Group Finance Director

HS2 (High Speed Two) Ltd; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

HS2 Ltd, the UK's high-speed rail project, seeks a Group Finance Director to provide strong stewardship of assets and financials, leading the group finance team across the programme lifecycle.

You will oversee multi-year planning, budgeting, and internal controls, delivering robust reporting to key stakeholders and ensuring alignment with strategies and schedules. The role emphasizes EDI and cost discipline within a complex, high-profile environment.

Qualifications

• Qualified Accountant with senior-level experience.
• Experience leading a Finance team in a large Capital Project Environment.
• Experience implementing and maintaining an effective financial control environment.
• Experience identifying and successfully implementing process improvements.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead a strong Group Finance team to provide stewardship to the HS2 organisation and support the programme lifecycle.
• Define and deliver the financial performance management framework and KPIs & models across HS2.
• Deliver annual multi-year budgeting and forecast processes aligned to the programme schedule.
• Develop, maintain and update a strong internal control environment for timely reporting.
• Drive consistent reporting methodologies and financial processes with stakeholders.
• Embed a cost-focused culture to support cost efficiencies.

Skills

Direction

Problem solving

Decision making

Influencing

Communication

IT systems

Education

Qualified Accountant

Job description

London or Birmingham

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential. In practice, this means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

Job Description

London or Birmingham

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential. In practice, this means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

Job Purpose

The Group Finance Director’s role is to provide strong stewardship over the assets and financials of HS2 and lead the HS2 Group Finance team providing financial oversight, control and direction to the HS2 project. This role is also responsible for the Insurance, and Estates and Facilities function.

About The Role

• Developing and leading a strong Group Finance team (taking full accountability for their outputs) to provide strong stewardship to the HS2 organisation and support the various stages of the programme lifecycle.
• Defining and delivering the HS2 financial performance management framework and policies across HS2, including driving insightful management reporting, defining KPIs & models used and ensuring HS2’s ability to provide the right guidance on expected future performance to key stakeholders.
• Delivering annual multi-year business planning and budget setting processes (including Spending Reviews) and forecasts for capital and operating expenditure, ensuring that they are affordable, deliverable and aligned to schedule and the programme’s critical path activities.
• Developing, maintaining, reviewing and updating a strong internal control environment to ensure integrity and timeliness of period end and year end reporting.
• Driving the adoption of consistent reporting methodologies and financial processes, in conjunction with the Controls and Commercial teams.
• Embedding a cost focused culture to support the delivery of cost efficiencies.
• Managing relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, including but not limited to DfT, HMT, IPA, and internal & external auditors, ensuring HS2 consistently demonstrate transparency and focus on performance.
• Member of various internal decision-making panels.
• Actively promote and embed Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work, and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

About You

• Direction – define and prioritise objectives, analyse and assess data, define strategies and provide supporting rationales. Ability to direct both the direct team and engage with wider internal stakeholders in the delivery of key deliverables. To be a champion of effective financial controls.
• Problem solving - ability to interpret complex financial data and use it to support decisions and recommendations within the business. This includes the management and planning of multiple workstreams and the competing demands of stakeholders.
• Decision making ability to gather and synthesise information, identify options and apply judgement based on logic, reason, and compliance with accounting standards (current IFRS and FReM understanding required). To make use of a variety of analytical approaches to provide relevant information to a range of stakeholders and decision makers using key facts and data.
• Influencing and negotiating skills - including internal and external stakeholders.
• Communication skills - communicate effectively with all levels within HS2 Ltd and DfT, adapting any messages as appropriate and being able to interpret and communicate complex financial issues to non-financial colleagues. The ability to produce accurate, timely and informative reports in multiple formats targeted to the needs of the audience.
• IT and systems operations - competent in the use of reporting and analytical tools whilst having an appreciation for current and forward-thinking system developments.

Knowledge

• Qualified Accountant with experience of operating at a senior level in a complex environment.

Type Of Experience

• Experience of facilitating and administering performance reviews and presentations with senior stakeholders that support value for money decision making.
• Experience of implementing and maintaining an effective financial control environment.
• Experience of identifying and successfully implementing process improvements.
• Leadership and team working, both of a various team sizes and organisational wide initiatives.
• Experience of managing and/or influencing governance forums.
• Experience of leading a Finance team in a large Capital Project Environment.

We ask for a variety of detail in your online application, however we perform the first assessment of suitability for a role based solely on the information in your CV. In a further development of our efforts to create a more diverse workforce, your CV will be anonymised and personal information will be removed during the first stage of the application review. This removes bias from the process and makes it even more important that you attach an updated word version of your CV for each new application ensuring you include evidence directly related to the criteria in the job advert.

Any applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

About Us

High Speed 2 (HS2 Ltd) will be the UK’s new high speed rail network. As well as improving capacity, the new scheme will shorten journey times between a number of Britain’s major population centres, boost the economy and create thousands of jobs.

HS2 Ltd will create a skills legacy and develop a diverse range of talent. We aim to be a leader in EDI practice by creating a safe & inclusive working environment for all our staff - living our values of Safety, Respect, Integrity and Leadership.

In practice, this means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

HS2 Ltd is also a safety-critical organisation. Employees are required to ensure reasonable care of their own and others’ health and safety by taking personal responsibility for working to our 'Safe at Heart' programme principles and following safe working procedures at all times.

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential.