Head of Intelligence Analysis (Headquarters, Chelmsford/Home Agile Working)

Location of Role: Chelmsford 

Advert Closing Date: 17/04/2025 

Starting Salary: £61,302.00 (pro-rata for part-time vacancies)

Part/Full Time: Full Time 

Contract Type: Permanent 

Working Pattern: Mon-Fri 

Weekend/Evening Working: No 

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a strong, dynamic senior leader to join Essex Police to lead our highly capable and experienced intelligence analysis function.

Effective and embedded intelligence analysis is vital for preventing crime, prosecuting offenders, and protecting our communities. It is at the forefront of driving business-critical decision-making at both a tactical and strategic level, ensuring that Essex Police are using high quality intelligence-based products to inform operational activity across the county.

The function sits alongside the Performance Analysis Unit within the Continuous Improvement and Analytics directorate, and the post holder will play an important part in ensuring strong links and collaborative opportunities between both aspects of analysis (performance and intelligence), ensuring we are not only meeting intelligence analysis requirements in the short term, but can effectively plan for future challenges and opportunities. You will also be a key member of the senior leadership team of the directorate and the force.  

The post holder is responsible for defining and developing our suite of intelligence analysis products to ensure they meet the needs of operational leads and Chief Officers alike - supporting core aspects of operational delivery including force tasking, OCG management, strategic assessments, live-time investigation support, and the production of high-quality evidence for court. As well as maintaining the professionalisation of the function by ensuring our intelligence analysts are skilled, equipped, and supported to perform their roles to the highest standard, and that they are supported in seeking opportunities to innovate and improve how they work.

We are seeking applications from individuals who can evidence strong leadership skills in a complex and challenging work environment. Whilst it would be advantageous for this to have been in a policing or intelligence environment, we welcome applicants who have a different background but who can evidence their aptitude to deliver in this space. The role is demanding and requires someone who has exceptional interpersonal skills (including with external stakeholders), can effectively manage competing priorities, and is able to work with uncertainty and rapid change. Above all, we are looking for a creative, motivated, and highly professional individual who can ensure intelligence analysis retains the importance it plays in policing.

Note that, to perform the role, there is a requirement to either hold, or work towards Intelligence Professionalisation Programme (IPP): Head of Intelligence Analysis.

When shortlisting applications we will be looking for evidence of your skills and experience in the following essential areas:

• Exceptional communication skills with colleagues and partners at all levels in a complex and ambiguous environment
• Substantial middle-management leadership experience, ideally within an intelligence-related field
• Exceptional leadership when delivering business improvement programmes, with evidence of impact- preferably from a customer-oriented environment
• Highly developed analytical and evaluative skills
• Your ability to collaborate with colleagues and partners at all levels, both internally and externally

It would also be helpful if you could provide evidence of your skills and experience in the following desirable areas:

• Combining specialist functional skills with strategic knowledge of business plans and policies
• Advanced applied knowledge of computer software such as Excel, Power BI, GIS mapping
• Ability to develop and apply innovative and creative solutions

If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch with Dr Natalie Mann (natalie.mann@essex.police.uk) Head of Research and Analysis for Essex Police, or Fiona Henderson (fiona.henderson@essex.police.uk) Director of Continuous Improvement and Analytics for Essex Police.

Essex Police offer incremental increases within this salary band, therefore the salary for this position will rise to a maximum of £69,033.00.

For the full job description please click here. 

Your application for this role will be shortlisted on the content you provide within the “reason for application” question, within the application form itself. CV’s, covering letters or attachments are not included in the shortlist. Within your “reason for application” answer, please refer to any experience, skills, and abilities you feel you have that will make you suitable for this role, based on the role criteria stated in the job advert or job description. Please provide as much detail as possible as insufficient content may mean you do not meet the shortlisting criteria, however please note this question is limited to 9000 characters and this system will count spaces and blank lines as characters. This count may differ from the Microsoft Word word count function therefore you may wish to use a different online character counter to check the characters used.

All of our posts require a level of vetting and security clearance.  During the recruitment process you will be sent vetting information forms to complete. 

Kent Police and Essex Police welcomes applications regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, sex, or employment status.

Please let us know if you require extra support at any stage of the application process, or for further information regarding this position, please email us at recruitment.business.services@ecis.police.uk stating ‘Application Support and Adjustments’ in the title of your email. Alternatively, you can call us on 01245 452833.

Where appropriate we will make adjustments to the selection process, working arrangements and/or the working environment provided it is reasonable in all the circumstances to do so.

If you’re not from the UK, you must be a resident in the UK and have lived here continuously for the last three years. You must also be free from restrictions with indefinite leave to remain.

If you’re from the UK you must have lived here continuously for the last three years. This doesn’t apply to those serving abroad in the British Armed Forces.

Essex Police and Kent Police are an equal opportunities employer. Communications may be recorded for monitoring purposes.

Essex Police is a Disability Confident Leader, we:

• have subjected our Disability Confident self-assessment to external challenge and validation
• are taking an active leadership role in encouraging and helping other employers on their journey to becoming Disability Confident.

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion are central to the values of our organisation. At Essex Police we value and embrace the unique experiences, identities and abilities that each of us bring to our roles. We strive to empower everyone to bring their authentic self openly and safely to work.

Through the dedicated commitment of our support networks, DE&I team and wider HR departments, we are on a journey to embed our DE&I commitments, ensuring Essex Police is an employer of choice; where everyone feels included.