Principle Finance Business Partner

Job summary

Principle Finance Business Partner

£80,000 per annum

Bedford

Permanent

Hybrid Working

Want to use your finance expertise to influence strategic decisions and improve services for customers? As the Principle Finance Business Partner, you'll partner with senior leaders across our largest directorate, providing trusted insight, leading financial planning, and helping shape decisions that make a real impact.

Why This Role Matters

As Principle Finance Business Partner, you will be the lead finance contact for our Customer Directorate, partnering with senior leaders to provide strategic financial insight, challenge, and support.

Leading a small team, you'll drive forecasting, budgeting, and business planning activities, ensuring informed decision-making and effective management of financial risks and opportunities. You'll also play a key role in business case development, procurement activity, and shaping strategic initiatives.

This is a high-profile opportunity for a commercially minded finance professional who enjoys influencing decisions, building strong stakeholder relationships, and making a meaningful impact on customer outcomes.

Job description

What You’ll Be Doing

The Principle Finance Business Partner will report directly to the Lead Finance Business Partner and will be responsible for:

• Lead in providing business partnering support to the Customer directorate, ensuring financial implications are well understood and considered in decision-making processes.
• Provide commercial modelling support for Business Cases and act as the key finance contact for the design and evaluation of commissioning exercises.
• Challenge directorates to ensure multi-year forecasts and budgets are credible and achievable, with reforecasting conducted monthly.
• Manage and develop two direct reports to ensure high-quality business partner support is delivered consistently.
• Collaborate closely with the Financial Services Team to maintain robust financial controls and safeguard the business.
• Review monthly journals to ensure compliance with financial reporting standards.
• Foster a culture of finance excellence within the team and contribute to broader team objectives as required.

Person specification

What You’ll Bring

To be successful in this role, you’ll need:

• CCAB or CIMA qualification.
• Proven experience in providing professional finance business partnering services to senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to develop robust and credible forecasts and budgets.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Excellent analytical skills applicable to complex business contexts.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel; Power BI skills are preferable but not essential.

Benefits

• About Us
  
  

  MaPS is based in bright, modern offices in Bedford, and we’re here to help people across the UK feel more confident and informed about their money.

  Our values guide how we work together:

  • Caring – for colleagues and the communities we support
  • Connecting – building supportive, positive relationships
  • Transforming – creating impact that truly matters

  We’re proud to foster an inclusive, welcoming culture. Our colleague networks include LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, women’s health, men’s health and ethnicity groups — and we welcome applications from all backgrounds.

  What We Offer

  • 30 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays
  • Contributions matched 2 to 1 (employer contribution up to 10% of your salary)
  • Season ticket loan
  • Cycle to work scheme (up to £3,000)
  • Subsidised eye tests & flu jabs
  • Life assurance
  • EAP Assist & Life
  • Enhanced family and sick pay
  • 2 paid volunteering days
  • Recognition scheme
  • Retail discounts portal

  Flexible Working

  We believe work should fit around life. This Bedford‑based role offers genuine flexibility so you can balance work, family, and personal commitments. We come together for purposeful team collaboration to stay connected and drive great results.

  Career Development
  We love supporting internal growth and progression, while continuing to follow fair and open Civil Service recruitment practices.

  Important Information About Applying

  • Please apply only via official MaPS links - we can’t accept applications via email or unauthorised sites.
  • MaPS is unable to offer visa sponsorship.

  Reserve List: If you're successful at interview, we may place you on a reserve list for up to 6 months. If a similar role becomes available, you may be offered it without the need for another assessment.

  If you believe your application hasn’t followed the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles, you can contact resourcing@maps.org.uk. If unresolved, you may then contact the Civil Service Commission.

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

Our Recruitment Process

We keep things simple, fair, and transparent:

Step 1: CV Submission

Applications open: 02nd September I Closing date: 16th September 2026

• Please submit your most up-to-date CV outlining how you meet the essential criteria detailed in the job specification.

Step 2: Telephone Interview

Taking place between: 04th September 2026 – 18th September 2026

• Candidates who meet the initial criteria will be invited to a friendly and informal telephone interview with the Reed team. This is an opportunity to discuss your experience in more detail and learn more about the role.

Step 3: Final Stage Interview

Scheduled for: 29th September 2026 – 30th September 2026
(Dates subject to change)

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend a final interview via Microsoft Teams.

Interviews will last 1 hour and will be conducted by a panel of three.

The session will include a task, presentation and a range of competency‑based questions to assess your skills, behaviours, and alignment with the role.

Everything we do aligns with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

Job Reference: MaPS001305

Close Date: 16/09/2026

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) 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.

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 : Sabreena
• Email : MoneyAnd.Pensions@reed.com

Recruitment team

• Email : MoneyAnd.Pensions@reed.com