Deputy Director Strategic Finance & Management Accounts

Job summary

Here at DESNZ we are delivering our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower, with clean electricity by 2030 and accelerating the UK’s journey to net zero. Our work is helping ensure clean energy for all, keep bills down and seize the opportunities to lead the world in new green industries.

DESNZ Finance is at the forefront of the Department’s work, as a key enabler of the Secretary of State’s policy objectives. As Deputy Director for Strategic Finance and Management Accounts, you will lead on securing the funding that the Department requires, and manage the overall Department budgets to enable strong delivery while living within the controls set.

This role has become vacant at an attractive time. The Department’s financial position is strong having secured an excellent outcome at Spending Review 2025, and having since completed multi-year business planning to allocate budgets. Spending Review 2027 is now on the horizon, and expected to commence at Autumn Budget 2026. This presents a major opportunity in this role, to build on the trajectory already set, and lead on delivering great Spending Review outcomes for the Department. Your ability to negotiate effectively with HM Treasury, as well as manage senior relationships within the Department, will be vital to this.

You will also have the twin responsibility of managing the Department’s in year financial position, including Departmental Expenditure Limits in excess of £10bn. You will ensure that the Department’s funding is aligned to its objectives, by operating strategically, robustly and with agility. You will enable strong outcomes across the Department, whilst ensuring we live within our control totals.

As a member of my Senior Leadership Team, you will also play a broader role in the leadership of our Directorate. You will join us in championing a diverse and inclusive team that continually strives to improve.

Job description

Responsibilities

• Lead DESNZ’s strategic financial engagement with HMT, building constructive and effective relationships that support funding, approvals and decision making. This includes leading our contribution to spending reviews, budgets, and other fiscal events.
• Lead the DESNZ’s approach to business planning and financial planning, ensuring budgets are aligned to ministerial priorities and the wider fiscal context.
• Provide strategic advice to the leadership team and ministers on financial position, affordability, trade-offs and funding options.
• Ensure robust in-year budget management, estimates, cash forecasting and departmental-level reporting.
• Strengthen the department’s use of financial systems, data and insight to support effective planning and decision-making.
• Ensure your diverse team is engaged, motivated and delivering at its best, with a commitment to continuous improvement.
• Play a full role in the Finance Directorate’s Senior Leadership Team and wider Government Finance Function. This will include providing duty cover for emergencies as part of a rota.

Person specification

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

Essential

• Ability to set and implement a strategy for making optimum use of resources.
• Building strong collaborative relationships at senior levels which deliver good outcomes even when objectives may be in conflict (e.g. negotiating to secure funding or manage cuts).
• Outstanding ability to communicate (orally and written) a complex financial picture with clarity and accuracy to the most senior decision-makers, and building this capability in the department.
• Ability to be on top of the financial detail, e.g. that the numbers are always right, ensure that complex budgeting / financial rules imposed by HMT are complied with.
• Ability to develop and lead a diverse and high-performing team, building professional capability to deliver results both in the short and long term.
• High level of resilience, managing ambiguity and challenge whilst working at pace and under pressure.

Desirable

• A full accountancy qualification (CCAB, CIMA or equivalent) is desirable, though part-qualified applicants and/or those with substantial experience in public spending control (e.g. in HMT) will also be considered if committed to qualification.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero 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.

Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service. It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead. You’ll benefit from a wide range of training and development opportunities, regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.

This includes

25 days annual leave on entry, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service. This is in addition to 8 public holidays and one days leave for the King's birthday;

A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension; where your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken; and where your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire;

Flexible working patterns including part-time or term-time working and access to Flexible Working Schemes allowing you to vary your working day as long as you work your total hours;

Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers;

Interest-free loans allowing you to spread the cost of an annual travel season ticket or a new bicycle;

Occupational sick pay.

Working Arrangements

This role is available for full-time or job share. However, any specific arrangements should be discussed with the vacancy holder. Some travel around the UK may be required.

The Department operates a discretionary Hybrid Working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time. Senior Civil Servant (SCS) staff are expected to aim for closer to 60% of the time at an office or non-home based location over the accounting period.

Pension

Your pension is a valuable part of your total reward package where the employer makes a significant contribution to the cost of your pension.

Your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken. This means, if you pay tax, your take-home pay will not be reduced by the full amount of your contribution; and your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire.

For more information, visit www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk

Leave Allowance

Full time new entrants to the Civil Service and those Civil Servants on

modernised terms and conditions will be entitled to 25 days leave increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service.

In addition to this you are entitled to 8 public/bank holidays.The allowance is pro-rated for part-time staff.

With competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave we also recognise the importance of a good work-life balance and offer flexible working and a family friendly approach to work.

Civil Servants taking up appointment on promotion will adopt the modernised Civil Service terms and conditions which came in to effect from 1 July 2013. Existing Civil Servants appointed on level transfer will retain their existing terms and conditions.

Training and Development

The Department offers engaging jobs in work that really matters;

jobs which have a direct impact on the quality of public services. Roles can offer great job satisfaction and there are many opportunities to develop and progress both within the Department and across the wider Civil Service.

We are committed to investing in our staff and offer a range of work based training and qualifications, coaching and mentoring opportunities and a guaranteed five days of learning a year.

Other Benefits

Any move to DESNZ from another employer will mean you can no

longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may, however, be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare.

Determine your eligibility at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Interest free season ticket and bicycle loans may be available.

Some sites also offer onsite facilities including fitness centres and staff canteens.

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

The Hiring Manager will be holding a Q&A session on Friday 12th June from 9am. If you would like to book a slot to discuss the role in more detail, please contact martin.gaunt@energysecurity.gov.uk by 10th June for his office to arrange this.

How to apply

To apply for this post please follow the instructions on the CS Jobs website by no later than 23:55, Sunday 21st June 2026 . As part of the application process you are asked to complete the following:

1. A CV setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role, relevant achievements in recent posts, together with reasons for any gaps within the last two years.

2. A Statement of Suitability (no more than 1000 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. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to undertake an assessment as part of this recruitment prior to a final interview panel:

• A staff engagement exercise: a structured exercise which involves shortlisted candidates facilitating a discussion with a selection of staff from the Department on a given topic.

These assessments will not result in a “pass” or “fail” decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

4. Final Interview

Indicative Timeline

Please note that these dates are only indicative at this stage and could be subject to change. If you are unable to meet these timeframes, please let us know by contacting scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Please ensure you quote the job title and reference number in your email.

Interviews will be held virtually. Candidates are asked to note the timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process. The anticipated timetable is as follows:

Q&A Session with Hiring Manager - 09:00 Friday 12th June 2026

Advert Closing Date – 23:55 Sunday 21st June 2026

Shortlist Announcement – Tuesday 30th June 2026

Assessments – Tuesday 6th July 2026

Interviews – w/c 13/07/26

Further Information

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DESNZ Candidate Guidance. A DESNZ Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available.

We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Prison Leavers Scheme

We welcome applications from prison leavers. However, candidates are ineligible if they are disqualified from being a company director.

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.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).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 : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

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

Further information

Civil Service Commission Selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.
In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles, our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of appointment on the basis of merit by fair and open competition. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance you should contact; scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk and more information can be found at www.civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

Attachments

2026.05.28 Deputy Director Strategic Finance Management Accounts Draft CIP (5) Opens in new window (pdf, 1184kB)DESNZ - Deputy Director Strategic Finance & Management Accounts Accessibility Pack (1) Opens in new window (docx, 21kB)