About the job

Job summary

See the video produced for this vacancy here:

https://youtu.be/CiubQl6A5u0

The Director of Finance is the senior finance professional and adviser to the First Minister, Minister for Finance and Local Government, the Permanent Secretary and the Chief Operating Officer on matters relating to financial management, accounts, governance and grants. You will be a member of the Welsh Government Board, Executive Committee, Corporate Services Sub-committee and Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee providing strategic finance and governance leadership and advice at the highest levels.

Job description

As Head of the Finance Profession, you will be responsible for a range of expert and transactional services across the Welsh Government. As a member of the Finance Leadership Group you will have a key role in shaping and overseeing the finance function for the UK Civil Service. You will be responsible for a range of policy and functional areas of finance, accounting, governance and grants that underpin much of what we do. You will also lead the Corporate Shared Service Centre, which delivers HR and Finance activities across the organisation, and have line management responsibility for Internal Audit.

Person specification

See attached candidate pack for information.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £100,000, Welsh Government contributes £27,000 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

Candidates must be CCAB or CIMA qualified.

If shortlisted, you will take part in the following assessments:

Online  Psychometric Tests

These include a discussion with a psychologist via Microsoft Teams. You will receive a link to the online tests within 10 working days after the shortlisting meeting. You do not need to take these tests again if you have completed these tests in the last two years for a role at the same grade.

Staff / Stakeholder Engagement Exercise

This exercise gives you the opportunity to present your experience, ideas and views on effective leadership for this role. You will meet with a group of staff via Microsoft Teams who may be future team members, peers, colleagues or stakeholders

Interview and Scenario Exercise

Before your interview, the selection panel will receive feedback on your psychometric tests and staff & stakeholder engagement exercise. You will be given a scenario 30 minutes before your interview and will be asked to give a 5-minute verbal briefing. Interviews will be around 45 minutes and will consider how the skills and experience in your CV and personal statement meet the requirements of the role. The interview will be held in person at our Cathays Park office in Cardiff.

Informal Conversation

You will have an informal conversation with the Minister for Local Government and the Permanent Secretary via Microsoft Teams to further explore the professional and lived experience you would bring to this role.

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

Security

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

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.