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About the Role

As a Senior BI Developer, you will lead the design, delivery and continuous improvement of high‑quality reporting and dashboard solutions that support strategic and operational decision‑making across the University.

The role has a strong focus on using reporting tools, combined with analytical judgement to ensure insight is robust, clearly interpreted and action‑oriented. The successful candidate will lead pieces of reporting and analytical work, provide guidance to other analysts, and act as a trusted partner to senior stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Ownership of Work

• Take lead responsibility for reporting and analytics workstreams, from scoping through to build using appropriate technology (e.g. Power BI) and ongoing improvement of complex reporting solutions.
• Provide leadership and guidance to analysts within the team, supporting the development of reporting, analytical and data visualisation skills.
• Set direction and standards for reporting outputs, ensuring consistency, quality and adherence to set standards and frameworks.

Analytical Assurance & Insight

• Apply analytical judgement to ensure reported data is accurate, meaningful and analytically robust.
• Lead analytical investigation of trends, patterns and exceptions, identifying risks, opportunities and areas for intervention.
• Lead or contribute to the development of analytical and evaluation frameworks to assess report performance and impact.

Stakeholder Engagement & Influence

• Build strong, trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across the University.
• Translate complex business and strategic questions into effective reporting and analytical solutions
• Constructively challenge assumptions, metrics and requests to improve clarity, relevance and impact.
• Present insights and recommendations confidently to senior and non‑technical audiences, influencing decision‑making.

Data Management & Governance

• Lead good practice in the use of data for reporting, including documentation, definitions and quality assurance.
• Work with multiple and complex data sources, ensuring appropriate handling and integration.
• Ensure compliance with data protection, information security and data retention policies.

General Responsibilities

• Work autonomously, prioritising and managing a complex workload in a changing environment.
• Contribute to the overall capability and effectiveness of the analytics function.
• Demonstrate analytical practice and leadership in a way that is consistent with equality legislation and University policies.
• Undertake other reasonable duties appropriate to the role.

About You

Essential:

• Degree‑level qualification in a numerate or analytical discipline or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• Extensive experience designing and delivering reporting and dashboard solutions, particularly using Power BI and/or Excel.
• Proven ability to lead analytically complex work and ensure the quality and integrity of reporting outputs.
• Strong experience interpreting complex datasets and translating analysis into clear, actionable insight.
• Experience of leading or mentoring other analysts, providing technical and analytical guidance.
• Demonstrated ability to work with senior stakeholders, influencing thinking and decision‑making through insight.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present complex information clearly and influentially.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver to deadlines.

Desirable:

• Experience using additional analytical or data tools (e.g. SQL, SAS, R, Python).
• Experience contributing to performance frameworks, evaluation approaches or strategic monitoring.
• Understanding of organisational data governance and reporting standards.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d anticipate this to be on average 2 to 3 times per month. 

Next steps in the Recruitment process

We anticipate that interviews for this role will be taking place onsite at our Milton Keynes campus on Wednesday 15 July 2026.

Early closing date notification

While most roles will remain open until the advertised closing date, applications may be reviewed on an ongoing basis. In some cases, vacancies may close earlier if a sufficient number of suitable applications have been received and equality impacts have been appropriately considered. All roles will remain advertised for a minimum of one week before any early closure is implemented.

If you have started an application or were in the process of applying when the advert closed, we encourage you to get in touch. We are committed to understanding individual circumstances and can offer further support where needed, including reasonable adjustments for applicants with protected characteristics.

How to apply

To apply for this role please submit the following documents:

• CV, including how you meet the skills and experience required.
• Complete the additional application questions within our online application form.

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.