Strategic Business and Planning Manager

Strategic Business and Planning Manager

Salary £54,495

Closing date 6th April 2026

Interview date 17th April 2026

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) brings together ten local councils to drive regional development and public service innovation. Located at the Tootal Buildings in Manchester, GMCA focuses on areas such as transport, health, housing, policing, and economic growth. Through collaboration among local leaders, public bodies, and community partners, the authority delivers integrated services designed to improve the lives of Greater Manchester residents.

The Team

The Greater Manchester Safer and Stronger Communities team operates at the frontline of public safety for one of the UK’s largest cityregions. Led by Deputy Mayor Kate Green, the team shapes regional priorities across policing, crime, criminal justice and fire services, influencing decisions that affect millions of people.

This is a highprofile, fastmoving environment where you’ll work closely with senior leaders and partners, support bold regional ambitions, and be part of work that genuinely makes Greater Manchester safer and stronger.

About the Role

Reporting to the Head of Oversight and Performance, the Strategic Business and Planning Manager provides highquality strategic planning, business coordination, commissioning and analytical support that underpins the delivery of the Police and Crime Plan and wider Directorate priorities.

Working closely with senior leaders and partners, you will ensure strong oversight of Directoratewide activity, support the development and monitoring of plans and strategies, and maintain robust governance arrangements that enable transparent, timely and evidencebased decisionmaking.

The role leads and coordinates a range of core business functions, including business support and correspondence, commissioning, contracts and grants, business resilience, and the coordination of funding bids and financial approval processes. Through effective partnership working, you will help drive improvement, influence regional and national agendas, and deliver best value for the people and communities of Greater Manchester.

Key Responsibilities

You will:

1. Provide strategic planning and highvalue analytical support to senior leaders, aligning Directorate activity with the Police and Crime Plan and GMCA business priorities.
2. Offer policy advice and guidance to Principals and Senior Leaders within the Safer and Stronger Communities Directorate.
3. Support delivery of the Deputy Mayor’s plans and priorities across policing, community safety, fire and criminal justice.
4. Build and maintain strong relationships with Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, local authorities and voluntary and community sector partners.
5. Lead planning support that enables the Directorate to influence the policing and community safety agenda at local, regional and national levels.
6. Oversee the Business Support and Correspondence teams, ensuring workstreams are wellresourced, coordinated and delivered to a consistently high standard.
7. Monitor themes and trends from correspondence and escalate insight to the Senior Management Team.
8. Support governance and scrutiny arrangements, including statutory meetings and boards such as the Police, Fire and Crime Panel.
9. Oversee the commissioning and management of portfolio grants, ensuring strong management and best value.
10. Monitor Directorate and corporate risks, ensuring mitigations are in place and tracked effectively.
11. Support delivery of Police and Crime Plan and Fire Plan objectives through data analysis, forecasting and pipeline planning.

About You

You will be educated to degree level or professionally qualified (or equivalent experience) and bring significant experience working at a senior level within a complex organisation.

You will also demonstrate:

1. Strong strategic thinking and analytical skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear plans and actions.
2. Experience of policy development, strategy implementation and programme or project management.
3. A proven track record of working in partnership, negotiating and brokering change with a wide range of stakeholders.
4. Experience of commissioning, contracts, grants or financial management within a disciplined environment.
5. Excellent communication and influencing skills, including the confidence to engage senior leaders, partners and political stakeholders.
6. Inclusive leadership skills, with experience of supporting high performance, wellbeing and professional development.
7. Political awareness and the ability to navigate complex governance and decisionmaking structures.
8. Strong organisational skills, resilience and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fastpaced environment.

About us:

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) brings together the cityregion’s ten councils and key partners including Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) - to deliver the Greater Manchester Strategy. Our shared vision is to create a thriving city region where everyone can live a good life. We work to grow an inclusive economy and ensure people have what they need to live happy, healthy lives, tackling inequalities. Our policy department include Digital, Economy, Education, Work & Skills, Environment, Place Making, Public Service Reform, and Safer & Stronger Communities - who are supported by our essential corporate functions like Finance, Legal & Governance, People Services, Procurement and Communications.

We value the diversity of our employees, and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects our diverse communities across Greater Manchester. We encourage applications from all suitably qualified individuals, irrespective of people's age, disability, Trans status and Non-binary identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. We have guidance in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability.

To find out more about working for us please click here: https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/

Our offer:

In return for your hard work, we offer our employees a competitive package as part of our offer that you can find out more about here:

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