Harlow is a great place to live and work, being ideally located on the London Liverpool Street to Stansted/Cambridge rail line, and only four miles from the M25. Harlow is at the forefront of a significant growth agenda in the heart of the UK Innovation Corridor, an area recognised as one of the UK’s fastest growing regions. As a key member of the Harlow & Gilston Garden Town partnership, Harlow Council is driving forward an ambitious vision to not only generate growth within the town, but to effect a transformation not seen since its birth as a New Town. The town’s successful Enterprise Zone which includes the Harlow Innovation Park continues to grow with new state of the art workspaces being created to maximise the benefits of its unique location and opportunities.

The Service Finance Manager will be responsible for managing and leading a small effective and customer focussed team. You will provide high quality professional advisory, analytical and reporting services to the Council, service managers and customers focussed on the achievement of value for money whilst ensuring that financial management is maintained to the highest standard across Council services. You will be required to support and advise services to ensure the adoption of appropriate financial policies and strategies is achieved.

Key functions of this exciting role will involve leading the team and services through the cyclical financial processes including annual revenue budget setting, capital programme setting, monthly and quarterly budget monitoring to the Senior Management Board and Members respectively and establishing the year end outturn position. This role will include responsibilities for all Council financial activities including General Fund, Housing Revenue Account and Capital Programme ensuring that they are aligned with the agreed Medium Term Finance Strategy.

Close and collaborative working with other members of the Finance Team and staff across the Council is essential to ensure that issues are identified, solutions developed, agreed and implemented, liaising with senior staff and Councillors as required, achieving service standards, goals and balance of risks  A motivation for and experience of engaging with colleagues to facilitate the improvement and development of finance systems and reporting is required to enable effective service support to managers through a user self-service model.

To be successful in the role you should have experience in a financial management role, preferably within the public sector or local government, experience of staff management and a demonstrable record of completed projects of an original and technically challenging nature as well as a proven ability to lead transformation activity and manage organisational change and development within a financial/performance environment. Ideally you will hold a full CCAB qualification and have relevant knowledge and experience in a similar finance or accountancy role.

This will be an exciting and challenging role working in a dynamic and supportive team which will provide exceptional opportunities for the right candidate to apply their initiative, to design systems’ improvements and to be involved in a highly-regarded central function of the Council.

We are a modern, forward thinking organisation offering agile working styles to give ultimate flexibility and work-life balance. We offer an attractive remuneration package including generous annual leave, professional fees and career average revalued (CARE) pension scheme.

Further information or for an informal discussion about this role please contact Mathew Crosby (Deputy S151) on 01279 446225 or email to mathew.crosby@harlow.gov.uk

Closing date Thursday 4 November 2021. Initial interviews to be held in person on either Thursday 18 or Friday 19 November 2021. Successful candidates may need to attend a second interview on either Thursday 25 or Friday 26 November 2021.