Strategy & Planning Officer

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This range is provided by The University of Sheffield. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world‑class university.

We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more. Find out more about our benefits and join us to become part of something special.

At the University of Sheffield, we’re dedicated to delivering life‑enhancing research, innovation and education. In this varied and impactful role, you’ll play a key role in defining and realising this ambition through the design, implementation and continuous improvement of our strategic planning framework. This work ensures the University remains clear, agile and decisive in achieving its goals.

As a business partner, you’ll demonstrate your exceptional interpersonal and communication skills to deeply understand the unique ambitions, challenges and priorities of our academic schools. Your curiosity and awareness of the wider University context and evolving external environment will position you to provide senior leaders with tailored support to develop and monitor their mid‑term strategy, targets and annual action plans.

We believe we can accomplish more by working together. We build positive relationships with colleagues from across the University in order to provide a joined up service to our academic colleagues and transform complex information into actionable insights that drive strategic business decisions. If you’re a proactive problem‑solver, who values curiosity and a collaborative approach to move an organisation forward, then we encourage you to apply.

• Facilitate the implementation of the University’s strategic planning framework within faculties, schools and professional services. Contribute to the framework’s design and continuous improvement, ensuring our processes, policies and guidance are easy to understand and engaging.
• Act as a strategic business partner to faculties and academic schools, providing expert advice and constructive challenge on strategic plans, targets and annual action plans. Collaborate with senior leaders to ensure alignment with the University’s strategic goals. Ensure performance data and the evolving risk landscape have been comprehensively considered as part of planning activity.
• Work with senior leaders to understand progress toward University and school goals and key performance indicators. Provide data analysis and performance reports with a focus on outcomes and actionable insights. Leverage exceptional interpersonal and influencing skills to foster a culture of collective progress towards the University’s overarching strategy.
• Lead on or contribute to University‑wide strategy and planning work, e.g. scenario planning, student intake forecasting, tuition fee setting and new programme financial viability assessments. This involves collaborating with other professional services teams, analysing complex information and data modelling (where appropriate). You will effectively communicate actionable insights to inform critical business decisions.
• Support the implementation of the University’s risk management approach, drawing on good practice to actively encourage a proactive risk culture across the organisation and driving continuous improvement of our risk tools and guidance. You’ll stay abreast of the evolving external environment, including domestic and global political, economic and societal developments, to inform decision‑making.
• Collaborate closely with colleagues across professional service departments (such as Finance;
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