Deputy Director Head of Finance Transactions, Change & Assurance

Job summary

The Head of Transactions, Change & Assurance role involves engaging with a range of stakeholders at all levels to ensure that finance processes run efficiently and effectively, within an environment that maintains robust and proportionate financial control and to provide central assurance that delegated responsibilities are being conducted properly.

Types of activity include purchasing, expenses, debt strategy, tax, audit liaison and counter-fraud. The role also champions change and continuous improvement, as well as holding the professionalism remit for the Finance function. Tax, income, cash and grants management, master data set up, and processes that impact individuals directly such as expenses and payroll interaction. The role manages a team of around 55 staff at different grades & locations.

Job description

Key responsibilities: (these may change depending on the skills and experience of the successful candidate and shifts in departmental requirements)

• Provide strong leadership for financial management and control for the Home Office, with a relentless focus on maximising the efficiency of the Department’s delivery
• Developing clear outcome-focused and integrated strategies for Operations and Shared Service Provision
• Provide an efficient transactional processing service, ensuring that service levels meet the needs of the Department and its Arm’s Length Bodies, working with delivery partners where appropriate
• Lead the Elevate finance change programme to achieve further enhancements in service delivery as set out in its five-year strategy, embedding a culture of continuous improvement and empowerment
• Maintain a compliant tax administration service alongside an expert tax advice service that works with the business to manage its tax risks and ensure full tax compliance
• Support audit, assurance and counter-fraud duties by providing central systems, processes and services which monitor, measure and report on compliance and maturity, and maintain an effective relationship with the department’s auditors
• Lead the Programme to improve compliance with core controls, sharpen accountability, embed risk management at every level of the department and improve how projects and programmes are delivered and managed to ensure the Home Office can be confident in the adequacy and effectiveness of its risk management, control and governance arrangements
• Act as Senior Officer Responsible for counter-fraud, supporting the Accountable Board Member in ensuring that the Home Offices discharges its responsibilities in line with the functional Standard
• The post holder will be an important member of the finance leadership of the Home Office, promoting Civil Service reform and contributing to the Home Office and wider Civil Service efficiency agendas. The post holder will need to exercise leadership across a broad range of corporate responsibilities that connect to Finance within the department and there is the opportunity to modify/adapt some of these responsibilities to suit the specific career interests and strengths of the post holder
• Contribute to the overall management and leadership of the Finance function and contribute to the Government Finance Profession.
• Ensure that the Home Office aligns with the Government Finance Function model including defining, and moving, to a new service offer for the teams the role is responsible for
• Maintain and develop a respected and collaborative professional team which commands credibility at all levels and promotes a culture of value for money across the organisation

Person specification

Essential Criteria

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate their knowledge, experience, capability and behavioural approach to a high standard against the following key criteria:

• Leadership - Substantial experience of leading, motivating and developing a diverse team of finance professionals; fostering teamwork across different functions and organisations to deliver an effective and efficient service. Proven track record in driving and improving team performance.
• Strategic influence - Experience of influencing management at a senior level with strong analytical skills and the ability to communicate complex positions clearly and compellingly.
• Financial control & Processes– Experience of financial control and process ownership in a large organization, with recent experience of implementing processes and systems to support and improve delivery and value for money, balancing the provision of effective stewardship and an excellent user experience
• Experience of implementing change within functional areas
• CCAB, CIMA or equivalent qualified accountant with a substantial track record of success in a senior finance leadership role in a fast-moving finance area in a highly complex, customer focused organisation. This should include a highly effective track record of interpreting financial information to help shape and influence organisational strategy.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Home Office contributes £23,465 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Online Application

Please follow the Job Advert instructions on the Civil Service Jobs website to apply online, no later than 23:55hrs on Tuesday 24th February 2026.

Provide some basic personal information;

1.A CV - setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role, including details where budgets and numbers of people managed, relevant achievements in recent posts, together with reasons for any gaps within the last two years;

2.A Statement of Suitability – (limited to 1250 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification.

3.Diversity Monitoring - as part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say'. See the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy: 2022 to 2025 (HTML) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for more information.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Finance Directorate
• Email : financedirectoratechiefofstaff@homeoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scsrecruitment@homeoffice.gov.uk

Further information

The Commission publishes a guide that outlines its approach to handling a complaint under the Recruitment Principles. This can be accessed at http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…. We would recommend you read this guidance before submitting a complaint.
Complaints should be sent in writing to:
Civil Service Commission, Room G8, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.

Attachments

DD Head of Finance Transactions, Change & Assurance - Candidate pack Opens in new window (pdf, 683kB)