Assistant Chief Finance Officer in Bangor

We are looking for an enthusiastic, motivated individual to join the Mental Health & Learning Disabilities finance team as Assistant Chief Finance Officer. You will work closely with our clinical and operational teams, helping to ensure our services maximise their value for money. This is a Pan North Wales Service so remote/hybrid working is available with the option to be office based in either Wrexham or Bangor. The successful post holder must be a qualified member of CCAB/CIMA and have relevant post qualification experience. The role requires someone with excellent analytical, communication and interpersonal skills with a strong commitment to value and patient care. This is a great opportunity for those looking at furthering their finance career, as well as gaining a wider understanding and experience of the management of NHS services. The ability to speak Welsh is desirable; Welsh and/or English speakers are equally welcome to apply.

Main Duties of the Job

This post covers a specific Delegated Management Budget (Area, Hospital or Division with a combined total budget of at least £100 million). Hence this role requires a qualified accountant with significant post qualification experience in order to deliver the role. The main focus of this role is on ensuring the financial sustainability of the relevant Division supporting and driving the identification, management and delivery of Savings plans.

• Lead responsibility for the management and provision of professional financial support, advice and information to the relevant Division / Executive Department to enable them to effectively and proactively manage their respective budgets and finances to ensure the achievement of financial targets and the HB’s statutory financial duties.
• Ensure that the Division’s financial activities and systems are in line with corporate policies and procedures and meet the highest standards of stewardship and probity to comply with corporate governance requirements.

Detailed Job Description and Main Responsibilities

• Manage the provision of professional financial advice, support and information for the activities of the Division, which is in line with the HB’s strategy.
• To develop detailed financial projections, option appraisals and forward plans to enable potential issues to be anticipated and resolved, in order to achieve the Division’s financial targets and the HB’s statutory financial duties.
• Communicate and interpret complex, sophisticated, technical and often contentious financial and non-financial information in an easily understood manner with the Divisional Directors and Senior Management Team, Clinical Manager and Directors, Divisional Managers, and other managers with regard to resource assumptions, efficient use of resources and opportunities for cost reduction, through a process of negotiation, influence and persuasion.
• Develop and implement a programme of Cost Reduction schemes to ensure the achievement of Division and Corporate financial targets, contributing effectively to the planning and implementation of the HB’s Operational Plan.
• Develop and extensively monitor budget performance of all divisions and departments across the relevant Division / Area.
• Prepare and present monthly financial performance reports to Division / Area Management Team, Clinical Directors and Finance Director, identifying key risks, pressures and opportunities, as well as financial forecasts and actions required to ensure financial viability is maintained.
• Provide advice on break-even and budget plans for Division / Area ensuring that information and advice is given to enable services to be run efficiently and effectively, facilitating the optimum application of financial resources to the provision of high quality health care.
• To support delegated budget holders within the Division / Area by providing financial training in a manner that is easily understood by non-finance professionals, to enhance financial awareness and understanding.
• Prepare regular reports on the current and forecast financial position and performance of the Division / Area for External Stakeholders (WAG Monitoring Returns), Health Board independent members, Board of Directors and Executive Management Team.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Essential criteria: Qualified member of CCAB institute, Evidence of CPD.
• Desirable criteria: Advanced ECDL qualified.

Experience

• Essential criteria: Experience of senior finance position in large finance organisation, Wide range of experience in the finance function, particularly within the areas of Management Accounting, Cases, conducting service reviews, Sustainability and Reporting, In depth knowledge of financial and accounting procedures and financial aspects of NHS Legislation and policy, Extensive experience of data manipulation, investigation and analysis, Track record of dealing with highly complicated situations and the delivery of challenging corporate objectives, Experience of working within a highly complex and sensitive organisation, Evidence of successfully influencing senior clinicians and other professionals and working with a multi-disciplinary team, Experience of Managing Staff.
• Desirable criteria: Experience of working in the NHS at a senior level, Experience of preparing Business Cases, conducting service reviews and benchmarking in a large organisation.

Skills

• Essential criteria: Ability to analyse and communicate highly complex information effectively at all levels within the organisation and also to external bodies, Excellent and highly developed analytical, interpretational and comparative skills capable of dealing with complex and sensitive information, Ability to communicate effectively in writing, through numeric and statistical presentation, and verbally, Excellent IT skills and knowledge, including advanced spreadsheet and database designing skills, Demonstrable ability to work on multiple complex tasks simultaneously and produce high quality work within tight deadlines and within resource constraints, Ability to manage and develop staff.
• Desirable criteria: Ability to communicate effectively in Welsh + English, Flexible and open approach to the service, Demonstrable project management skills including work planning, organisation and prioritisation.

Knowledge

• Essential Criteria: Expert knowledge and understanding of financial management systems and performance analysis tools, Detailed knowledge of a wide range of areas in the finance function, Professional knowledge and understanding of accounting and governance policies and procedures.
• Desirable criteria: Knowledge and understanding of Financial Costing Systems, Knowledge and understanding of the PBr system and framework.

Personal Qualities

• Essential Criteria: Professional with a high degree of personal awareness and effectiveness, Receptive to new ideas and working approaches, Able to create effective working relationships across multi-disciplinary teams and communicate financial information to non-finance staff.
• Desirable criteria: Committed to culture of continuous improvement and professional development.

Other Relevant Requirements

• Essential criteria: Ability to travel between sites in a timely manner.