Finance Business Partner

HM Revenue & Customs; North East; Hybrid; GBP 56,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Join HM Revenue & Customs as a finance professional in Newcastle Upon Tyne, where you'll directly impact financial decisions tied to Northern Ireland's strategic priorities post-Brexit. Support the financial management of key government programmes, while enjoying a competitive salary and a range of employee benefits in a collaborative workplace.

Benefits

Generous leave allowance starting at 25 days

Pension contributions up to at least 28.97% of salary

Flexible and Hybrid Working policies

Family friendly policies

Coaching and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Strong communication and leadership skills.
• Ability to influence strategic decisions.
• Experience in a senior finance role is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead Financial Planning and Analysis for the Northern Ireland Delivery Programme.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to meet financial objectives.
• Monitor and control programme budgets.

Skills

Financial Analysis

Business Partnering

Budget Management

Education

CCAB qualified accountant or equivalent

Job description

Newcastle Upon Tyne

Job Summary

Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC.

Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential.

This is a unique opportunity to make your mark and play an instrumental role in a high-profile and topical government priority area.

The successful candidate will work in a fast-paced environment, making a difference by adding value and influencing strategic decisions in supporting HMRC’s delivery of policy and legislative commitments for Northern Ireland, following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, which is a key government commitment that impacts the people of Northern Ireland directly.

Job Description

You will play a crucial role in supporting the financial management and strategic decision-making processes of the Northern Ireland Delivery Programme. You will work closely with programme managers, senior leadership, and other stakeholders to provide expert financial insights and ensure the successful delivery of our projects.

We are seeking a high calibre finance professional to provide financial analysis, advice, challenge and assurance to facilitate effective strategic decision making.

You will play a crucial role in supporting the financial management and strategic decision-making processes of the Northern Ireland Delivery Programme. You will work closely with programme managers, senior leadership, and other stakeholders to provide expert financial insights and ensure the successful delivery of our projects.

We are seeking a high calibre finance professional to provide financial analysis, advice, challenge and assurance to facilitate effective strategic decision making.

Person specification

The successful applicant will be a strong leader who is an effective communicator and is able to quickly build collaborative relationships with a range of partners.

Working closely with delivery, commercial and policy colleagues, you have the opportunity to influence decision making and drive value for money from design through to delivery.

We are looking for you to come up with innovative solutions to problems, using data and financial analysis to drive effective decisions.

Key Responsibilities

• Financial Planning and Analysis: Leading Financial Planning and Analysis for the programme, by developing a firm understanding of the change being delivered to ensure insight can be provided to senior leaders. This includes identifying cost drivers and the causes of demand to inform decisions on spend and influence strategy.
• Business Partnering: Collaborate with programme managers and other stakeholders to understand their financial needs and challenges within the programme. Provide guidance and support to ensure financial objectives are met.
• Budget Management: Monitor and control programme budgets, ensuring alignment with overall B&T goals and compliance with HM Treasury financial regulations. Identify and address any variances and risks in a timely manner.
• Performance Reporting: Prepare and present regular financial performance reports, highlighting key insights and recommendations to Programme Board, The Treasury and Cabinet office as well as supporting responses to parliamentary questions, Accounting Officer Advice and briefings to the Director General/ ministers.
  
  

Essential Criteria

Crucially we are looking for you to:-

• Be CCAB qualified accountant or equivalent or actively* working towards a finance qualification
• Be a credible and authentic leader, with the ability to articulate vision, engage and motivate to deliver results
• Be highly organised and able to deliver at pace
• Be able to build a network of relationships across organisational boundaries that support collaborative working in order to deliver, working with stakeholders in a constructive way
• This means that studies have commenced, and completion would be expected within 18 months of take up duty date.
  
  

Desirable Criteria

• Prior experience working in a Strategic/Central Finance role or in a Programme Finance role is desirable
• Significant experience working in a senior finance role is desirable.
• Proven skills to provide insight and clear strategic understanding to ensure financial objectives are embedded into decision making processes.
  
  

Additional Information - Transitional Sites

For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

If your location preference is for one of the following sites, it’s important to note that these are not long-term sites for HMRC and we will require you to move to a new building in the future, subject to our location strategy and the applicable employee policies at that time.

