Band 8d - Head of Finance

NHS; Greater London; On-site; GBP 97,000 - 112,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent healthcare organization is seeking a Head of Finance to lead the financial operations and partnering function within the North Middlesex Health Unit. The role focuses on driving profitability and providing financial insights to support senior management. Candidates should have a professional accountancy qualification and substantial experience in finance leadership, making complex financial data accessible to diverse stakeholders. This position is full-time with flexible working arrangements and offers a salary of £97,283 to £111,278 per annum.

Qualifications

• Experience in business partnering supporting senior managers.
• Expert knowledge gained through further post‑qualification training.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to solve complex financial problems.

Responsibilities

• Develop financial plans aligning with group strategy.
• Support directors in accessing financial information.
• Drive improvements in financial productivity.

Skills

Business partnering

Financial analysis

Leadership qualities

Communication skills

Organizational skills

Education

Professional qualification in accountancy (CIMA, ACA, CIPFA, ACCA)

Job description

Job Summary

Royal Free is recruiting for a Head of Finance role to support the North Middlesex Health Unit. This role is ideally suited for an ambitious and dynamic candidate who is looking for a challenging position that will allow them to gain exposure working in a large acute trust with a group model that is continually evolving and growing. This is an exciting time to join the Trust as it expands its group model and the finance department is currently undergoing a transformation to build a best‑in‑class Group Finance function focused on delivering all financial operational targets and continuously striving to exceed stakeholder expectations.

The Royal Free London group has recently expanded following the merger with North Middlesex Hospital NHST and now comprises four acute hospitals: Royal Free Hospital, Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital (including Group Clinical Services), North Middlesex. The Health Unit within the Royal Free group has its own local leadership teams responsible for managing its own delivery, quality, risk, operational and financial performance.

The health unit is responsible for overseeing Group Clinical Services across all health units, including Imaging, Pharmacy and Pathology services, and oversees NCL hosted services for Breast Screening and Finchley Memorial Community diagnostic centre.

Responsibilities

• Develop productive partnership working with other function leads to drive profitability and return on investment, developing short‑term and medium‑term financial plans to support the realisation of the group strategy.
• Maintain a professional reporting line into the Director of Financial Performance, while working closely with divisional and business‑unit management leads and directors, utilising professional judgement to progress business needs.
• Drive improvements in financial productivity within the divisions – leading on identification, giving advice and challenging for efficiency plans.
• Support directors, managers and clinicians in accessing and understanding financial information for their areas of budgetary responsibility; provide support to build understanding of complex financial information.
• Support commercial propositions and undertake or oversee the financial management of key contracts, providing advice as necessary to leadership teams on actions required to realise opportunities and mitigate risks.
• Support the Director of Financial Performance and wider executive team to help inform the strategic, operational and financial development of the Health Unit.
• Lead the business‑partnering team and act as a critical interface between group central finance and other functions, and the Health Unit finance team.
• Foster a culture of high performance, and ensure the delivery of the annual planning/budget‑setting cycle at the business‑unit level and strong financial control across the business unit.
• Influence and act as a critical friend with wider business‑unit leaders to ensure strong governance and control, and delivery of a very ambitious Financial Improvement Plan (FIP) target in a financially challenged environment.

Person Specification

Values

• Demonstrable ability to meet the Trust Values.

Qualifications

• Professional qualification in accountancy (CIMA, ACA, CIPFA, ACCA).
• Experience of working in a senior finance role, advising Executive Directors and other senior management.
• Expert knowledge gained through further post‑qualification specialist training or experience; evidence of maintaining and developing technical accounting expertise and of staying up to date with current accounting rules since qualification.

Experience

• Experience of business partnering, supporting senior managers and/or directors in service developments.
• Experience of using complex financial models for assessing risk and informing decision‑making.
• Experience in making or advising on complex decisions involving financial risk.
• Experience of leading on large business cases or developments and assisting internal customers in understanding the assumptions and risks inherent in those business cases.
• Experience of having worked with large, complicated sets of information, drawing inferences and developing strategy on the basis of the analysis.
• Experience of presenting complex financial information to non‑finance managers and directors.
• Understanding of the Payment by Results financial regime.
• Understanding of the concepts underpinning the development of a strategy and some of the elements which can be arranged to gain competitive advantage.
• Leadership qualities and influencing skills: ability to understand complex situations; ability to work in a professional and positive manner and meet challenging deadlines; ability to challenge effectively while maintaining relationships; proactive, dynamic and flexible; ability to work autonomously.
• Ability to operate as part of the leadership of the department, proactively identifying ways to improve and working with others in the department to initiate these changes.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to solve highly complex financial problems.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to manage time, meet deadlines and prioritise delivering to tight deadlines and managing the demands of senior stakeholders simultaneously.
• Ability to make use of systems (initially Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Word) to prepare and present accurate, clear information and to identify what can be produced from other financial systems.
• Strong organisational skills and ability to prioritise.
• Flexible and able to manage workload to ensure delivery of both regular commitments and the support of Trust‑wide initiatives.
• The ability to provide advice and support from across all of the accounting disciplines is essential.
• Able to influence others and present a coherent case in support of a desired strategic outcome or plan.
• Ability to challenge assumptions, and articulate alternative interpretations, scenarios and strategies.
• Must be able to set and negotiate priorities for themselves and others and subsequently programme workload to achieve results and meet deadlines; understanding what motivates people to perform and gaining respect and support of other staff and managers.
• Ability and credibility to represent the Trust at off‑site meetings.
• Requires standard keyboard skills.

Personal Qualities

• Strong sense of quality and customer focus.
• Self‑motivated, proactive and positive.
• Resilient to cope with challenge and criticism.
• Prepared to lead on operational issues of the department and take responsibility for policy and service development for financial reporting for clinical and corporate departments.
• Ability to inspire confidence when presenting.
• Team player, willing to “roll up sleeves” where necessary.
• Positive “can‑do” attitude.
• Highly organised approach and ability to prioritise own work to meet strict deadlines and targets.
• Embraces change.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to work closely and effectively with staff at all levels within the organisation, including ability to persuade as well as be diplomatic.
• Excellent persuasion and negotiation skills required to ensure delivery of balanced financial plans.

Salary and Contract

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 8d

Salary: £97,283 to £111,278 a year per annum, inclusive of HCAS

Contract: Fixed term

Duration: 12 months

Working pattern: Full‑time, Flexible working

Reference number: 391‑RFL‑7680308

Job Location

North Middlesex University Hospital, Sterling Way, London, N18 1QX

Additional Information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check: This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship: Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website. From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here: Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

UK Registration: Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

Employer Details

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

North Middlesex University Hospital, Sterling Way, London, N18 1QX

Website: https://www.royalfreelondonjobs.co.uk/