26584 - Head of Finance

BACKGROUND:

The Northern Ireland Office represents Northern Ireland interests at a UK Government level and UK Government interests in Northern Ireland. We have a wide range of responsibilities, including: overseeing the Northern Ireland devolution settlement; leading on national security policy in Northern Ireland; addressing the legacy of Northern Ireland’s past; delivering elections and constitutional reform in Northern Ireland; and working with the Northern Ireland Executive to rebalance the NI economy.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

The Northern Ireland Office is seeking to recruit an experienced fully qualified accountant to lead on a diverse portfolio focussed on strategic aspects of financial reporting, financial management and financial control in the Department. The successful candidate will be responsible for delivering and leading a high quality finance function that supports the department's needs in strategic financial planning. You will work closely with the existing Finance manager who has responsibility for budget management and Finance business partnering. You will have ownership and accountability for key areas of the Finance function, providing regular updates to the senior team including the Permanent Secretary. You will contribute to the work of the Departmental Board, Audit & Risk and People & Resources committees, ensuring that robust financial management and control processes are in place and that the Department’s senior management is supported in taking high-level, strategic decisions.

You will build and maintain relationships with our key stakeholders including HMT, ALBs and third party service providers.
The post is based within Business Delivery Group (BDG) in the Northern Ireland Office. BDG plays a vital role in supporting the delivery of key business objectives across the NIO and you will work closely with colleagues in other business areas such as HR, Estates and Corporate Governance. Reporting to the Deputy Director BDG, you will co-manage a small team based in our Belfast Office. Some travel to London or Belfast will be required.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The main responsibilities of the role include but are not limited to the following:

1) Jointly lead the Finance team to manage the department's finances, including:-

• The annual budget process and ensuring that spend remains within delegated     budgets, including workforce/salaries planning.
• Providing internal and external reporting including monthly Management Accounts, the Annual Report, Transparency data
• Attending the Departmental Board and Audit and Risk Committee
• Responding to all forecast/budget related commissions
• Developing and improving processes, systems and controls with a view to ensuring the department is compliant, efficient and minimising financial risks in line with the FReM and Managing Public Money.
• Provide line management, technical and professional leadership to the wider finance team
• Provide business partnering services and advice to the NIO’s ALBs

2) Be the strategic finance business partner in the department, including

• Shape policies and processes to ensure sound financial management and control across the organisation, aligned to government accounting and public sector finance principles.
• Influence the strategic direction and decisions of our senior leadership team, effectively communicating and present financial issues, impacts and opportunities to the wider business
• Work with colleagues from other disciplines to support and advise local business unit management teams
• Manage the department's relationship with key stakeholders, including NIO sponsorship and business partnering teams, third party providers, NAO, and HMT.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:

1)         The candidate will have successfully passed the professional examinations and be a full, current member of one of the following bodies:

•           Chartered Accountants Ireland (ACA);
•           The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland (ICAS);
•           The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW);
•           The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA);
•           The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA);
•           The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA);

2)         The Candidate will also have at least 2 years post qualification experience within the last 5, working at management level in a public sector finance team and must be able to demonstrate experience of central government accounting and budgeting.

[For the essential criteria please upload a suitability statement of no more than 250 words setting out how you meet the essential criteria]

BEHAVIOURS:

We will also assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours at Level 4 during the selection process:

Seeing the big picture: Develop and maintain an understanding of economic, social, political, environmental and technological developments to ensure activity is relevant. Ensure plans and activities in your area of work reflect wider strategic priorities and communicate effectively with senior leaders to influence future strategies. Adopt a government wide perspective to ensure alignment of activity and policy. Bring together views, perspectives and diverse needs of stakeholders to gain a broader understanding of the issues surrounding policies and activities.

Making effective decisions: Clarify your own understanding and stakeholder needs and expectations, before making decisions. Ensure decision making happens at the right level, not allowing unnecessary bureaucracy to hinder delivery. Encourage both innovative suggestions and challenge from others, to inform decision making. Analyse and accurately interpret data from various sources to support decisions. Find the best option by identifying positives, negatives, risks and implications. Present reasonable conclusions from a wide range of complex and sometimes incomplete evidence. Make decisions confidently even when details are unclear or if they prove to be unpopular.

