Strategic and Assurance Manager | Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our Strategic Performance and Information Service. This role will provide guidance and support to our leadership teams to support strategic decision making, improvement plans and business planning, ensuring processes are aligned to corporate objectives, processes and systems, statutory and regulatory standards and specific commissioning requirements.

The Strategic Performance Assurance Manager will play a key leadership role in driving the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of strategic performance management and assurance frameworks across the organisation. They will provide expert analysis and advice, ensuring timely, accurate, and insightful reporting to internal and external stakeholders to support informed decision‑making, accountability, and delivery of key operational and strategic objectives.

Working with senior leadership teams, the post holder will ensure Strategic Performance is firmly embedded into the organisation’s culture and support leaders to ensure performance targets are met. This will include working with the leadership teams and with peers to develop and embed the Trust’s Performance Assurance Framework (PAF).

The role will involve significant leadership, coordination, information analysis, time management and negotiation skills, in addition to the ability to produce clear, concise and well‑articulated written responses.

• Lead the design and implementation of robust performance assurance frameworks aligned with NHS priorities, IC/ICB expectations and organisational strategy.
• Act as the subject matter expert on NHS performance standards, supporting executive and clinical leads in interpreting and responding to emerging performance requirements.
• Support discussions and negotiations with the ICB in relation to contractual performance standards and information schedules, influencing complex and contentious decisions, with high reputational risk as part of formal contracting processes.
• Build and maintain collaborative and productive working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders including ICB, locality leads, Local Authorities and other provider organisations (NHS, private and third sector).
• Lead the development and management of the data health review programme, ensuring the annual programme or reviews are completed and recommendations responded to.
• Lead responses to performance and data health audits (internal and external).
• Full line management responsibility for the Strategic Performance Assurance Leads, Strategic Performance Assurance Officer and Business Support Officer, including recruitment, appraisal, development and the instigation of formal HR processes where required.
• Develop and maintain an integrated performance reporting system to track delivery against national standards, KPIs and internal priorities.
• Produce high‑quality analytical reports, board‑level reports and dashboards that provide meaningful insight, assurance and strategic foresight.
• Use Statistical Process Control (SPC) to monitor performance, identifying areas of concern and improvement to aid informed and focused performance discussions.
• Develop and support delivery of training on using SPC to improve performance and write good performance narrative.
• Use advanced data visualisation and business intelligence tools (e.g., Power BI) to communicate complex performance information clearly.
• Monitor performance trajectories, trends and risks; proactively identify areas requiring intervention.
• Work with the reporting and data management team to develop specifications for new metrics, routine performance reports and dashboards as required.
• Work closely with the DQ team and data visualisation lead on the development and implementation of Data Quality Tools, which provide managers across the trust with tools to enable them to monitor and comply with standards set out in the Data Quality Framework.
• Ensure timely and accurate performance reporting to Trust Committees and Board, ICB and other regulatory bodies as required.
• Facilitate the executive performance oversight and support meeting process, ensuring key lines of enquiry are…