Data Analyst

Polaris
Role: Data Analyst
Location: Bromsgrove
Contract: Permanent, Full Time
Hours: 35 hours per week
Salary: Up to £28,000 per annum

Benefits

• 30 days’ annual leave, rising to 35 days with length of service
• Bank holidays
• Company Pension
• Life Assurance
• Employee Discount Scheme
• Free On-site Parking

About Us

Polaris Community is one of the UK’s largest children’s services providers and the very first provider of independent fostering in the UK. Delivering fostering, residential care, specialist education, adoption, therapy and leaving care services across the length and breadth of the country, our community of 19 companies supports children and young people from Glasgow to Plymouth, Belfast to London.

At the heart of our operations is a small, central Information & Performance team that keeps the data flowing, and we’re looking for a Data Analyst to join us.

What the Team Does

We manage a central SQL Server environment with SSRS reporting, pulling data from multiple third-party platforms across every service area in the business. We build and maintain ETL pipelines using SSIS, Power Automate, PowerShell and batch scripts, develop and maintain a large library of stored procedures, and deliver self-service reporting to stakeholders across the organisation. We also handle a constant stream of ad-hoc data requests, analysis and report development across fostering, residential, education, adoption and wider children’s services.

What you will get is a complex, meaningful environment to grow in and the satisfaction of doing work that supports services for vulnerable children across the country. It’s a broad, varied role in a small team, which means what you work on genuinely matters.

What We’re Looking For

We’re not looking for someone who needs a syllabus. We’re looking for someone who, when they hit a problem they’ve never seen before, opens a query window and starts figuring it out. Someone who reads error messages properly, who digs until they understand it, not just until it works or they’ve found something to copy and paste.

Technical Skills You’ll Need

• Solid T-SQL, including reading, writing and troubleshooting queries
• Experience with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) and report development
• Experience with SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) and SQL Server Agent
• Comfort with MS Office, particularly Excel and formula writing
• Any exposure to PowerShell, CMD, VBA or similar scripting is a bonus
• Experience with Power Automate would be advantageous
• Familiarity with SharePoint would be advantageous

A SQL Server certification is helpful but is not essential. We care far more about what you can actually do than what’s on paper.

Beyond the Technical

• A curiosity that you can’t switch off
• The ability to work independently and take ownership of problems
• Confidence working with non-technical stakeholders to understand what they actually need
• A genuine appetite for self-directed learning; this is not optional, it’s the job

If that sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you.

Contact
For an informal discussion about this role, please call Mike Butterworth or Helen Corbett at our central office on 01527 556480.

We are an equal opportunities employer and have been awarded Disability Confident Employer status by Jobcentre Plus.

The successful applicant will be subject to a DBS check, paid for by Polaris.

Polaris is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment.

We reserve the right to withdraw this advert without notification.