Principal Finance Officer

This is a Full Time Permanent Position. Hull is a city with ambition. As we continue to transform services, deliver major projects and respond to the financial challenges facing local government, we are looking for an exceptional finance professional to join our Business Finance Team as a Principal Finance Officer.

This is a high-profile role offering the opportunity to work alongside Corporate Directors, City Managers and senior leaders, providing strategic financial advice and support that directly influences decision-making across some of the Council's most important services. If you are a qualified accountant with strong leadership skills, extensive financial experience and a passion for driving value for money, service improvement and financial excellence, we would love to hear from you. You should have significant relevant experience of financial management, budgeting and forecasting, good leadership skills, be an excellent communicator, and a positive, motivated team player. Applicants are also welcomed for reduced hours.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Karen Crabtree 01482 613 543.

ROLE AND PURPOSE

• Manages and provides financial input to the strategy for City Managers in line with Service plans. Leads the provision of financial support and guidance to City Managers and their staff to ensure statutory requirements for financial management and accountability are met and projects are delivered in line with financial regulations and deliver value for money for the Council.
• Identifies strategic financial opportunities through funding regimes or partnership opportunities to deliver services for Services differently to secure improved value for money.
• Works alongside other finance staff and with colleagues from other services to provide coordinated customer focused support to deliver the objectives and priorities of Directorates.
• Acts as the co-ordinating officer for Business Finance – manages the processes around assessing and prioritising existing and incoming demands and allocating tasks to particular finance staff at certain levels.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Strategy - Provides broad strategic financial management leadership, direction and advice to City Managers to significantly influence the Council’s achievement of its strategic objectives.
• Customer Focus – Is visible in gaining customer insight, communicates with clients to meet strategic needs.
• Performance Management - Is a visible leader who inspires and demands continuous customer and value for money focus and improvement across Services and Directorates.
• Leadership – Working in a matrix fashion to develop, support and manage on particular tasks pooled finance staff in accordance with Council procedures and best practice.
• SLT / DMT - Is a member of the Business Finance team supporting the delivery of effective service finance to customers.
• Project Support – identifies the major financial implications of existing or future projects, and acts as lead adviser to high level ones where appropriate.
• Financial Management – advises Services and Directorates on financial management and works alongside the Corporate Director, City Managers and other managers on the implementation of improved systems and processes.
• Strategic Financial Advice – Provides pro-active and forward looking strategic financial advice and support to influence the effective management of a Directorate’s resources.
• Co-ordinating Officer for Business Finance – takes a key role in managing the assessment of demands, allocating staff to undertake prioritised tasks, and monitoring, reporting on and improving the results that are achieved.

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:

• A competitive salary
• An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
• Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
• Supportive and forward-thinking culture
• Great career development opportunities

Please ensure that you complete and submit your application by midnight prior to the closing date. We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

We reserve the right to amend the dates associated with this advert, which may include closing the advert early where required. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.