Financial Operations Improvement Lead (+£5k for CCAB or equivalent qualified candidates)
- Recruiter
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Location
- London (Greater) (GB)
- Salary
- National: £54,444. London: £58,542. (exclusive of £5k pay supplement)
- Posted
- 10 Jan 2025
- Closes
- 19 Jan 2025
- Approved employers
- Approved employer
- Job role
- Accountant, Business analyst
- Contract type
- Permanent
- Experience level
- Part qualified, Newly qualified
Job summary
In the Department of Health and Social Care, we are proud of our purpose – to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you would like to work in, we would love to hear from you.
DHSC is responsible for ensuring the system consistently delivers a high standard of care, and secures the best possible value for money from over £160bn of taxpayer’s funds allocated by Parliament. The finance function plays a crucial role in enabling the Department to fulfil its strategic objectives.
This role is in the Finance Operations team, which is responsible for delivery of the critical finance functions for the department, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, expenses, supplier maintenance, cash, transparency reporting, systems, data and buying coordinator requisitioning. The role is focused on improving the function and enabling the department’s engagement in the Government Shared Services programme.
This is an excellent opportunity to diversify your finance experience, working on a challenging portfolio in a well-supported role that is central to DHSC’s operational delivery strategy.
Job description
The postholder will work on strategic leadership and service delivery of Finance Operations Improvement in the department. They will develop the strategy for continuous improvement, delivering process improvement initiatives in Financial Operations, whilst also using their position to drive change across the organisation by influencing how the department engages with the Government Shared Services programme.
In addition, as Financial Operations affect all parts of the department, including the implementation of new policies and key transactions, the postholder may find themselves working alongside other finance and policy colleagues managing cross-cutting issues.
The wider team is well-established with a mixture of long standing and newer members. This is an exciting opportunity to take ownership of the delivery of multiple projects to develop and improve the Department’s finance operations, processes, and organisational understanding, working closely with stakeholders across the finance function, the wider department and across government.
The team has a significant focus on improvement and best practice. A key part of the role is collaborating with, and influencing, internal and external stakeholders, making sound judgements on change and improvement initiatives.
The role provides an opportunity to function with a degree of autonomy within a supportive and agile team. The team is made up of a mix of both qualified accountants and those with other relevant experience.
A finance qualification is advantageous but not essential for this role (a wide range of applicants are encouraged; the required key skills and experience are set out below). A market pay supplement is applicable for this role if the candidate is qualified with CCAB, CIMA or equivalent. The market pay supplement is £5,000.
The finance function also offers multiple learning and development opportunities, including options to continue studying and leadership development programmes.
If you have any questions about the role and would like an informal discussion, please feel free to contact the vacancy holder directly.
Role responsibilities
- Work with the Financial Operations team to optimise the way in which they can meet the needs of the department.
- Partner with stakeholders to identify and capture opportunities for improvements.
- Identify and implement opportunities to embed the Government Shared Services programme across the department to deliver efficient, innovative and a user focused shared services offer.
- Develop effective policies for processes across finance operations, ensuring they continue to be fit for purpose and aligned to global processes.
- Develop effective working relationships with a number of stakeholders, including the National Audit Office, Government Internal Audit Agency, HMT and other functional business units where a collaborative approach is needed to ensure success.
- Provide advice to Ministers, Senior Managers, and boards as appropriate.
- Establish a centre of finance operations improvement expertise, by providing high quality advice, guidance, and support on a broad range of finance operations.
- Build capability and knowledge in others by providing guidance and to key stakeholders and creating appropriate documentation.
- Identify and support mitigation of risks, also help drive a culture of risk management across the Department.
- Assess and improve financial awareness and capability, promoting and assessing compliance across the department and proactively seek ways to improve systems and processes, implementing recommendations from internal and external reviews of the Department’s systems.
- Drive forward change, demonstrating that you are a critical thinker with a focus on problem solving to improve outcomes and improve finance operations.
Key skills and experience required for the role
Essential Skills and Experience
- Experience of working in a finance operations environment and understanding of end-to-end finance processes.
- Evidence of delivering improvements in finance processes with high quality outcomes.
- Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to communicate effectively (written and verbally) with stakeholders at all levels.
- Excellent people management skills with the ability to deliver business change.
- Good organisational skills and a proven ability to deliver and manage competing priorities, at pace when required, using clear project plans.
- Leading collaboratively by constructing clear timelines and processes, with interdependencies and owners, to lead others to successful delivery and outcomes for the process.
- Able to provide strategic advice and planning choices to enable financial problem solving across the Department. This includes the ability to critically consider plans and confidently challenge stakeholders to deliver proposals that align with priorities.
- Experience of enabling effective decision-making, by consulting with stakeholders to ensure impacts and risks are understood at the outset.
- A solutions-focused, driven professional with a "can do" attitude, with excellent problem-solving skills.
- Ability to work with and challenge senior leadership to develop a clear vision for Finance Operations.
Desirable Skills and Experience
- Those that hold a full CCAB, CIMA or equivalent qualification will be eligible for an annual market pay supplement of £5,000. This payment is in addition to the advertised baseline salary. The Department also provides support to become qualified. A finance qualification is desirable, but NOT essential. Applicants will need to demonstrate that they have the relevant experience that can be applied effectively in the role.
Your personal qualities will be as important as your professional experience and we welcome applications from all backgrounds. If you believe you have the skills and qualities we are looking for, then we would like to hear from you.