Job Description

What you'll work on

As a Senior Financial Analyst, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the financial landscape of our dynamic council. Your expertise and insights will drive budget management and control for a significant portion of our department, while your guidance on a wide array of financial matters will enable officers to align their efforts with the council's overarching goals. In this strategic position, you will contribute substantially to our annual accounts and budgeting processes, ensuring robust financial controls and fostering a culture of accountability. As a respected mentor and leader, you will inspire junior staff to excel in their professional development and champion the highest standards of financial acumen throughout the department.

What you'll achieve

1. Make a positive contribution to the delivery of the service, this will include working flexibly and positively to achieve the objectives of the council.

2. Manage and lead staff to achieve high performance and effective operational delivery, including developing and improving staff capability.

3. Manage a customer focused service and the effective use of resources.

4. Ensure that the council’s overall vision, values and ethos are central to the requirements of the service.

5. Support effective working relationships and act as an ambassador and advocate with external organisations

6. Keep up to date with developments in service delivery and best practice to ensure the service performs effectively and to the highest standards.

7. To act as a professional role model to junior staff in the department and to senior managers across the council, keeping expert professional knowledge up to date at all times.

8. To mentor and support apprentices and lead professional training for the department within own area of responsibility.

9. To supervise day to day work of junior staff and to lead project teams within the department and across the council.

10. To be the senior professional financial advisor in respect of a significant (e.g. gross budgets in excess of £100m) area of the council's budget (for example, housing, schools, social care or other business areas of similar scale and complexity).

11. To carry out, independently, unit costing exercises and value for money reviews in order to improve financial performance and to play a significant role in the setting and monitoring of substantial budgets.

12. To be council's professional accounting lead for a major area of technical financial accounting complexity (e.g. capital finance, collection fund etc) and to co-ordinate complex corporate financial processes for the council.

13. To appoint and manage specialist financial advisers as may from time to time be necessary for particular projects.

14. To lead in statutory financial reporting within own area of responsibility, ensuring that annual accounts, government returns and similar statistical submissions are completed promptly and accurately, and that the financial implications of the information contained therein are understood and acted upon.

15. To draft financial implications for formal committee reports, up to and including for Cabinet and to brief senior managers and Directors accordingly.

16. To attend some committee meetings as may from time to time be required.

17. To advise on and maintain effective systems of financial control and to intervene as necessary, with a high degree of professional integrity and credibility, to prevent breaches of financial control.

18. To manage operational/transactional functions, for example payroll, pensions and HR management information

19. To advise managers on the implications of audit reports and of the actions to be taken in response.

20. To provide senior financial analysis to support commercial and contract activities, including advising on contract terms, commercial negotiations and contractors' financial position.

21. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and all employees are required to act in such a way that at all times safeguards the health and well-being of children and vulnerable adults.

22. Carry out duties with due regard to the council’s customer care, equal opportunities, information governance, data protection and health and safety policies and procedures.

23. Undertake any other duties commensurate with the general level of responsibility of this post.

Where you'll work

Please note this role is minimum 1 day a week at Brent Civic Centre.

A few things to note

• The rate for this role is £41.04 per hour
• The term for this role is initially 3 months

What we're looking for

Experience in local government specifically supporting Capital Projects is key

Skills you'll need to bring

Knowledge and Qualifications:

• CCAB Qualified Accountant with significant post qualification experience
• Evidence of significant relevant Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Experience:

• Experience of providing financial advice and leadership in a large and complex organisation, working with a high degree of professional independence and integrity.
• Experience of advising on managing all aspects of large and complex budgets, delivering significant improvements as a result.
• Experience of preparing accounting statements and statutory statistical returns.
• Experience of contracting for services, providing financial and commercial advice to inform procurement strategy and negotiations.

Skills and Abilities:

• Manage people, performance and budgets.
• Contribute to the longer term development of the service area.
• Ability to analyse, interpret and report upon large amounts of complex financial, accounting and output information and to analyse complex business processes.
• Excellent communication skills including the ability to explain complex financial issues to non financial managers, Directors and Members, adapting style to suit the audience and the issue.
• Excellent interpersonal, negotiating and influencing skills.
• Ability to analyse and interpret legislation and regulation, and to develop strategic policy responses accordingly.
• Strong leadership skills, capable of motivating and inspiring junior staff and building effective working relationships at senior levels across the organisation and with partners.
• Able to organise resources and plan work to meet individual, team and departmental objectives.

Equal Opportunities

Business Smart Solutions are a Recruitment Agency - We hire talented and passionate people from a variety of backgrounds because we want our global worker base to represent the wide diversity of our clients. If you’re excited about a role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every bullet point listed in the job description, we still encourage you to apply. If you're passionate about working for a role in local government and share our company values, we encourage you to apply.

BSS is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. BSS considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable UK law. If you need assistance or an accommodation made due to a disability, please let your recruiter know.

Job Types: Full-time, Temporary contract
Contract length: 3 months

Salary: £41.04 per hour

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Application question(s):

• Are you a CCAB Qualified Accountant with significant post qualification experience?
• Do you have evidence of continuing professional development CPD?
• How many years worth of Experience do you have in managing people, performance and budgets ?
• Are you able to analyse, interpret and report upon large amounts of complex financial, accounting and output information and to analyse complex business processes?

Experience:

• Local Government: 1 year (required)

Work Location: In person

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