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About us.

North Somerset Council is committed to providing high-quality services to our community. We want to create a fair, green, and more inclusive environment for all our residents. Join us and contribute to making a positive impact on our community.

About the opportunity.

Are you ready to take the next step in your finance career?

We have two exciting opportunities to join North Somerset Council’s Finance Service as either a Service Accountant or Capital Accountant. These permanent, career-graded roles offer progression from Level 7 to Level 9, depending on qualifications, experience and professional development.

The job descriptions and career grade specifications for both roles are attached.

These roles are ideal for experienced local government finance professionals, or newly qualified accountants with strong finance experience, who want to broaden their skills, influence decision-making and support high-quality public services.

You will join a supportive and ambitious finance team that works closely with services across the council, providing financial advice, challenge, monitoring, forecasting and reporting. Whether your interest is service finance, capital finance, or both, this is an opportunity to develop your career while helping the council make informed financial decisions for residents and communities.

As part of your application, please tell us whether you wish to be considered for the Service Accountant role, the Capital Accountant role, or both roles. We may consider interviewing candidates for both vacancies where this matches their skills, experience and career interests.

About the roles.

Capital Accountant.

This role will support the Finance Business Partner Capital and the wider Capital Finance team, with a focus on capital programme monitoring, financial governance, forecasting, funding and statutory accounts support.

The role offers a strong mix of business partnering and technical finance, including working with project managers, service managers and finance colleagues to support the council’s capital programme. It will suit someone who enjoys detailed financial work but also wants to provide advice, challenge and insight to support delivery.

As Capital Accountant, you will support capital programme monitoring and wider corporate finance activity, giving you exposure to a broad and interesting range of local government finance work.

Service Accountant (CSD & H&SC)

This role will support Corporate Services and Healthy & Sustainable Communities, providing business partnering support, financial advice and constructive challenge to service managers and budget holders.

You will help services understand their financial position, manage risks, improve forecasting and make informed decisions. The role includes budget monitoring, forecasting, final accounts, medium-term financial planning, financial reporting and support for savings and investment proposals.

This is a varied role for someone who enjoys working with people, building relationships and using financial information to support better decision-making.

What you will be doing.

Depending on the role, you will:

• Provide financial advice, support and challenge to budget holders, service managers, project managers and senior finance colleagues;
• Support budget monitoring, forecasting, reporting and final accounts;
• Help managers understand financial performance, risks and future financial implications;
• Prepare financial information, working papers, reports, returns and grant claims;
• Use financial and non-financial data to explain trends, variances and service pressures;
• Support strong financial governance, compliance and best practice;
• Contribute to improvements in forecasting, reporting, systems and processes;
• Work collaboratively across the finance service and supported service areas.

About you.

You may already be working in local government finance, or you may be a finance professional who has started your accountancy journey and is ready for the next step. What matters most is that you are motivated, curious, organised and keen to make a positive difference through the work you do.

We are looking for people who enjoy working with others, building strong relationships and using financial information to support good decisions. You will be confident working with numbers, able to explain financial information clearly, and willing to provide constructive challenge in a positive and professional way.

You do not need to know everything from day one. We are looking for people with the right attitude, a strong work ethic and the ambition to keep developing as part of a professional and supportive finance team.

You will bring:

• Experience of working in a finance environment, ideally within local government;
• A good understanding of budget monitoring, forecasting, reporting or final accounts processes;
• Confidence in working with managers, budget holders, project leads or other stakeholders;
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail;
• The ability to communicate clearly with finance and non-finance colleagues;
• A positive, proactive approach to improvement, change and problem-solving;
• The ability to manage deadlines and prioritise work effectively in a hybrid working environment.

We welcome applications from candidates at different stages of their professional journey. This may include AAT-qualified, part-qualified, newly qualified or fully qualified accountants, depending on experience and the level applied for.

Why join us?

This is a fantastic opportunity to grow your finance career as part of a positive, professional and ambitious team.

Our Finance Service has a strong culture of support, collaboration and high standards. We work hard, care about the quality of what we do, and take pride in helping services make informed decisions that support residents and communities across North Somerset.

You will be joining a team with a great work ethic and a genuine commitment to developing people. We want colleagues to feel supported, trusted and encouraged to build their skills, take on new challenges and progress their careers.

These roles offer:

• Clear career progression through a Level 7 to Level 9 structure;
• The chance to build both technical finance and business partnering skills;
• Varied and meaningful work across service finance, capital finance and corporate finance;
• Support from experienced finance professionals;
• Exposure to budget monitoring, forecasting, financial planning, final accounts, governance and reporting;
• The opportunity to provide advice and challenge that improves financial decision-making;
• Flexible working as part of a modern, supportive and connected team;
• The chance to contribute to public services that make a real difference to local people.

If you are ambitious, committed and ready to continue developing your finance career, we would like to hear from you.

At North Somerset Council, we are committed to creating an open, fairer and greener North Somerset. Our values are to act with integrity, respect each other, innovate, care and collaborate.

Work style.

These roles are classed as Mobile / Field Worker roles. You can expect to work mainly from home, with around one to two days per month in the office at Weston-super-Mare, as well as attending meetings or focused work sessions where required. During induction, more office time may be helpful to support learning and development.

What we offer.

We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment, including:

• Competitive salary and benefits;
• Flexible working arrangements;
• Local Government Pension Scheme;
• Professional development and learning opportunities;
• 27 days annual leave, rising to 32 days after five years’ service;
• Option to purchase additional annual leave;
• Wellbeing support;
• Inclusive staff groups;
• Salary sacrifice, Cycle to Work, and Electric Vehicle schemes.

Further details of our rewards package can be found in our Benefits booklet.

How to apply.

If you are interested in these opportunities, please submit your application by 11.59pm on the closing date.

As part of your application, please tell us whether you wish to be considered for:

• The Service Accountant role;
• The Capital Accountant role; or
• Both roles.

Please also explain how your skills, experience and qualifications meet the requirements of the role or roles you are applying for.

Contact information.

For an informal discussion, please contact:

Capital Accountant.
Lisa Smith, Finance Business Partner - Capital
lisa.smith@n-somerset.gov.uk

Service Accountant (CSD & H&SC)
Mark Anderson, Finance Business Partner - Corporate
mark.anderson@n-somerset.gov.uk

Magdeline Price, Senior / Principal Accountant
magdeline.price@n-somerset.gov.uk

Important information.

North Somerset Council is a Disability Confident Leader and guarantees to interview disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

At North Somerset Council, we want all employees to feel valued and appreciated. We aim to ensure equality of opportunity and prevent discrimination irrespective of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or belief, race, age, disability, including neurodiversity, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity.

We strive to create a workplace that reflects the communities we serve and where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Please note: we are currently only able to accept applications from candidates who have full permission to work in the UK, and we are unable to provide sponsorship for this role.

Please be aware that we will be reviewing the applications we receive on a daily basis, and we reserve the right to close the advert early if suitable candidates are identified.

Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we regret that we are unable to respond to every applicant individually.

If you do not hear from us within 4 weeks of the application closing date, please assume that your application has not been successful on this occasion.

We appreciate your interest in joining North Somerset Council and thank you for taking the time to apply.