Commercial Finance Manager in Manchester

We are excited to announce that we are currently seeking a qualified Commercial Financial Manager to join our Commercial Finance team at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The Commercial Finance team is a small team with a big remit. Our team plays a crucial role operating across critical commercial projects and procurement activities, providing colleagues with financial guidance and support across the entire life cycle of commercial contracts.

As a team, we are responsible for providing financial support to major procurements, projects and post contract award activities, which can include Open Book analysis, supplier viability analysis, payment modelling, and financial strategy development. The Commercial Finance Manager (SEO) will primarily focus on supporting financial negotiating and assessing financial viability of major contractors, supporting the Health workstreams within the Commercial Finance team.

The Commercial Finance team is a small team with a wide reach, working currently across the DWP Health Commercial Category, to support our commercial colleagues on sourcing activity and to provide financial support during the in-life management of contracts. The team supports over £3bn of public sector tenders. We support our customers designing payment methodology for procurement activity, playing a key role in procurement dialogue and negotiations, and providing financial support when monitoring and assessing the financial health of our suppliers during procurement, implementation and live running to ensure we bring out the best value for money in our programmes.

We have an exciting opportunity for an SEO Commercial Finance Manager within the Commercial Directorate. The role will be to support:

• Commercial finance engagement on major program procurements (ranging from hundreds of millions to billions in contractual value).
• Manage multiple relationships across DWP, in particular, with key senior stakeholders within Finance, Commercial and Policy communities to demonstrate a clear understanding of commercial finance strategic direction.
• Act as a trusted partner to commercial teams as they manage supplier on commercial agreements.

Career Development & Learning

Colleagues have joined us from a variety of backgrounds, sectors and specialisms; they enjoy the exposure and stretch opportunity this position provides. Your learning, development and career growth journey doesn’t end when you join DWP. It’s just getting started. Everyone in DWP gets a guaranteed 5-days learning per year when they want to expand their accounting skills, and the reality is you’ll have access to as much learning as you want. DWP Finance has a significant remit to implement the Government’s welfare and economic growth so there is lots of opportunity to progress. We have a highly supportive and collaborative finance and commercial community here – you’ll be able to tap into that expertise through coaching and mentoring programmes and the collaborative nature of your work.

This post is challenging. It will require pro-active and innovative thinking, with excellent communication skills and an outgoing and enthusiastic approach to financial challenges. The role and responsibilities for this position include, but are not restricted to:

• You’ll be working in a small team of accountants providing advice to the Head of Commercial Finance, on the safe delivery of billions worth of contracted services.
• You’ll support standardising the approach to commercial finance modelling activities across DWP’s major programmes including:
• Support the delivery of financial analysis and cost intelligence projects across high-value procurement activities together with assessing supplier financial viability.
• Provide support for commercial finance engagement with stakeholders.
• Provide specialist advice and guidance to stakeholders and the wider organisation - including payment models, investment, make or buy decisions, ‘should cost’, financial due diligence and contractual terms.
• Contract/In-life Management – collaborate on the design of financial analysis during tender rounds and in-life contract management.
• Payment methodology and design – working with operational colleagues to support the design of robust and fair payment mechanisms to maximise successful outcomes, whilst managing risk and achieve value for money for the taxpayer.

The post holders will report to one of the Grade 7 Commercial Finance Managers supporting the Commercial Categories and to deliver its key objectives.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS

The application process will involve providing a CV and personal statement. To be successful, you must demonstrate your experience matching ALL of the Essential Skills listed below.

What do we need to see from you? To be successful in joining DWP Commercial Finance you should be able to demonstrate the following Essential Criteria as part of our application process:

• Data analysis, supporting the creation of bespoke analysis and comfortable going beyond the numbers to develop a compelling narrative in a project related environment.
• Conducting financial analysis to evaluate the financial health of Suppliers, understanding the risk to the contract to support Commercial Contract Risk Management.
• Financial modelling experience, the ability to scope and work alongside the modelling team to support the development of complex models to provide expert advice and insight.
• Experience in raising financial and commercial awareness across stakeholders through providing advice and training.
• Have experience in working with multiple stakeholders, supporting the understanding and communication of complex commercial finance analysis and recommendations to support Commercial teams in understanding the commercial finance strategic direction.
• Demonstrate previous experience of working collaboratively across a range of stakeholders at all levels, using appropriate communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge and manage stakeholder expectations.
• Strong Excel skills, including the ability to analyse data, use formulas, and present information clearly.
• Confident in creating clear, engaging presentations using PowerPoint, tailored to different audiences.

