Chief Financial Officer (VSM) - Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust; Liverpool City Region; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading children's healthcare organization in Liverpool seeks an inspiring Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to lead financial strategy and ensure sustainability. The successful candidate will collaborate with senior leadership, providing financial advice to support decision-making and driving innovation. This role requires proven expertise in financial governance and leadership, paired with a commitment to improving the lives of children and families. A CCAB qualification is required. This position offers flexible working opportunities and an attractive benefits package.

Benefits

Great flexible working opportunities

Lease car scheme

Generous annual leave

Extensive staff health and well-being programmes

Qualifications

• Proven track record of strategic financial leadership and transformation.
• Deep understanding of financial governance, risk management, and long-term sustainability.
• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to inspire teams and build collaborative partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Trust’s Finance, Estates, Sustainability & Development, Capital and Procurement portfolios.
• Provide clear financial advice to support effective decision-making.
• Drive innovation in financial management and commercial development.

Skills

Strategic financial leadership

Financial governance

Risk management

Team leadership

Collaborative partnerships

Education

CCAB qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA or equivalent)

Job description

Employer Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Alder Hey Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Town Liverpool Salary VSM Closing 12/10/2025 23:59

VSM

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is a provider of specialist health care and has a presence in community outreach sites and, in collaboration with other providers, our clinicians help deliver care closer to patients’ homes by holding local clinics at locations from Cumbria to Shropshire, in Wales and the Isle of Man. The Trust also provides inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs at our Sunflower House building newly relocated, and opened on the hospital site.

We currently have more than 4,000 staff working across our community and hospital sites. We’re also a teaching and training hospital providing education and training to around 540 medical and over 500 nursing and allied health professional students each year.

As black and minority ethnic (BME) employees are currently under-represented in this area, we particularly welcome applications from members of our BME communities. All appointments will be made on merit.

You can expect a warm welcome at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, our staff are friendly and welcoming. We listen to each other and work together to embed our Trusts values and behaviours. At Alder Hey we appreciate our staff and reward them with an outstanding benefits package including:

• Great flexible working opportunities
• Lease car scheme and Home Electronics Scheme
• Generous annual leave and pension scheme
• Extensive staff health and well-being programmes

Job overview

Do you have the vision, expertise, and passion to shape the financial future of one of the world’s leading children’s healthcare organisations?

We are now seeking to appoint a high achieving, values-driven and inspiring Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to join an engaged, dynamic and talented Board of Directors, focused on putting patients, their families and our people at the heart of all our strategic decisions. As CFO you will demonstrate compassion for all those we serve, as well as foster an environment in which our staff can thrive to deliver the best care to our children and young people.

Main duties of the job

As CFO, you will be the Trust’s lead financial strategist, responsible for ensuring the organisation’s financial resilience and sustainability. You will play a pivotal role in enabling clinical excellence and innovation through sound financial leadership, robust governance, and the strategic deployment of resources. Working closely with the Chief Executive Officer, Board and senior leaders, you will:

• Provide clear and authoritative financial advice to support effective decision-making.
• Lead the Trust’s Finance, Estates, Sustainability & Development, Capital and Procurement portfolios, ensuring they are aligned with our strategic ambitions.
• Drive innovation in financial management, investment planning, and commercial development.
• Strengthen partnerships across the NHS, local government, academia, and industry to maximise opportunities for growth and impact.

Working for our organisation

Alder Hey is a special place with phenomenal potential. As one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals, recently ranked as the top performing standalone children’s Trust in the country, we provide specialist healthcare to over 450,000 children and young people each year. In addition to our state-of-the-art site at Alder Hey in the Park, we have a presence across a range of community outreach sites in Liverpool and Sefton, and collaborate with other providers to deliver care closer to children and young people’s homes from Cumbria to Shropshire, in Wales, and the Isle of Man. Along with our amazing workforce of 4,300 people, we are a teaching and training hospital, with a turnover in excess of £400 million.

As an anchor institution for children and young people’s healthcare in the North West, we are a top performing Trust, with a CQC ‘Outstanding’ for Care and ‘Good’ overall, and a leading innovator with a commitment to game changing research and innovation rooted in outstanding clinical services. Throughout the last year, we have been working to implement our ambitious new Strategy for 2030 grounded in our vision for ‘a healthier, happier and fairer future where every child and young person achieves their potential’, and we are well positioned to continue to lead a highly successful Trust.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This is a role for an accomplished financial leader with experience at Board level in a complex, high-profile organisation. You will bring:

• A proven track record of strategic financial leadership and transformation.
• Deep understanding of financial governance, risk management, and long-term sustainability.
• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to inspire teams and build collaborative partnerships.
• A values-driven approach, with a clear commitment to improving the lives of children, young people, and families.

If you are motivated by purpose as much as performance, and you have the expertise and ambition to help lead Alder Hey into the future, we would love to hear from you.

Sponsorship - We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship.You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the government website.

Person specification

• CCAB qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA or equivalent).

We reserve the right to close vacancies without notice when we have received a sufficient number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.

Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply regularly as we will contact you using this regarding your application. All candidates will be notified via email whether or not they have been shortlisted.

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are committed to creating a well-managed, flexible working environment that supports staff and promotes their welfare and development. We actively promote equality and diversity and operate a Zero Tolerance policy to aggression, violence, bullying and harassment.

Should you require any assistance during the application stages please contact recruiting manager of vacancy or the recruitment team at [e-mail] or call 0151 282 4599

Please declare within the supporting information if artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in your application.

Please note, the selection processes at Alder Hey Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are in place to ensure we recruit candidates with the right skills and values, please be advised that the use of AI in applications are monitored. We remain vigilant against candidates who misuse these tools to generate an application that doesn’t accurately reflect their skills.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.