Deputy Director Finance Warhead

This is a key role within the Defence Nuclear Organisation, providing financial leadership to support the multi-billion-pound warhead portfolio, containing some of the most complex and critical programmes in government. You will lead a team of around 30 people to deliver a professional finance service, creating an inclusive, empowering culture where teams can thrive and develop.

You will be expected to influence and provide insight to strategic decision-making, and provide a high standard of financial management and planning: working closely with colleagues in Defence Nuclear Organisation, Atomic Weapons Establishment and other parts of Ministry Of Defence and the Nuclear Enterprise to embed a culture of successful delivery and value for money., These are some of the key responsibilities of the role:

• Lead a 30-strong team of finance professionals, including three Grade 6s and eight Grade 7s: developing the identify and sense of community across the team, and ensuring that finance is seen as a key enabler to the business. You will be expected to support people s careers, professional development and talent management.

• Lead on financial management of expenditure across the Warhead Group and Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO) operating costs (Top-Level Budget Plan), providing professional challenge and decision support on financial management, investment and efficiency.

• Drive financial performance across the Warhead Group; and, working collaboratively with Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) finance colleagues and others, oversee the multi-billion 10-year financial plan for warhead programmes and DNO operating costs, ensuring it meets policy and affordability requirements and delivers Best for Enterprise outcomes.

• Provide financial expertise, scrutiny and support for the warhead portfolio (which includes five Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) programmes), proactively ensuring they are robustly costed, financially deliverable and tightly managed.

• Create an environment that values performance, innovation, value for money, the use of data and analytics, compliance with financial control and appropriate stewardship of assets.

• Take on corporate and team responsibilities as appropriate for a leader in the Government Finance Function and the Senior Civil Service, working collaboratively with colleagues in other functions, such as HR and Commercial, and with the wider finance community in MOD.

• As a key member of the MOD finance function leadership team, representation and attendance at a variety of boards across DNO and Defence., + 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.

Andrew Sanderson will also be offering an online Q&A session on Friday 8th November between 14:00 – 14:30 to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.

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

This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

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.

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their experience and skills against the following essential criteria:

• Excellent leadership credentials with demonstrable evidence of building, motivating, empowering and continuously improving a high performing diverse team, often under pressure. You will also need to demonstrate how you have been able to drive an inclusive culture within your teams.

• Experience of delivering a robust and pragmatic approach to financial control and governance, with evidence of managing complex budgets (in particular, delivering large projects within a project environment).

• Senior Business Partnering experience, using sound judgement, evidence and knowledge to support strategic decision-making, and providing bespoke financial support and advice to meet an organisation s multifaceted objectives.

• A proven track record of using their knowledge and experience to create and contribute to a culture of innovation around challenging financial issues, using evidence-based strategies to evaluate the full range of options, impacts and solutions.

• Demonstrable experience of building and maintaining a strong and effective network of collaborative relationships with a range of key senior colleagues, especially at Board Level. You will also need to provide evidence on how you command the confidence and trust of Board-Level stakeholders across complex environments.

• Must hold the relevant Professional Qualification – Qualified with CCAB, CIMA or equivalent and experience in a senior Finance Business Partnering role.

Alongside your salary of £76,000, Ministry of Defence contributes £22,017 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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 employer contribution of 28.97%

• Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk