About the job

Job summary

HM Revenue and Customs is at the forefront of government transformation: as one of the largest departments, with a critical public purpose, we have a challenging portfolio of transformation to deliver over the next few years.​

​As part of this transformative journey, we are seeking an experienced and dynamic Group Finance and People Director for Change Delivery Group.  We are seeking an exceptional finance leader who can provide an effective financial and corporate steward function for the Group, assure programmes’ investment cases, and challenge programmes and their Directors on value for money and best use of available funding.  We will expect you to lead your own team but also matrix manage all finance professionals within the Group who are embedded in the change programmes.  Correspondingly, you will have the opportunity to shape and improve performance and accountability for outcomes across the entire Change Delivery Group.

If you are a finance professional ready to take on a challenging yet rewarding role, and you are passionate about making a tangible difference, we would love to hear from you. 
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Job description

This SCS1 role fulfils the role of Group Finance Director with responsibility to oversee and assure financial and workforce planning and reporting of programmes and directorates within the Group as well as the financial and benefits plans of the business cases of programmes within the Group.​

The team’s purpose goes beyond financial management: it aspires to provide a function that successfully supports and challenges the group to improve its performance and accountability. We do this by also driving the group strategy, purpose, identity and implementing business process improvement practices.​

We are a strong strategy, planning and performance function that brings together the expertise of finance, risk/assurance, business change and policy/strategy professionals, and requires excellent relationship skills from all.  It’s an open and inclusive function that brings together the best skills to support the group to deliver against its objective. ​

Our key purpose is to:  ​

• Articulate the strategy and purpose of the group so that we are helping the group to deliver against it and support how Change is delivered in HMRC ​
• Making sure at group level we are front-footed, focusing on what’s important not just urgent, what we could/should be doing not just what needs to be done  ​
• Lead and provide enabling corporate functions within Change Delivery Group by providing tailored and effective support around key functions (such as business change management, approvals, Group financial management, risks, governance, workforce). 

The main purpose of this post is to effectively support the directorates within Change Delivery Group by overseeing and assurance of all financial, workforce planning and reporting (totalling ca. 1100 FTE and ca. £430m annual budget).  Postholder will ensure that approval points, policies and procedures are followed, as well as overseeing and assuring financial and benefit plans (including benefit realisation plans) within the business cases of the Group’s programmes. ​

The postholder will thereby be the Finance Director for the Group, who in addition to managing their own team will also matrix manage finance teams embedded within programmes and ensuring that financial controls are applied and business cases are of a suitable standard.​

Other usual roles and responsibilities for a Finance Director of a Group, such as corporate management of the Group, are currently going through a wider organisational design review and may therefore form part of the responsibilities of this postholder going forward (with correspondingly resourced teams reporting to the postholder). In the interim, a close working relationship with the Deputy Director leading this area is required to understand the risks, governance and assurance picture across the Group and the corresponding links to Finance.​

The postholder will also lead the Group’s people strategy and associated People Group, focusing on improvements for the Group and driving action plans to address issues identified.

Person specification

We are seeking an experienced leader and manager with strong resource planning, budgeting, forecasting and benefit experience and a demonstrable track record of delivering results. We want to hear from candidates with both experience in, and a real passion for, supporting HMRC’s change programmes. We require someone who has the skills and experience to drive forward the change management agenda in HMRC, comfortable to operate in a matrixed way, building on the great work that has already been done.​

The successful applicant will need to demonstrate relevant experience and effective delivery of the following essential criteria:

• Recognised finance qualification – CCAB, CIMA or equivalent.​
• Proven financial leader with a strong track record in delivering and improving financial and resource planning, project costing, budgeting and forecasting, and benefits management at significant scale and complexity.​
• Excellent leadership skills, with expertise in building capability and engagement and improving performance across financial and wider professional teams, including through matrixed leadership. ​
• Demonstrated experience in delivering investment business cases and driving and improving the value for money of investment cases. ​
• Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills, demonstrated ability to nudge and improve finance and process governance and controls across an organisation.​
• Demonstrated ability of being the most senior financial adviser of an executive leader. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £75,000, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £20,250 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

To apply for this post, you will need to complete an online application by submitting the following:​

• A CV 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 Statement of Suitability (maximum of 2 pages) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the criteria in the person specification.​

Your CV and Statement of Suitability should reflect your most relevant and recent skills and experience in relation to the role. Therefore, we recommend that each document is no more than two A4 pages long. ​

By not submitting a CV and a Statement of Suitability will mean we only have limited information to assess your application against the person specification. Please ensure both documents contain your full name.

Shortlist​

An application pre-sift will be conducted by the SCS Recruitment Team followed by an in-depth review by the Vacancy Holder and Panel.​

The panel will assess and select applicants who demonstrate the best fit with the role by considering the evidence provided against the criteria set out in the Person Specification. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application. The closing date for applications is TBC and a shortlist decision is expected to be made by TBC. All candidates will be notified of the outcome shortly afterwards.​

All shortlisted candidates will be offered an opportunity to have an informal conversation with the business vacancy holder. This is not an assessment phase but is an opportunity for each candidate to gain greater insight into the context of the role. This is optional, but highly recommended.

Assessments:​

If shortlisted for interview, you will be asked to take part in a Staff Engagement Exercise (SEE) and an Individual Leadership Assessment (ILA). ​

Assessments don’t result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for further exploration at interview.​

Full details of the assessment process will be made available to candidates if shortlisted for interview.​

We will send you a copy of any report for any assessment that you may have undergone as part of the recruitment process after the recruitment process has been concluded (where applicable).​

Interview:​

You will be asked to attend an interview for a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence. ​

We will also ask you to prepare a 5-minute verbal presentation. Details will be issued in advance of your interview.​

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing TBC and will be held in person at 100 Parliament Street, London (full instructions will be issued prior to interview).​

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible once all interviews have concluded.

Use of Data​

As part of the recruitment process, we may share your data and assessment results internally with our SCS Talent team. ​

This will provide insight into how to support your development and wider talent management, should you be successful in your application. ​

If you do not want your data to be shared, please email Dale Robinson at scs.resourcing@hmrc.gov.uk 

Security Clearance

The successful candidate will be required to have or obtain BPSS level national security vetting clearance. CTC will be required for appointments at 100 Parliament Street only.  Appointment is conditional upon achieving the required level of security clearance. For more information on the vetting process please visit GOV.UK.
All Criminal Record Checks applications are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a 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. 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.