Leadership: Promote diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity, respecting difference and external experience. Welcome and respond to views and challenges from others, despite any conflicting pressures to ignore or give in to them. Stand by, promote or defend own and team’s actions and decisions where needed. Seek out shared interests beyond own area of responsibility, understanding the extent of the impact actions have on the organisation. Inspire and motivate teams to be fully engaged in their work and dedicated to their role.

Managing a quality service: Demonstrate positive customer service by understanding the complexity and diversity of customer needs and expectations. Deliver a high quality, efficient and cost effective service by considering a broad range of methods for delivery. Ensure full consideration of new technologies, accessibility and costings. Make clear, practical and manageable plans for service delivery. Ensure adherence to legal, regulatory and security requirements in service delivery. Proactively manage risks and identify solutions. Establish how the business area compares to industry best practice. Create regular opportunities for colleagues, stakeholders, delivery partners and customers to help improve the quality of service.

Delivering at pace: Ensure everyone clearly understands and owns their roles, responsibilities and business priorities. Give honest, motivating and enthusiastic messages about priorities, objectives and expectations to get the best out of people. Comply with legal, regulatory and security requirements in service delivery. Set out clear processes and standards for managing performance at all levels. Ensure delivery of timely quality outcomes, through providing the right resources to do the job, reviewing and adjusting performance expectations and rewarding success. Maintain own levels of performance in challenging circumstances and encourage others to do the same.

More information on Behaviours and Success Profiles can be found here.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of behaviours, experience, and strength-based questions. The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

SECURITY CLEARANCE

Security clearance to SC level will be required for this post.

ELIGIBILITY SIFT

An eligibility sift will be carried out on the basis of the information contained in the application form. It is therefore important that all applicants demonstrate in their application how and to what extent their behaviours are relevant to the above criteria. Those candidates who do not clearly demonstrate that they meet the experience and behaviours will not be invited to interview. In the event of a large number of applications being received your application may be sifted on the essential criteria (professional skills and experience).

PAY AND ALLOWANCES

The successful candidate will adopt the terms and conditions of the NIO for the length of their appointment.

Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further information about the post may be obtained from Jackie Atkins on telephone number 020 7210 6512 or e-mail to jackie.atkins@nio.gov.uk.

APPLICATIONS

You can apply for this post through the Civil Service website at: civilservice.gov.uk. Once logged onto the site got to the civil service jobs page and then search for jobs in the Northern Ireland Office where the application form can be found.

Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered. Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview.

Any applicants who, because of disability, need assistance in completing the application form should contact MoJ Shared Services on 0845 010 3512.

All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.

This job description should not be taken as constituting conditions of employment.

Please note that due to the high interest in NIO opportunities, feedback cannot be given if you are unsuccessful at sift stage. Feedback is available on request if unsuccessful following interview.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Further information about us

We are a small and friendly department of approximately 165 staff. Due to our size we are able to offer staff more exposure to ministers and the opportunity to work on a far wider portfolio of responsibilities than might be the case in a larger department. This creates an interesting, though often challenging, work environment.

Other Benefits

The NIO offers a pleasant, modern work environment which allows consideration of a range of flexible working arrangements which support a good work/ life balance. These include flexible/ alternative working patterns, part-time and job-share options.

Benefits include:

           interest-free season ticket and bicycle loans

            Reward & Recognition scheme

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The Northern Ireland Office operates the Guaranteed Interview Scheme, details of which are attached to the application form for this post.

Diversity Information

The Northern Ireland Office strives to be an inclusive employer and is recognised by its staff and externally as being an employer where Diversity and Inclusion are valued.

We were accredited as a Disability Confident Leader in autumn 2017.

In March 2018 we won the award for Best Employer for Diversity & Equality in Northern Ireland (small employer category) in a Gala Award ceremony hosted by Legal-Island, a multi-award winning workplace compliance company based in Northern Ireland.

We have an active D&I network supporting colleagues through D&I Advocates.

We want all our people to feel valued for who they are and we are confident that you will find the NIO a warm, welcoming and inclusive place to work.

Further information on civil service careers can be found at  www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk

Complaints

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles.

Please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@sscl.gse.gov.uk) in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages:

http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/