Skip to main content

This job has expired

Head of Finance

Employer
Brighton & Hove City Council
Location
Brighton, East Sussex
Salary
£59,700 - £65,600 (Pay Award Pending)
Closing date
29 Oct 2021

View more

Sector
Local council
Contract Type
Permanent
Hours
Full Time

This is a senior business partner and finance leadership role working in Brighton & Hove City Council primarily providing support to the Economy, Environment & Culture service directorate.

Work Locations: Primarily Bartholomew House, Brighton (Main base), however, other meetings can be in Hove Town Hall, Hove. Remote (home) working for up to 4 days per week is possible.

Given the current Covid-19 situation, special arrangements will be made with respect to interviews ensuring a safe interview process and equality of access for all participants.

Interview dates are to be confirmed.

Job Introduction

Brighton & Hove City Council is seeking a full time Head of Service Finance to lead a Service Finance team providing a full range of financial business partner support and advisory services including strategic financial planning and budget setting, financial management reporting and monitoring, and accounting and technical financial support.

The role itself is focused on providing support to the Economy, Environment & Culture (EEC) directorate but heads up a team that also supports Housing Services and South Downs National Park Authority.

You will work closely with the Director of EEC and the Directorate Management Team (DMT) and will be their lead financial adviser. This directorate is leading on many new initiatives and capital investments around sustainability and transport, carbon reduction programmes, and major regeneration projects as well as supporting essential council services such as refuse & recycling, cultural services, planning and estate management.

The team consists of three Principal Accountants, two of which lead on Housing Services, with the other supporting the EEC directorate. There are a total of 12 finance staff in the team providing support across these services. BHCC, like the city, is a vibrant and interesting place to work and our senior roles include a significant element of hands-on delivery as well as managing and co-ordinating the work of the team.

We are seeking a self-motivated, articulate and competent individual with experience of leading a team of financial professionals and technicians in a public sector service or similar corporation.

You will need to be highly organised, have good written and oral communication skills, including presentation and report-writing, with an ability to operate at a strategic financial planning level. You will be able to build good relationships with your customers, at all levels, and be able to lead and develop a high performing team to provide excellent customer service. You will need to have a wide knowledge and experience of financial management, financial planning and financial appraisal.

Working in Finance in Brighton & Hove brings with it a range of benefits that people in our team enjoy, including working within;

  • the City of Brighton & Hove which is an attractive, vibrant place to live or work;
  • a flexible workplace where we accommodate a wide range of working patterns, including remote working, and are keen to help staff maintain a good work-life balance. 
  • a friendly service where we are aiming for a gender-balanced and diverse service reflecting the city we serve;
  • a progressive council with ambitious transformation plans and a unique political balance;
  • a service that supports and develops its staff through training and development opportunities for staff at all levels including apprenticeships.

About the Role

This role is in the Brighton & Hove Service Finance team primarily supporting the Economy, Environment & Culture (EEC) but heading up a team that also supports Housing Services as well as providing services under contract to the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA). Overall, the council has a gross budget of nearly £800 million while the services supported by the team have combined gross budgets of over £214 million and capital budgets of over £100m.

We are recruiting for a Head of Service Finance to join our local Finance Management Team and lead one of two Service Finance teams. There is a third team that provides support for corporate financial service areas. We are focused on being an effective Strategic Business Partner to our customers and clients which means providing them with experienced and knowledgeable Finance Business Partners to advise them on a wide range of financial matters including financial management, budget planning, business case development and appraisal, capital investment programme development and so on. The Head of Service Finance is effectively the Lead Finance Business Partner for the relevant customer directorate. 

The role requires you to use your financial skills and substantial experience to lead on providing strategic financial support to customers including advising the Service Director, their senior management team, members (councillors), service divisional heads and budget holders. The directorate covers a wide range of services and has extensive transformation programmes and multi-million pound capital investment programmes. The directorate also generates very large incomes for the council through services such as parking, planning, event venues as well as commercial incomes and rents, and these are an important area of financial management support.

This is an exciting opportunity to enhance your professional finance career, heading up a team that has built a good customer service reputation working across a varied portfolio.

We are looking for people who have:

  • Experience of being part of a management team, and managing and motivating staff;
  • Experience of providing expert strategic financial business partner support and advice to customer and client departments;
  • Experience in building good working relationships at all levels;
  • Well-developed communication and presentation skills, both written and oral;
  • A proven track record of improving services to deliver high-quality public services.

Previous experience in public sector finance or similar corporations is desirable and you will need to have experience at a senior finance level. The successful candidate will be expected to be aware of the implications of working within a public sector environment and how this affects financial management and planning arrangements.

COVID-19 update: The role is traditionally based at Bartholomew’s House offices in Brighton. However, the role will be required to work remotely for a significant proportion of each week with only limited attendance at offices is required as the council is embedding a different way of working following the pandemic.

Closing Date 29th October

To find out more and apply, please visit: https://sourcing.penna.com/clients/brighton-hove-city-council/head-of-finance-brighton-hove-city-council/

Get job alerts

Create a job alert and receive personalised job recommendations straight to your inbox.

Create alert