Qualifications

This role is open to CCAB / CIMA qualified accountants or part-qualified accountants who are still studying. Please note the higher rate of pay is only available upon full qualification.

You must hold a full chartered level qualification, or be studying for a professional qualification, awarded by a UK-recognised accountancy body: CIMA, ICAEW, ACCA, CIPFA, ICAS or Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Your membership of one of these institutes must be up to date and live on the day you submit your application. If you are invited to interview, you will be asked to provide evidence of both your qualification status and your membership being current on the date you applied.

Please note that membership of AAT or other technician level qualifications does not satisfy the qualification criteria for this role.

If you hold a chartered level accountancy qualification with an overseas body, you will not be eligible to apply for this role. However, most of the UK-recognised accountancy bodies operate reciprocal agreements and pathways programmes which allow people with overseas qualifications to apply for membership. We would recommend pursuing this if you are interested in a career in UK government finance. You would then be eligible to apply for our future vacancies, once your membership became active.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,225, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £13,101 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Our team loves the ability to balance their life and their work, with flexible hours, flex-friendly, hybrid working (some time in the office, some time at home) and lots more. Flexi-time policy means that at those times when you might need to work longer to get the job done, you build up flexi-credits that you can use to start later or finish earlier or take extra days off.

Our teams are friendly and supportive – the work we do is important, but your life, health and happiness come first. In return for your skills, we offer salary range of £45,225 - £47,362 part qualified and £50,912 - £55,731 fully qualified (National based locations) and an attractive civil service pension with employer contributions of over 28% into a defined benefit pension scheme and a generous leave package of 30 Days.

We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Flexible working and family friendly policies.
• Volunteering and charitable giving.
• Discounts and savings on shopping, fun days out and more.
• Interest-free loans to buy a bike or a season ticket, so it’s even easier for you to get to work and start making a difference.
• Sports and social activities.
• Learning and development, including coaching, mentoring, progression opportunities and guaranteed 5-days formal learning per year.

You’ll join us in one of our brilliant DWP hub locations of Blackpool, Glasgow, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester or Sheffield. Applicants should apply for suitable posts where they can travel to and from their home office location daily within a reasonable time.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas. Relocation costs will not be reimbursed.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience. Please apply on the Civil Service Jobs website. You will be required to:

• Provide personal information.
• Enter your CV in the space provided, setting out your employment history.
• Complete a personal statement (maximum of 1250 words) which should demonstrate how you meet ALL ESSENTIAL CRITERIA as set out in the job description.

Stage 1 Assessment - Sift: At sift, we will assess your application by using your CV and personal statement only. To be successful, you must demonstrate your experience matching ALL of the Essential Skills listed in the job advert above.

Stage 2 Assessment - Interview: If you are successful at the sift stage, you will be invited to a video interview using MS Teams, we will assess your relevant experience against the essential skills mentioned above and the Behaviours listed below.

Interview Assessment Elements (Success Profiles): We will assess the following Behaviours at interview:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Candidates invited to interview will be expected to deliver a 5-minute presentation to the interview panel during the interview. The presentation will be a maximum of 5 minutes plus up to 5 minutes for questions. Slides will be allowed, and the topic of the presentation will be given to those invited to interview ahead of the interview being held.

Further Information

Successful candidates will be posted to a specific role and will have the opportunity to express a preference as part of the selection process, although final decisions may come down to business need, and the skills and development needs of candidates. Standard promotion rules will apply, and successful candidates will be placed on the pay scale and terms and conditions of DWP.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve list candidates will be posted in merit order by location.

The role available will be based in:

• Blackpool Peel Park - Brunel Way, Blackpool FY4 5ES
• Glasgow - Atlantic Quay, Glasgow G2 8SP
• Leeds - Quarry House, Quarry Hill, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 7UA
• Manchester - 2 St Peter’s Square, Manchester, M2 3AA
• Newcastle - Benton Park View, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE98 1BA
• Sheffield - Hartshead Square, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 2FD

Some travel may be required, but individuals’ circumstances will be considered.

Hybrid working

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need, but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be considered.

If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Pay for this role is from £45,225 – £55,731. Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview.

At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.