Service Charge Business Partner (Fixed Term)

We have a fantastic opportunity to join Sovereign Network Group (SNG) as Service Charge Business Partner on a fixed term basis for 12 months. Based from our offices in Basingstoke or Wembley, you'll share your time between the office and home, as well as some travel being required between our offices. SNG provide over 84,000 homes and invest in communities across the South, West and East of England, including London, as well as aiming to create thousands of new affordable homes every year. Our purpose is to provide good, affordable homes that are the foundation for a better life - and our vision is thriving communities, over generations.

The Role

Reporting into the Head of Financial Services, you'll work within the Service Charge team to enhance the relationship and collaboration between the service charge teams and other stakeholder functions that interact with and support accurate and transparent service charge management, in line with legal and regulatory requirements. You'll also focus on leading continuous service improvement for the service charge function. This will include reviewing existing processes to ensure they meet business requirements and are future-ready, automation of processes where feasible, and making recommendations to maintain efficient and effective systems and processes for service charges administration across all regions within SNG.

Responsibilities include:

• Working closely with the Head of Financial Services and Head of Rent and Service Charge accounting and their teams, to identify service improvement opportunities across regions, tenures, and services which lead to enhanced data analysis of service charge expenditure and recoverability and other related activities.
• Contributing to end-to-end process mapping, working closely with the control and process team to ensure control activities are embedded and business processes are efficient and effective in alignment with business objectives.
• Reviewing existing data coding structure and configurations in legacy service charge systems, making recommendations to support accurate and transparent service charge delivery.
• Working with the Finance Analyst - Service Charges to analyse service charge data and key performance indicators to identify trends and areas for improvement, implementing strategies to optimise service charge income and effectively address and support service charge under-recovery issues.
• Supporting continuous improvement initiatives and helping to identify skill gaps within the service charge teams, recommending initiatives to enhance their capacity and capability for optimal performance.
• Supporting the updating of service charge policies and procedures as needed in alignment with SNG's policy framework.

What we need from you

You'll be a Part Qualified Accountant (ACA, CIMA, ACCA) or Qualified by Experience with strong knowledge of service charges and relevant legislation. You'll also have:

• Strong skills in analysing and problem solving to find improvement opportunities and create effective solutions.
• Solid understanding of quality improvement principles, methodologies, frameworks and best practices.
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to prioritise tasks and meet deadlines.
• Effective communication skills, including the ability to translate complex financial information to colleagues, verbally and in writing or through reports.
• Ability to work independently and proactively.
• Demonstrable ability to work collaboratively across teams, demonstrating strong relationship-building and influencing skills.
• Familiar with data management systems and quality improvement tools like process mapping, root cause analysis, and performance dashboards.

Your Benefits

We have some great benefits at SNG, including:

• £450 yearly flexible benefit pot to use against benefits of your choice.
• 25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays (with an extra day every year up to 30 days).
• Chance to buy or sell holiday as part of our flexible benefits package.
• Generous matched pension scheme up to 12% and Life cover at 4x salary.
• Options for private medical insurance, dental insurance and critical illness cover.
• Wellbeing discounts, including Gym Memberships and access to a 24/7 virtual GP service.

At Sovereign Network Group, we are passionate about inclusion for all and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive. We are committed to our Equality Diversity and Inclusion strategy and believe that you can truly be yourself at SNG. Take a look at our careers site to learn more about us and our values. If you would like the opportunity to make a real impact within our changing and growing organisation, we would love to hear from you!