Finance Support Officer – Chichester (G6)

Who You Are

You are a highly skilled financial professional with a strong acumen in handling complex budgets and data sets. With excellent analytical and numeracy abilities, you can perform precise financial calculations and interpret large-scale data. Your advanced technical proficiency in MS Excel and familiarity with financial systems like SAP/Oracle make you well-equipped to manage financial tasks efficiently. You possess a graduate-level business qualification or equivalent, such as an Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) certification, ensuring a deep theoretical and practical understanding of accounting principles and systems. Communication and interpersonal skills are your forte, allowing you to effectively liaise with diverse clients and provide comprehensive financial advice. You are adaptable and open to learning new systems and processes, displaying a proactive approach to embracing change and enhancing work methods. Your leadership skills enable you to guide your team, offering direction, support, and informal training to maximize their potential. Experience in a customer-centric environment and handling commercial operations, especially with large budgets, is an asset you bring to the table.

What the Job Involves

In your role as Finance Officer, you will provide pivotal financial oversight and act as a key liaison for school funding and financial activities. You are responsible for delivering high-level administrative support, ensuring efficient operations related to budget monitoring, reporting, and implementing financial accounting strategies. You will collaborate with various departments, serving as the financial subject matter expert and advising on risk mitigation and financial solutions. Your tasks include managing invoicing, purchase orders, payments, and submitting data to national bodies, with a focus on comprehensive budget monitoring and reporting. Leveraging your skills, you will contribute to developing an Education and Skills dashboard to track financial performance against targets and predict trends. You will also assume matrix management responsibilities for small project work allocations and offer routine updates and insights to senior management, informing forecasting and financial planning across the council. Based in County Hall Chichester, your duties will also require traveling independently to engage with remote locations, ensuring seamless integration of financial services within the county. Your work is aligned to the organizational values, aiming for a supportive, inclusive culture that values individual and team contributions.