Deputy Director, Business Finance

Government Recruitment Service; Salford; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A government agency in Salford is seeking a strategic leader to manage access to finance policy and sponsor the British Business Bank. The role demands strong leadership, effective communication, and the ability to manage relationships at senior levels. This position is crucial for supporting economic growth across the UK and delivering government priorities. Interested candidates are invited to explore the virtual meeting on October 7th to learn more.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in leadership roles within government or financial sectors.
• Ability to handle and balance relationships at senior levels.
• Experience in strategic policy development related to finance.

Responsibilities

• Set strategic direction for access to finance policy.
• Sponsorship of the British Business Bank and ensure alignment with government objectives.
• Lead on finance elements of business strategy.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Effective communication

Collaboration

Job description

Overview

This is an exciting time to join the Department for Business and Trade. We have a clear mission - to grow the economy. Our role is to help businesses invest, grow and export to create jobs and opportunities right across the country. Click below to find out why you should join DBT's Senior Civil Service team:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/W0yhNjUTsws?si=xIIMzsLehkRpRURh

The hiring manager for this position; Paula Crofts, will be hosting a virtual call for any interested applicants to discuss the role and answer any questions. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.

This will be held via Microsoft Teams on Tuesday 7th October at 10:00am (UK time).

Please click here for the meeting link.

If you would like to join without your full name being displayed in the meeting, please ensure you access the link on a personal device and select 'Join without signing in'.

The core mission of DBT is to support economic growth. Access to finance is a key part of supporting economic growth and is a key pillar of both the Small Business Plan and the Industrial Strategy – there have been key manifesto commitments around improving access to finance for start-ups and scale-ups as well as ministerial priorities to ensure fair access to finance across the UK. There is also a manifesto commitment, to strengthen the operational independence of the British Business Bank and provide it with a stronger regional mandate.

BBB has grown in importance and is one of the department’s key policy levers, fundamental to delivering DBT’s and wider government priorities and manifesto commitments. To deliver effectively, the BBB, guided by this DBT sponsorship team, will need to deliver a set of financial and governance reforms at pace. This will be complex work including collaboration between HMG and the DBT sponsorship team to deliver against priorities and long-term outcomes. In addition, the BBB will need to implement the outcomes of the SR process which includes a significant increase in their capital base as well as their need to operate under the new Financial Transactions Control Framework.

The role requires strong leadership, sound judgement to make complex decisions in a timely manner as well as excellent stakeholder management skills both with the British Business Bank and across Government. It is important to understand the small business financial landscape. The postholder will provide leadership and strategic direction to the Business Finance team, and advocate for our policy agenda with internal and external stakeholders

The candidate will

• Be an experienced and inspirational leader, able to empower, develop and inspire their teams to deliver, even under pressure.
• Be an effective communicator and able to handle and balance a wide range of relationships, internally and externally, and to be credible at very senior levels, including with Ministers, senior central government officials, local partners and other stakeholders.
• Be a collaborative leader who works in partnership to influence, motivate and deliver through others, responding rapidly to shifting demands in high-pressure

Key Responsibilities include

• Setting strategic direction for the Department’s approach to access to finance policy, particularly looking to identify and drive forwards ministerial priorities, working closely with HMT to develop policy outside of the BBB to support businesses to start and scale.
• Sponsorship of the British Business Bank and playing an active role in their governance, ensuring that the team provides a support and challenge function and that the Bank understands its role in delivering the Government’s objectives. This will include how DBTs sponsorship team agrees BBB priorities for the whole of Government.
• Deliver Ministers’ priorities, for example lead on finance elements of Small Business Strategy, Industrial Strategy and other relevant publications and announcements within DBT and across Whitehall.
• Drive wider access to finance policy – engaging with key cross government stakeholders and drive forwards work on wider small business access to finance policy
• Influence OGD s on key areas of work e.g. HMT on the emergent shape of the National Wealth Fund
• Leading a team to develop and implement proposals to reform the British Business Bank (BBB), this includes supporting the delivery of the British Growth Partnership (BGP)
• Be responsible for setting their own team strategy and delivery plan, with appropriate performance milestones and metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plan.
• Have full accountability for all baseline SCS mandatory requirements, such as mandatory training, office attendance, correspondence/PQ/FOI, diversity and equality.
• Developing effective working relationships with key senior stakeholders at the BBB, HMT, UK Government Investments, key delivery partners and relevant finance industry stakeholders and business.
• Working with BBB, HMT and UKGI to develop and implement the proposed financial and governance reforms to ensure alignment with the Financial Transactions Control Framework and effectively operate independently.