About the job

Job summary

Transport Scotland is the national transport agency for Scotland and is accountable to Parliament and the public through Scottish Ministers, with a budget of around £3.9 billion per year. Transport is a vital feature of the Scottish Government's focus on increasing sustainable economic growth, and transport investments and policies have major impacts on the economy, people, and the environment.  For more information visit http://www.transport.gov.scot/. This vacancy is for a C2 Head of Finance Business Partnering and Commercial Finance. This role sits within Transport Scotland’s Finance and Corporate Services (FCS) Directorate, which is one of 9 directorates within the agency. FCS consists of three distinct functions – Corporate Services, Transport Scotland Finance and Transport Portfolio Finance.

Reporting into the Head of Finance, you will lead one of the two Finance Business Partnering Teams. The team consists of approximately 6 members of staff and delivers key finance business partnering and management accounting to the Transport Scotland Directorates who are responsible for our sponsored and arm’s length bodies. The team develops awareness of drivers of financial performance to date, and accurate forecasting and outturn reporting and provides professional financial advice to support achievement of objectives within available resources.

This is a challenging, energising and fast-paced role with oversight of a large and complex budget. This is a chance to play a key role in an organisation that is essential to Scotland and the Scottish people, with a wide and high profile remit. This role is key support for the Head of Finance, Director of Finance and Corporate Services, other Transport Scotland Directors and Senior Managers in our supported arm’s length bodies providing high quality advice with an opportunity to deputise on a regular basis, as well as regular access to Cabinet Secretaries, Ministers and senior managers across Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government.  

A suitable candidate will bring experience from a strong background and knowledge of commercial finance in either the public or private sector, as well as a proven track record of delivering results in financial management and excellent leadership and people management skills.

Job description

• Provide effective leadership, oversight and strategic and operational support to one of two Finance Business Partnering Teams to provide management accounting support, financial and commercial advice and guidance to other Transport Scotland Directorates.
• Work with colleagues across the agency to develop financial awareness and to provide advice to support the achievement of objectives within available resources, bringing constructive challenge to ensure robust decision-making.
• Bring extensive knowledge of commercial finance to assist Transport Scotland Directors with high profile financial and contractual negotiations and transactions.
• Robustly assess projections of future expenditure and ensure regular updates to financial plans to support corporate and Scottish Government budgeting, risk management and long-term financial planning.
• Support the  Transport Portfolio Finance team, stakeholders and Ministers by engaging in the budget setting process, contributing to the development of applicable documents and advice for Transport Scotland.
• Deputise for the Head of Finance or Director of Finance and Corporate Services as appropriate in matters relating to finance business partnering and management accounting. 

Person specification

The successful candidate must be fully CCAB qualified with up-to-date CPD.

 

Essential Criteria

1. Strong commercial finance experience, with the ability to provide high quality advice to Senior Civil Servants and to negotiate with stakeholders.
2. Highly effective leadership, communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence, negotiate and collaborate effectively with a range of staff and stakeholders.
3. Strong background in finance business partnering or management accounting, with the ability to communicate and explain complex financial concepts to non-accountants. 
4. The ability to think and act strategically and make links across policy and organisational boundaries to achieve positive outcomes. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £72,310, Scottish Government contributes £19,523 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

Additional Information
To apply please fully complete the application and submit evidence based examples to demonstrate your knowledge/skills (300 words). Remember, your answers should be clear, concise and reflect what actions you undertook. You may want to use the STAR(R) approach to respond to each criterion.

Important Information regarding Interviews
Interviews  may be conducted in a virtual/remote setting. All applicants must ensure that they have a suitable space to complete the virtual interview via MS Teams and ensure that Wi-Fi/Broadband capacity will be sufficient to carry both audio and video feeds to undertake the interview.

For information on this post please contact Hiring Manager, Mary Fitzgerald by email at mary.fitzgerald@transport.gov.scot

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.