Deputy Director, Strategic Finance - Job Share (Wednesdays to Fridays weekly)

Job summary

We are excited to have appointed our new permanent Deputy Director of Strategic Finance! As they will be working part-time, we are now opening a search for a talented job-share partner to join them on Wednesdays to Fridays. This is a unique opportunity to lead our strategic finance function in a flexible, collaborative partnership. civil-service-careers.gov.uk/what-is-job-sharing

This is an exciting and high-profile role leading DSIT’s Strategic Finance and Management Accounts team at the strategic centre of the department, leading on financial strategy and planning for a budget of around £15 billion a year.

The postholder will have considerable influence, working closely with a range of stakeholders including Ministers, the Permanent Secretary, his senior leadership team and HM Treasury.

This is an important period for DSIT as we take forward our Spending Review settlement to deliver outcomes for the economy and for citizens. The postholder will work across multiple teams to ensure that available budgets and flexibilities are maximised whilst ensuring control totals are protected.

DSIT is ambitious to be at the forefront of embracing new technologies and you will take a lead role in driving forward improvement in our finance processes and products, using your experience and enthusiasm for great data and financial insights.

You will lead a high performing team and collaborate with brilliant colleagues across the finance team, wider department and beyond to shape and influence policy decisions through your strategic approach.

Job description

As Deputy Director, Strategic Finance your Key Responsibilities will include:

• Provide insight across large and complex budgets. Your creative skills will identify solutions that help embed financial objectives, drive decision making and secure strong outcomes that align DSIT’s strategic objectives.
• Ensure that existing commitments and new proposals are challenged to help optimise value for money, leading engagement with HMT on new areas of work or financial issues.
• Overall financial strategy and management, in both current and future years, to ensure that resources are deployed and managed in a way which best supports delivery of Ministerial priorities and value for money.
• Leading financial planning in the Department and clearly articulating the strategic choices for the Executive Committee and SoS.
• Leading in-year financial management across the Department, including management accounting overseeing the Estimates and OSCAR processes, including preparation of Memoranda for Parliament.
• Working closely with central teams on fiscal events such as Spending Reviews and Budget, leading DSIT’s relationship with HM Treasury.
• Support the Leadership Team and Ministers to ensure funding is spent effectively – driving value, providing advice on managing within control totals and options for any headroom.
• Lead the business planning process for the department, working closely with finance business partners and colleagues across the department.
• As part of the finance senior leadership team, you will help shape the function and continually seek opportunities to drive efficiency and innovation.

Key Stakeholders:

Your key stakeholders will include:

• The Secretary of State, and her Ministerial Team – you will work closely with Ministers and their advisers, supporting and influencing medium and long-term financial strategies, and providing day-to-day financial advisory input to underpin departmental priorities.
• The Permanent Secretary and the Executive Committee - to provide insight and recommendations on Spending Reviews, financial planning, resource allocation, and strategic choices.
• Director General for Corporate Services and Chief Operating Officer to ensure financial management aligns with wider departmental transformation and operational objectives.
• Leading DSIT’s relationship with HM Treasury, engaging on fiscal events such as Spending Reviews and Budgets, and ensuring value for money and compliance with government financial controls.
  

Person specification

We are looking for a strategic finance leader with excellent communication and interpersonal skills with a passion for on data and translating financial information into a story that stakeholders can engage with. You will enjoy working strategically, collaboratively, and able to deliver at pace. You will have experience of financial modelling and analysis, strong technical accounting skills and can demonstrate confidence in navigating ambiguity, influencing senior stakeholders, and delivering sustainable change across complex systems.

Essential Criteria

• Experience of strategic financial leadership and management within Civil Service, including working effectively with HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office, or at a similar scale and complexity.
• Proven success in driving improvements in financial reporting in uncertain organisational contexts.
• Excellent presentation and interpersonal skills, especially the ability to communicate complex financial information clearly and accurately.
• Strong leadership skills, capable of navigating ambiguity, complexity and motivating teams through change.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and influencing skills at senior levels.

Desirable Criteria

• Expertise in data-driven decision and improving or automating services to enhance user experiences as well as utilising AI tools to deliver them.
• Experience of large-scale organisational change.

Qualifications

Fully CCAB (or CIMA) qualified with up-to-date CPD.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology 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.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
• A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

To apply for this post, please complete the online application process no later than 23:55 on Sunday 25th January 2026. Which will include:

1. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained.
2. A Statement of Suitability (maximum 1000 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria in the person specification.

If you are shortlisted; you will be asked to take part in a Staff Engagement Exercise in advance of the final panel interview. This assessment will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, it is designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Full details of the assessment process will be provided to shortlisted candidates at the earliest opportunity.

For further information regarding the assessments please visit - https://scs-assessments.co.uk/ .

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 undergo a criminal record check.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 : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance dsitresourcing.GRS@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/contact-us/

Attachments

2026.01.06 DSIT DD Strategic Finance Jobshare Final Draft Candidate Pack.pptx Opens in new window (pdf, 2363kB)Deputy Director, Strategic Finance Jobshare - Accessibility Pack Opens in new window (docx, 372kB)JobShareGuide Opens in new window (docx, 43kB)