Head of Finance – Chief Control Office in Edinburgh

Salary: £116,535 - £137,100

Location: Edinburgh, Bristol & Halifax

Hours: Full-time

Working Pattern: Hybrid – at least two days a week or 40% of time at one of the office sites

Overview

We’re on an exciting journey to strengthen the way Finance manages risk, ensures control excellence, and delivers trusted outcomes for the Group. Within the Finance Chief Operating Office (FCOO), the Chief Control Office (CCO) plays a critical role. It safeguards Finance through effective risk management, operational resilience, and strong first line accountability.

Responsibilities

• Set the vision and lead the Finance control agenda, ensuring risk and control frameworks are robust, well embedded and aligned to the Group’s strategic ambitions.
• Champion a culture of proactive and transparent risk management, supporting leaders across Finance to embed strong behaviours, clear ownership and consistent control maturity.
• Strengthen connectivity across Finance, Risk and the wider Group, ensuring completeness of risk, issue and assurance activity and representing Finance in key governance forums.
• Drive excellence in regulatory and control delivery, overseeing responsibilities across SOX, OpenPages, operational resilience and security risk.
• Lead a high‑performing, expert team, providing clear direction, setting expectations and fostering a culture of accountability, learning and continuous improvement.
• Shape and coordinate strategic assurance activity, ensuring high‑quality insights, narratives and materials for senior committees including Audit Committee, regulatory interactions and Group Risk governance.
• Provide authoritative challenge and insight, using deep control expertise to guide decision making, strengthen outcomes and anticipate emerging risks.
• Lead the evolution of Finance’s control environment, shaping the transition towards more automated, data‑led and technology‑enabled control capabilities, and ensuring Finance is well positioned for future AI‑enabled control developments.
• Role‑model purpose‑led leadership and personal integrity, living the Group’s values and setting clear expectations for behaviour, accountability and decision making across Finance.

Qualifications

• Strong finance background with significant experience in risk, controls or financial governance.
• Proven experience leading governance and oversight environments within large, complex organisations, ideally within financial services.
• Strong technical understanding of Sarbanes‑Oxley compliance, OpenPages tooling, operational risk approaches and regulatory expectations.
• Track record of leading large, distributed teams, embedding high performance and successfully driving cultural and capability change.
• Deep experience of influencing at senior level, operating credibly with executives, risk partners, internal and external auditors, and regulators.
• Ability to translate complex risk and control concepts into clear, actionable guidance for diverse audiences.
• Demonstrates curiosity, uses data and insight to inform decisions, and looks ahead to anticipate issues and shape practical solutions.
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to craft compelling narratives and deliver effective, values‑led challenge.
• Professional finance qualification desirable but not essential.

Benefits

• Generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• Annual performance‑related bonus
• Share schemes including free shares
• Discounted shopping
• 30 days’ holiday, with bank holidays on top
• Range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies

Equal Opportunity Employer

We offer reasonable workplace adjustments for colleagues with disabilities, including flexibility in office attendance, location and working patterns. As a Disability Confident Leader, we guarantee interviews for a fair and proportionate number of applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role with a disability, long‑term health or neurodivergent condition through the Disability Confident Scheme. We also offer a wide‑ranging benefits package as described above.