Senior Finance Business Partner

Job summary

The Finance Business Partnering team provides support to all operational and corporate teams across the SFO in managing their budgets, forecasts and expenditure, and ensuring that that they have the right financial and management information and support to enable them to manage their resources effectively.

As a Senior Finance Business Partner, you will provide first-line strategic support to senior leaders operating in very challenging operational delivery areas. To succeed you will need to be a first-class finance

business partner who is comfortable operating in a complex, demanding and changing environment. You will need to work collaboratively with colleagues across the function to ensure alignment of financial plans with our overall financial strategy, and will need to work effectively with the team to provide high quality, data-driven insight and intelligence.

As a key member of the Finance Function Senior Leadership Team, you will also play an essential role in leading and building our future Finance Function, supporting the development of colleagues, role modelling effective leadership behaviours, ensuring we live our values and helping to embed the new finance operating model.

You will be prepared to gain a thorough understanding of the financial and management information systems and the business areas for which you have responsibility and ensure that the finance function protects and adds value, matching resources to priorities and supporting the senior management team in the delivery of their duties.

This role exposes you to a broad range of duties, working at pace to support business areas and inform strategic and operational decisions. You will need to be skilled at listening, interpreting, influencing, negotiating, inspiring and challenging, which are all vital to the role.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. To be eligible you must meet the following residency requirements dependent of the level of security vetting required:

• SC: 5 years residency in the United Kingdom preceding this application.
• DV: 10 years residency in the United Kingdom preceding this application.

Job description

As a Senior Finance Business Partner you will be responsible for:

• Management of the Business Partnering team and the activity of this team to ensue provision of an effective Business Partnering service to budget holders.
• Ensuring all areas are provided with strategic, sound and challenging advice on their plans, using knowledge and data-led insight to ensure value for money outcomes are delivered with a sound long term strategy.
• Providing data-led and insight driven business partnering, working with the business to improve its understanding of its cost drivers to drive effective use of resources and help the different areas to realise any efficiencies from their budgets.
• Taking the lead on implementing the Government Finance Function’s standards for Excellence in Finance Business Partnering in your area, working across the function to raise the quality of services in all parts of finance, developing capability and continually developing knowledge based on best practice.
• Support the Head of Finance with the annual budget setting exercise and related HM Treasury reporting requirements.

For more information about the role and for a full list of key responsibilities, please see attached Job Pack.

Person specification

See above and attached Job Pack.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £57,602, Serious Fraud Office contributes £16,687 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Option to join the Civil Service pension scheme. For further details, click here http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/pensions

Generous annual leave provision of 25 days which increases to 30 days after five years’ service plus an additional day in recognition of the King’s Birthday and the option to buy or sell up to five days’ leave per year. Different terms may apply if you are already a Civil Servant.

Discretionary performance-related bonus scheme.

Interest-free season travel ticket, bicycle loan and cycle to work scheme.

Access to the Rental Deposit Salary Advance Scheme which assists employees in meeting the costs of deposits for privately rented homes.

Opportunities for learning and development.

Flexible working arrangements and family-friendly policies.

Voucher for eye care and discounted spectacles.

Access to a range of discounts through membership of the Civil Service Sports and Social Club, CSSC Sports and Leisure. http://www.cssc.co.uk/

Maternity and paternity leave provision over and above the statutory entitlements.

Access to My CPS Rewards Gateway. My CPS Rewards offers staff a range of rewards and savings including:

• Discounts with high street retailers
• Savings on grocery shopping at a range of supermarkets
• Special salary sacrifice and recognition schemes
• Reloadable gift cards and e-cards
• Instant vouchers

Any move to the Serious Fraud Office 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/

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.

Application stage

As part of the application process you will be required to provide:

• A personal statement of no more than 500 words that explains how your skills and experience meet each of the essential and desirable experience criteria as listed in the job pack.

Please note, desirable experience will only be taken into account if there is a large volume of applications and there is a need for further shortlisting for interview.

• A supporting CV outlining your job history and qualifications, including how you meet the essential technical criteria below:
  • Fully qualified CCAB (or CIMA) accountant or similar

It will not be possible to provide feedback to applicants who are unsuccessful at the application stage.

Interview stage

Behaviours and experience criteria as outlined in the job pack will be tested at the interview and assessment stage.

Candidates invited to interview will also be required to deliver a presentation.

Full details of the interview process will be made available to shortlisted candidates in the invite to interview.

Sift to take place from 4 February 2026.

Interviews are expected to take place w/c 23 February 2026.

All dates are indicative and subject to change.

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

Security

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

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 : People and Culture
• Email : People@sfo.gov.uk
• Telephone : 02073628100

Recruitment team

• Email : People@sfo.gov.uk

Further information

For external competitions there is no appeal against the selection decision. However, individuals have a right to appeal if they feel that the principle of appointment on merit through fair and open competition and the Civil Service Commissioners’ recruitment principles have not been met. Individuals who want to appeal should do this by setting out their grounds for appeal in an email for the attention of Head of People to People@sfo.gov.uk. If, after an internal appeal, you still believe that the Civil Service Commissioners’ Principles have not been met, then you can contact the Commission directly: Complaints should be sent in writing to: Civil Service Commission, Room G08 ,1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ. Email info@csc.gov.uk

Attachments

Job Pack - Senior Finance Business Partner Opens in new window (pdf, 241kB)