These Sites Are

• Waterview Park, Washington - moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle
• Benton Park View, Newcastle - moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle
• Centenary Court, Bradford - moving to 7 and 8 Wellington Place, Leeds
• Lynx House, Portsmouth - moving to No.1 The Goodsyard, Portsmouth
• Telford Plaza, Telford - moving to Parkside Court, Telford
• Trinity Bridge House, Manchester - moving to an alternative office in Manchester/ Salford
  
  

You will be given more information about what this means at the job offer stage

Qualifications

Be CCAB qualified accountant or equivalent or actively* working towards a finance qualification

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
  
  

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Working Together
  
  

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Presentation - Further details will be provided prior to interview.
• Programme Financial Management i.e. funding, spend approval concepts and AUC management - Further details will be provided prior to interview.
  
  

Alongside your salary of £56,344, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £16,322 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.

We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
• Family friendly policies.
• Personal support.
• Coaching and development.
  
  

To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it’s really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

How To Apply

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:

A Name-blind CV Which Will Consist Of 2 Elements

You will be presented with two text boxes. The first will ask for your employment history - here you should set it out like a traditional CV, making sure to follow the following format: -

• Name of employer
• Dates worked (to and from)
• Job title
• Brief description of your main role / responsibilities (please ensure you match this section against the job advert / essential / desirable criteria)
  
  

The next text box will ask you to include any relevant qualifications you may have.

A 750-word Personal Statement that clearly demonstrates how you believe your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for this role, focusing on the Job Description, Responsibilities and Essential Criteria (Person Specification) as detailed in the advert.

A separate 250 word statement covering the Behaviour - Working Together.

Please use the ‘STAR’ technique when writing your examples to enable you to provide a meaningful and complete answer for assessment. For those not familiar with STAR, it is an acronym that stands for:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Result
  
  

Please complete a separate statement (Max 250 words) for the Desirable Criteria where applicable. This is not essential for the role but may be considered by the vacancy-holder where candidates have the same scores at sift or interview.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

We acknowledge that AI can assist you in your application. Find our guidelines here.

Sift

In the event of a large number of applications being received, an initial sift may be held on the Personal Statement.

At full sift, your CV and Personal Statement will be assessed, with the successful candidate being invited to interview.

We may also raise the score required at any stage or the process if we receive a high number of applications.

Following the sift, successful candidates will be invited to interview.

Interview

During the panel interview you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of and you will be asked strength-based questions to also explore what you enjoy and your motivations relevant to the job role.There will be technical questions assessing your relevant experience.

You will be assessed against your experience and the following behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
  
  

This is an example of a strengths-based question:

“It is often said that the customer's needs should come first. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?”

There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.

Interviews will be via Teams Video. Details to be confirmed.

Eligibility

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake, please contact us via: [e-mail] – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [415437] & vacancy closing date [23/07/2025]’

To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

Criminal Record Check

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

Merit List

After interview, a single merit list will be created, and appointments will be made in strict merit order until the set demand is filled. If successful, you will be informed when we reach your position on the merit list.

Reasonable Adjustments

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact the UBS Recruitment Excellence Team via [e-mail] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
  
  

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers

This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need. Please consider the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you can travel to.

Additional Information

We are looking into ways to enhance the applicant experience.

As part of our legitimate interests, we are testing the use of new technologies such as automation and/or Artificial Intelligence in the assessment for CV, personal statement and behaviour statement.

Please note that for this specific vacancy, this testing may run in parallel with our standard assessment process and will not influence or determine the outcome of your application in any way. You can read the Civil Service Jobs and HMRC Privacy Notices for more information about our lawful basis for processing your personal data and HMRC’s use of AI.

If you don’t want your data to be used as part of the trial, please send your Application ID and the Vacancy Reference to [e-mail]

Terms and Conditions

Current Civil Servants (all contract types) will need to ensure that they are still employed as a Civil Servant on or beyond the start date for the post. If their contract ends (for example due to the end of Fixed Term Appointment contract or resignation) at any point during the application process for the advertised role, they will no longer be eligible and may be withdrawn.

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process.

Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.

Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
  
  

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact

• Name : Hannah George
• Email : [e-mail]
• Telephone : [phone]
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : [e-mail]
  
  

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel there has been a breach of the Recruitment Principles.

In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly via [e-mail]. Please note that we do not accept complaints or appeals regarding scoring of outcomes of campaigns, unless candidates can provide clear evidence that the campaign did not follow the Recruitment Principles.

If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their website.