About the job

Job summary

The Finance Director, Defence Nuclear Organisation is a key leadership role within the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) and is central to the Chief Defence Nuclear’s senior leadership team. You will have significant delegated authority for DNO which also encompasses the two main arms-length bodies Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) & Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE). You will be a member of the Defence Nuclear Organisation’s Executive Committee, and other executive Boards supporting the Defence Nuclear Enterprise.

The Director is responsible for providing strategic financial advice to Chief Defence Nuclear in her roles as an additional accounting officer and Top-Level Budget Holder, as well as other senior MOD officials on all aspects relating to finance and planning across the DNO area. You will also be responsible for the quality of advice to the Chief Executive, SDA. This includes budget management of around £6.5 billion per annum and line management responsibility for c.340 people –, split across three locations (London, Bristol and Aldermaston).

This role offers a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance.

For further information about this Finance Director role, please watch our welcome message from Madelaine McTernan, Chief Defence Nuclear and Vacancy Holder by clicking here. 

Job description

The current responsibilities of the role include:

• Financial management policies and processes, governance, audit and assurance. The post holder will have personal delegated authority over financial investment decisions and propriety issues and provide professional leadership of the finance functions within DNO and SDA. They will provide professional challenge and decision support on financial management, investment and efficiency matters. As a consequence of the new nuclear Settlement, the post-holder has the delegated authority to approve significant investments in across the DNO area. The DNO finance function is some 90 strong, supported by two Deputy Directors. The SDA finance function is 35 strong, and works to the Chief Finance Officer, SDA, who reports to the post-holder and the Chief Executive. There is wider functional responsibility for all finance staff across the enterprise. 
• Driving financial performance and Value for Money across the enterprise through the construction of the forward financial programme; and, working collaboratively with others, overseeing the 10 year financial plan for the Defence Nuclear Organisation (including very significant capital investment projects), ensuring it meets Defence policy and affordability requirements and delivers ‘Best for Enterprise’ outcomes.This will require close working across the Enterprise, including with AWE and the Royal Navy.
• Optimising the delivery of finance outputs across the enterprise, exploiting systems & tools, streamlining process and governance, and improving finance capability cross the business to maximise effectiveness. Working with your finance senior leadership team you will be  responsible for overseeing the transition to a single finance function for both SDA and DNO.
• Oversight of the commercial function within the DNO, comprising of 30 posts and covering contracts to the value of around £1bn per annum – supporting the Commercial Director, SDA.
• Act as the Civilian Workforce Advisor, for the implementation of Defence HR policies within the Defence Nuclear Organisation civilian workforce (around 850 posts). Includes developing a new Pay and Reward Strategy for the Nuclear Enterprise and securing Ministerial and His Majesty’s Treasury agreement for this. This will be carried out in conjunction with the SDA HR Function and build on work already encapsulated in the SDA 28 HR Strategy.
• Responsible for a series of other corporate priorities within DNO to ensure that it is well run, including the business management, digital, the future accommodation strategy and the statement of annual assurance.

Person specification

• Exceptional leadership credentials with a proven track record of building, developing and continuously improving high performing, diverse and inclusive teams within a finance function. In addition, you will have significant experience of corporate leadership; working outside of your immediate team and operating in a wider context to support longer-term strategies that maximise opportunities and add value.
• A proven track record of using your knowledge and experience to create and contribute to a culture of innovation, risk management and long-term improvement, using evidence-based strategies to evaluate the full range of options, understand the impacts and get the right solution.
• A proven track record of maximising resource efficiency and driving value for money improvements whilst providing bespoke financial support to deliver a large, complex organisation’s strategic outcomes.
• Demonstrable experience of building and maintaining a strong and effective network of collaborative relationships with a range of key senior colleagues and an ability to engage and influence a range of internal and external stakeholders across a complex environment.
• Must hold or be willing to obtain the relevant Professional Qualification - Qualified accountant with CCAB, CIMA or equivalent and experience in a relevant senior financial management role including the planning and management of multi-billion-pound budgets.

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the advertisement listed for this role. This should be completed no later than 23:55 Sunday 18th February 2024 and will involve providing the two documents outlined below via the Civil Service Jobs portal:

• A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
• A Personal Statement(no more than 2 pages) explaining how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role. 

Both documents are weighted equally in their scoring, so it's important to consider this when uploading your application. Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.