Strategic Planning Officer

Join Police Digital Service as a Strategic Planning Officer.

Full time. Permanent. Starting salary £45,000 per annum.

About Police Digital Service

To protect people from harm in our rapidly changing world, police services must not only keep up with technology and business changes but develop capabilities and ways of working that will enable them to adapt to and deal with the complexity of modern criminality.

Police Digital Service strives to be the go-to partner for technology developments and programmes across UK policing. Our team provides technical advice and delivers services to help policing and law enforcement organisations across the UK prioritise and focus on technology efforts.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Planning and Business Planning Support the coordination and delivery of the annual strategic planning and business planning cycle.

• Assist in the development, maintenance and review of organisational business plans and supporting planning artefacts.

• Maintain strategic planning schedules, milestones, assumptions and supporting documentation.

• Coordinate updates from directorates and functions to ensure plans remain current and aligned with organisational priorities.

• Support the development of planning products, roadmaps, strategic reviews and planning submissions.

• Ensure planning activity maintains a clear link between organisational objectives, priorities and delivery commitments.

• Business Plan Monitoring and Assurance Monitor organisational progress against agreed business plan objectives, milestones and outcomes.

• Coordinate periodic business plan reviews, progress updates and assurance activities.

• Gather and validate information from stakeholders to support performance reporting and planning reviews.

• Produce reports, dashboards and briefing materials that provide insight into delivery performance and progress against strategic objectives.

• Identify emerging delivery risks, issues and dependencies that may impact achievement of organisational commitments.

• Maintain records of organisational commitments, actions and outcomes relating to the business plan.

• Strategic Insight, Horizon Scanning and Risk Support horizon scanning activities by monitoring developments across policing, government, technology and the wider operating environment.

• Gather and analyse information relating to external trends, emerging opportunities and strategic challenges.

• Assist in identifying strategic risks, assumptions and dependencies that may impact organisational priorities and plans.

• Maintain strategic assumptions and planning risk registers, ensuring they are reviewed and updated regularly.

• Support scenario planning, option analysis and strategic reviews where required.

• Provide planning insight to support evidence-based decision-making and future planning activities.

• Stakeholder Engagement and Organisational Alignment

What you need to succeed in the role

• Strong organisational and coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce clear reports, briefings and presentations.

• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, with the ability to interpret information and identify patterns, risks and opportunities.

• Ability to gather, analyse and present complex information in a concise and meaningful way. Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship management skills.

• Ability to work effectively in a changing environment and bring structure to ambiguity. High attention to detail and commitment to quality.

• High level of IT literacy, including Microsoft Office, Teams, SharePoint and reporting tools Supporting strategic planning, business planning, corporate planning or organisational performance activities within a complex organisation.

• Producing reports, briefing papers, presentations and management information for senior stakeholders.

• Coordinating planning cycles, governance forums or business review processes.

• Gathering, analysing and presenting information to support decision-making.

• Working collaboratively across organisational boundaries to coordinate activity and support delivery.

• Supporting planning, workforce coordination, resource allocation or organisational performance activities.

• Maintaining management information, dashboards or reporting to support planning and decision-making.

• Understanding of strategic planning, business planning or corporate performance management.

• Experience supporting the development or monitoring of organisational business plans.

• Knowledge of governance, assurance and organisational performance frameworks.

Why Join us?

• Balance is important and we want you to take time off to recharge - we offer 28 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays, rising to 30 days after 5 years of service. Holiday Purchase also available

• Flexible working hours - We trust you to do your job and we appreciate that life doesn’t always fit around a 9 to 5 workday. We operate core hours of 8 to 6, Monday to Friday (37hr week)

• We care about your well-being - we have an EAP that offers not just welfare benefits but also retail discounts

• Plan for the future - we offer an excellent pension scheme and life assurance cover

• Put your mind at rest regarding your health - offering remote GP, mental health and physiotherapy appointments via video consultation

• Family - Enhanced maternity and paternity pay along with a flexible return to work

• Community - one paid day off per year for volunteering

You can find out more here:
Benefits - Police Digital Service ( pds.police.uk )

Diversity, equity and inclusion
We are committed to equal opportunities for all and will not discriminate on any grounds. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible span of experience. All applicants will be considered without attention to age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, parental status, nationality, neurodiversity or disability status.

Working Arrangements
This is a remote role with some national travel required to attend meetings.

All applicants must be eligible for NPPV3 and SC clearances. Successful applicants will require NPPV3 clearance to have been approved before starting with PDS.