Financial Accounting Lead

Grade A - £55,172-£68,348 (National) or £61,028-£74,204 (London - for London office based or home-based workers within the boundary of the M25). There is also an additional homeworking allowance of £600 per annum for those working from home.

Contracted Hours: Full time 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Location: Home or office based, (flexible location) or hybrid working (working 2 days a week from home). CQC’s offices are in London, Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham and Bristol.

Closing date: Tuesday 1 September 2026 at 11.59pm

Make a difference. Every role at CQC contributes to our mission. If you're looking for a new role in Finance that gives a true sense of meaning and purpose, then you've found it!

As a Financial Accounting Lead, you'll help ensure CQC has strong financial controls and reliable financial information so we can continue protecting and improving health and social care services.

Picture this. You'll play a key role in shaping how finance supports the organisation, working across financial accounting activities that help CQC operate effectively and meet its responsibilities. This is a varied role where you'll combine strategic thinking with practical problem-solving to make a real impact.

As a Financial Accounting Lead in Finance, you might get the chance to:

• Lead the delivery of CQC's Annual Report and Accounts, ensuring reporting requirements are met and supporting the publication of key financial information.
• Improve financial processes and controls that strengthen compliance, increase efficiency and add value for colleagues across the organisation.

The role. Your insight and leadership will influence what we do and how we do it. In this role, you'll:

• Lead financial accounting services: Oversee financial accounting activities, including statutory accounting, ensuring a reliable and high-quality service.
• Strengthen financial governance: Maintain and improve financial policies, controls and processes to ensure compliance with accounting standards, audit requirements and public sector guidance.
• Support and develop teams: Manage team performance, provide regular support and feedback, and help colleagues develop the skills needed to deliver excellent results.

Show us. We will be looking for specific skills, knowledge and experience in your application form:

• A recognised accountancy qualification, together with finance leadership experience and delivering financial services.
• Experience producing statutory financial reports, managing financial controls and working with auditors or other external stakeholders to achieve successful outcomes.

Join us and help CQC shape the future of health and care.

Compliance. To progress your application, you’ll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without valid right to work you won’t be eligible for the role. We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

Next steps. If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form. Your application will be completely anonymous. Please see our information for applicants for more details on the process. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of their application, so you will hear from us whether or not you are shortlisted.

You can read the full details of the role in the Job Description. If you’d like an informal chat about the role contact – Evan Haselwood, Director of Finance, Commercial, Workplace & Performance; evan.haselwood@cqc.org.uk. For general enquiries, please email recruitment@cqc.org.uk.

The Benefits. We offer a wide range of benefits, including:

• Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually 8 days per year).
• Training and development opportunities.
• Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts and meditation.
• NHS pension scheme, with around 23.7% employer contribution.
• Discount schemes (including eligibility for a Blue Light card, at a cost of £4.99 and valid for 2 years), reward vouchers, car leasing and more!

Please see our benefits page for the full list.

Equity for all. We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minority backgrounds). If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need.

We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers. Visit our accessibility page for more on this. If you’d like to chat, please contact recruitment@cqc.org.uk.

Please note, if you have previously informed us of adjustments you need for interview or within your role these are not carried over and must be discussed for each individual application you make.

We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. Diverse teams make our work better, help us deliver our mission and make our culture stronger. See our ED&I page for more about this.

We welcome applications from everyone, and colleagues can find support and community among our many employee networks. This includes people of any: Age, Sex, Gender identity or expression, Sexual orientation, Religion or belief, Ethnicity, Disability.

Values and vision. We are guided by our core values, which shape our work and our culture:

• Excellence – being a high-performing organisation.
• Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect.
• Integrity – doing the right thing.
• Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can.

We are a disability confident employer and a carer confident employer.

A Note on AI. AI tools can be great for research and refining ideas, but we want to learn about you. If you use AI or Chatbots to help you with your application, keep these points in mind:

• AI can support research, structuring and refining your writing, but your application must reflect your real skills and experience.
• Spell-checking and condensing word counts are great ways to use AI effectively.
• Do not copy and paste AI generated answers. These will not help you stand out; remember we want to hear about your skills and experience.
• Providing false and insincere examples goes against our core values of honesty and integrity and may lead to your application being withdrawn or termination of your employment.