Finance Director

Farleigh Hospice; Chelmsford; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A charitable organization in Chelmsford is seeking a Finance Director to provide strategic leadership across financial matters. This role requires a finance leader with strong knowledge of the charity sector and experience in financial strategy. Key responsibilities include aligning financial strategies with the new strategic plan, developing metrics for future projects, and enhancing financial literacy among departmental managers. It's a pivotal position for improving decision-making and financial accountability within the organization.

Qualifications

• Experience in the charity sector, especially with restricted/unrestricted funds.
• Ability to modernize financial systems and processes.
• Confident in KPIs and financial modelling.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for financial and governance matters.
• Align financial strategy with the 2026–2029 strategic plan.
• Develop KPIs and ROI metrics for future projects.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Financial planning

Financial literacy

Collaborative mindset

Communication skills

Job description

About the role

The Finance Director will provide strategic leadership, oversight and accountability for all financial and governance matters across the Farleigh Group, encompassing Farleigh Hospice, the Local Hospice Lottery and Farleigh Supplies Ltd.

The strategic priorities for the role are to:

• Align financial strategy with the new 2026–2029 strategic plan (currently in draft).

• Position Farleigh within the Essex-wide hospice collaboration (six hospices working together under a new ICB), providing collaborative financial planning.

• Develop clear KPIs and ROI-based metrics for future projects.

• Improve financial literacy among around 15–25 departmental managers who hold budgets.

• Enhance decision-making through data and promote a culture of financial accountability and transparency.

• Aim to increase NHS funding share (currently ~23%, target ~50%).

• Help align financial strategy with evolving sector funding models and integrated care systems

Who we are looking for

We are seeking a strategic and commercially minded finance leader with strong charity-sector knowledge (restricted/unrestricted funds, compliance) and commercially astute, able to modernise systems and processes. Must understand both charitable compliance and commercial income generation (especially subsidiary and trading activity). Hospice experience is desirable but not essential and rising stars from a head of finance or a role deputy to an FD are encouraged to apply, as well as experienced finance directors.

The ideal person will be:

• Collaborative and outward-looking.

• An innovative and creative financial leader.

• Confident with financial modelling, KPIs and scenario planning.

• Digitally aware and open to innovation and system improvement.

• Skilled in communicating finance to non-finance managers and trustees.

Finance systems are robust, but with an expected 25–30% rise in demand for services over the next five years, we need to refresh reporting and focus on real-time data, Power BI dashboards and modelling to inform decisions.