Director of Finance and Resources

Office of the Children's Commissioner

Westminster, London SW1, UK

Hybrid

Finance

Part time

£81,000 - £100,000 per year

Job summary

The Children’s Commissioner is looking to fill the role of Director of Finance and Resources. The role will be based in 64 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QP.

The role is part time (0.6 FTE) and may be suitable for hybrid working, with up to 1 day a week working from home. This is a voluntary non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work from home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working will be discussed with you prior to taking up your post.

Selection for appointment to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition.

We are looking for a wide variety of people to take on our roles, however we would particularly welcome applications from care leavers or individuals with experience of being ‘looked after’ by the state. We also actively encourage applicants from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds. We welcome applications from both inside and outside the Civil Service.

Job description

Purpose of the Job

The Director of Finance and Resources is central to the finance and corporate service functions of the Children’s Commissioner. You will be a driven and dynamic individual, with experience of strategic leadership, preferably in a public sector setting. You will have experience of leading finance, HR and recruitment, risk and assurance and wider Corporate Services.

You will lead a small team and work with others, including CCo staff and external service providers to ensure that the CCo makes the most of its small budget and fulfils its obligations as and employer and as a Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB).

Key responsibilities

Provide strategic financial and operational management expertise and sound financial control to all aspects of the CCo’s work.
Lead a small, high performing team that provides corporate services support.
Lead on finance, governance, risk management and business continuity, ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. This includes but is not limited to the Annual Report and Accounts, Internal Audit, the Risk and Control Framework and required policies.
Implement effective Human Resource strategies and procedures.
Develop and lead projects, in particular relating to operational system development and wider projects.
Work with the Children’s Commissioner and other directors to shape the strategic direction of the Office.

Person specification

Successful applicants will :

Be an experienced finance and operations professional with substantial experience at director/executive level.
Hold an accountancy qualification or have substantial experience in a similar role and demonstrable evidence of delivery and on-going professional development.
Be able to balance strategic and operational delivery within a small team.
Be a skilled and engaging leader able to inspire, motivate and develop capability to deliver an effective and efficient service, with a strong track record of developing people.
Be experienced in stakeholder management, with the ability to build and maintain successful relationships with colleagues, the Audit and Risk Committee, the Sponsor Department, the National Audit Office and other senior stakeholders.
Be a creative thinker who can use financial and wider performance analysis to drive excellence with limited resources.
Be committed to Children’s Rights and the safeguarding of children and young people.

Key Criteria

Essential

Excellent financial management, reporting and strategic skills and related experience (corporate services, business reporting, risk management), with a specific understanding and experience of public sector finance.(LEAD CRITERIA)
Substantial experience of Corporate Services delivery, balancing operational delivery with strategic improvement.
Highly developed oral and written communication skills, including producing public facing outputs.
The ability to manage and deliver multiple projects in a fast-moving organisation.
High levels of personal effectiveness in working as part of a team and contributing to a successful organisation.

Desirable

Expertise in Human Resources management and delivery.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Office of the Children's Commissioner 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.

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 27.97%. Benefits of the pension scheme - Civil Service Pension Scheme
An Employee Assistance Programme.
A comprehensive reward scheme.
Generous holiday allowance starting at 25 days plus bank holidays and one privilege day.
Flexible working options including full-time or part-time and hybrid working (amend as per role).
A range of family friendly policies.
Excellent learning and development opportunities.
A culture encouraging inclusivity and diversity. 14

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

Please upload your personal CV which will be anonymised by our Application Tracking System. Our CV element is short and allows an initial check of eligibility, so please put the main content of your evidence and skills in your Personal Statement.

Personal Statement

Please set out how you meet the essential criteria in no more than 500 words and upload this to our Applicant Tracking System. Ensure you tell us why you want the role and provide examples of your experience to evidence for how you meet each criteria, including transferable experience from any non-policy roles.

Sifting

Applications will be sifted against the essential criteria. The desirable criteria will be taken into account. If we receive a large number of applications, we will conduct an initial sift based on the lead criteria. The strongest candidates will be invited to interview to provide more information about their experience and skills.

Interviews

Candidates who are successful at the sifting stage will be invited for in person interviews
Interviews are expected to take place during the week of 27/04/26.
There may be a short task to prepare for the interview.
Due to the large number of applications we receive, we will only provide feedback to people who attend an interview.

Reasonable Adjustments

We value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage applications from everyone, especially those that are under-represented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning difficulties, chronic medical conditions or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy or autism.

Please contact us at occ.recruitment@childrenscommissioner.gov.uk to let us know what changes or help you might need to further on in the recruitment process.

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

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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.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.

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

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Contact point for applicants

Salary range

£81,000 - £100,000 per year