Payments Team Leader

Job summary

Do you have experience in Operational Finance and are you ready to lead a team delivering a high quality service?

This is a pivotal leadership role within the Finance Shared Services Division (FSSD), supporting the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and three of its Arm’s Length Bodies: the Planning Inspectorate, the Valuation Tribunal Service, and the Regulator for Social Housing. FSSD delivers end-to-end finance transaction processing and support for approximately 2,500 users. The role will suit someone who is a self-starter, who can work at pace and who has a continuous improvement mindset. As Team Leader, you will drive the delivery of Accounts Payable (AP) and Accounts Receivable (AR) services, ensuring operational excellence in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

Why Join Us?
This is an exciting time to join Finance Operations in government, with significant change and investment underway through the Government Shared Services programme. You will play a key role in shaping and embedding new processes and technologies, driving continuous improvement, and delivering high-quality services that support the department’s mission. As part of our commitment to your development, once you have successfully completed your probationary period, we will support you in your journey to becoming a qualified finance professional.

Job description

• Act as the subject matter expert for AP and AR, providing guidance and oversight to the wider team.
• Manage all aspects of financial transactional services, including invoice processing, payment file creation, bank statement uploads, receipt allocation, and cash forecasting returns to HMT.
• Monitor daily cash flow and bank balances, ensuring timely processing of all payments and receipts. Ensure timely and accurate reconciliations of AP and AR ledgers.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives, embedding process enhancements, automation, and strong controls
• Develop and maintain high-quality standard operating procedures for all AP and AR activities, ensuring they are current and well-understood by the team.
• Prioritise team workload to meet all KPIs and service level agreements.
• Provide timely and accurate information to stakeholders, including year-end reporting and audit requirements and supporting audit queries.
• Support and deputise for the Finance Operations Manager or Head of Finance Operations as needed.

Person specification

• AAT Level 3 qualification or equivalent, or demonstrable relevant finance experience.
• Proven experience in finance operations, including accounts payable or receivable, with a strong understanding of financial and audit processes, financial controls, and data analysis.
• Experience and proficiency in use of finance ERP, either SAP (preferably S/4HANA) or other comparable large ERP platforms.
• Strong organisational skills, with a structured approach, attention to detail, and the ability to prioritise and deliver high-quality outcomes under pressure.
• IT literacy, including solid working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Teams, Excel, PowerPoint) and a willingness to learn and apply new AI skills.
• Flexible and adaptable, with the ability to multi task and be able to respond to changing priorities and take on a variety of tasks as needed.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build and maintain positive relationships across the finance team both in person and remotely.
• Target-driven and decisive, with a track record of meeting deadlines and achieving objectives.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,801, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £10,081 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

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

Application and Selection
The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Ability , Experience, Technical

Please ensure your CV does not contain any personally identifiable information.

Note: We do not consider direct CV applications. All applications must be submitted via the provided application link.

Important: Your CV and Cover Letter must be merged into a single document before uploading.

Stage 1: Sift (CV & Cover Letter)

Your covering letter should set out:

• Why you are interested in the role

• How you meet the essential skills and experience criteria listed in the Job Description

Please keep to a maximum of 1000 words

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.

If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.

If we receive many applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

Stage 2: Interview

• Experience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.

• Ability: Candidates will be expected to complete a maths test on the day of their interview.
• Technical: Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.

Candidates will be asked to prepare a 5-minute presentation, further details will be provided on invitation to interview.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 16th February 2026.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 9th March 2026. Interviews will be held face-to-face at your chosen office location. This could be subject to change.

How We Recruit

Find out more about our recruitment processes here.

• Applying

• Sifting

• Interview

• Interview Results & Feedback

• Reserve List

• Near Miss

• Civil Service Grades

• We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer

• Reasonable Adjustments

How to Apply

Find out everything you need to know before applying here.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

• Security Clearance Requirements

• Civil Service Nationality Requirements

• Right to Work

• Artificial Intelligence

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Fixed Term Contracts

• Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register

• Appeals and Complaints

• Conflict of Interest

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office: + SC

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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

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 : Stephanie Lockhart
• Email : Stephanie.lockhart@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Further information

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk

Attachments

1a. MHCLG Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 834kB)1b. Candidate Guidance Opens in new window (pdf, 355kB)1c. Success Profiles Candidate information Opens in new window (pdf, 936kB)Darlington Economic Campus Career Pathways Opens in new window (pdf, 452kB)