve positive outcomes.
• Experience of working flexibly and supporting teams to implement change or delivery of key projects.
• An enthusiasm to gain and demonstrate personal development alongside an ability to learn new techniques and approaches to working with data, seeking out way to improve processes and innovative solutions to problems.
• Analytical skills with the ability to interpret information, identify inaccuracies and inform solutions
• Experience of delivering and interpreting complex data to audiences unfamiliar with the data, and demonstrating a confident presentational style.
• Maths and English GCSEs at Grade C / Level 4 or higher (or equivalent).

Also

Previous experience in an Education / Education Data environment, and use of relevant systems particularly school Management Information Systems - ideally in either a Council, a school / educational institution, or as part of an Academy Trust would be useful, but is not essential.

Please refer to this criteria and that outlined in the attached Job Profile in your application. It is in your interest to show examples of all of the essential criteria on your application form. We are expecting a high number of candidates, and applications that do not detail relevant examples may not be successful for the shortlisting phase.

About Us

We are looking to recruit an enthusiastic Senior BI Analyst to join our Education Data Team and lead our School Census submissions and analytics for education attendance and school demographics. The role is one of four managed by the Education Data Manager. You will work with both them and another analyst on the School Census. The successful candidate will be responsible for leading on, and driving the termly School Census statutory data return. This involves leading on pre-Census prep, delegating tasks within the team, data cleansing, validating data, linking data systems, working with both MS Access and SQL, liaising with schools and running reports both on the DfE’s platform, and also Tableau. The role also involves the creation, editing and maintenance of Tableau dashboards, which are currently based around Attendance, Suspensions / Exclusions, Electively Home Educated Children, as well as Census / demographic profiles.

The School Census is the key termly collection for ensuring that Stockport’s schools receive the correct level of funding based around their cohort, including but not limited to pupil numbers, pupils in receipt of Free School Meals, pupils with Special Educational Needs and eligible for Education Health and Care Plans.

The role sits within the wider Business Intelligence Service area, which is a dedicated Data Service Department responsible for enterprise-wide business systems, Information Governance, Data Quality and Analytics.

At Stockport Council we are one ambitious team on a mission to create opportunities for everyone who lives, works and spends time in the borough. Working at Stockport Council means contributing to one of the most thriving towns in the North. We’re keen to recruit people with the right values and behaviours that can help us ensure our workplace values are at the heart of everything we do.

We are proud to be recognised under the Good Employment Charter as an organisation committed to the wellbeing of our colleagues. As members of the charter, we have been recognised as a great place to work for all colleagues and pledge to pay the real living wage, engage staff in key decisions and endorse fair and flexible working conditions.

If you would like to find out more about the role please contact Stephen Bray at [e-mail] for an informal discussion about the role.

This post is also open as secondment opportunity for Stockport Council Employees, however, you must seek the permission of your current manager prior to making an application.

Stockport Council holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not currently qualify.

Please note that we have made a commitment to improve the employment opportunities for people with disabilities, care leavers and ex-military personnel. As part of the Guaranteed Assessment Scheme you will therefore be guaranteed to be shortlisted for Assessment if you meet both the criteria for the scheme and the essential job role criteria.

Find out if you meet the criteria here : https : / / www.greater.jobs / our-guaranteed-assessment-scheme

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Stockport Council is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce culture - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and communities to join our workforce.

We want our employees to have a good work life balance and in many job roles we can offer a range of flexible / hybrid working arrangements. We also have inclusive employment policies and staff engagement forums to support our diverse workforce. We will listen to, learn from, and develop our workforce.