Project Finance Manager - Lower Thames Crossing

National Highways; Grays; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

National Highways is recruiting a Project Finance Manager for the Lower Thames Crossing. Based at the LTC site in Thurrock with occasional travel to regional offices across the South East, you will provide financial insight, governance, and challenge to the leadership team.

You will support budgeting, forecasting, balance sheet reconciliations, and the rollout of new finance processes, ensuring budget holders have the right information to meet project targets and reporting standards.

Qualifications

• Qualified accountant with governance experience.
• Experience on projects and change initiatives from planning to delivery.
• Strong stakeholder management and ability to simplify complex information.

Responsibilities

• Provide accurate financial support, analysis, and advice to the Programme leadership team.
• Ensure budgeting, forecasting, and planning processes are robust and aligned with targets.
• Lead roll-out of new finance processes and ensure budget holders have necessary information.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Financial analysis

Data analysis

Presenting insights

Automation of finance IT

Education

Qualified accountant

ACCA/CIMA/CA

Tools

Excel

ERP systems

Job description

Project Finance Manager - Lower Thames Crossing

National Highways have an excellent opportunity for a Project Finance Manager to join our Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) team. As the Project Finance Manager, you will provide financial support, insight, and challenge to the leadership team of Lower Thames Crossing Directorate at National Highways. You will also be responsible for the maintenance of strong financial controls and governance, ensuring LTC's management and financial accounts are produced in line with Government and Statutory Financial Reporting standards.

This is a permanent role based at the Thurrock LTC site offices however; travel to regional offices / sites throughout the South East may be required.

• Provide accurate and timely financial support, analysis, and advice to the Programme leadership team. Contribute to planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes to support informed decision-making and drive performance improvement.
• Ensure financial results are accurate, clearly communicating, budgets and forecasted outcomes to the Programme leadership team. Identify key issues in business performance, to support informed decision-making and drive performance improvement.
• Contribute to the adoption of new business and finance processes and lead their roll-out Ensuring budget holders are equipped with the right information and financial insight to achieve the financial objectives of the project.
• Support the annual business planning process and longer-term financial planning, using a bottom-up approach. Engaging with those responsible for providing inputs and ensuring that all are aware of key targets, pressures and messages. Networking with Project Managers and Senior Leadership within the Directorate to ensure they are aligned to the target costs agreed.
• Assist in ensuring that costing systems are aligned with core finance systems. Help maintain consistency in reporting outputs and resolve data discrepancies as needed.
• Contribute to the review of balance sheet reconciliations, cash flow forecasts, and financial provisions. Ensure compliance with relevant financial standards and internal policies.

About you.

• Qualified accountant with previous finance, governance and commercial experience.
• Good understanding of project management approaches and experience of working on or leading projects and change initiatives from planning through to successful delivery. Relevant project management qualifications are welcomed but not essential.
• Excellent relationship / stakeholder management skills with ability to understand and analyse complex information and present it simply and accurately.
• Experience of working with financial systems to support the business with automation and improved utilisation of the finance IT products
• Ability to work with high volumes of data in order to analyse trends and future insight.
• Understanding and working experience of managing a business planning process at a regional/area level, being able to communicate the project/directorate objectives to all those with responsibility for developing budgets and taking responsibility for ensuring budget outputs align with company, directorate and regional targets (desirable).

About us.

Here at National Highways, we manage and improve England's motorways and major A roads, helping our customers have safer, smoother and more reliable journeys. Our priorities are safety, customers and delivery, and at the core of this, are our values of passion, integrity, safety, teamwork and ownership.

The Lower Thames Crossing is one of the UK's most ambitious and high-profile infrastructure programmes, designed to transform connectivity, improve network resilience and support economic growth for decades to come.

As the largest road project in a generation, the Lower Thames Crossing will create a new connection beneath the River Thames, linking Kent, Thurrock and Essex, and significantly increasing capacity across one of the country's busiest transport corridors. The project will help unlock opportunities for communities and businesses locally, while strengthening national supply chains and supporting the movement of people and goods across the UK.

More than a road project, the Lower Thames Crossing is a nationally significant programme that is pioneering new approaches to sustainability, innovation and delivery. The scheme aims to leave a positive legacy by improving journey reliability, enhancing safety, creating new green spaces and delivering environmental improvements alongside vital transport infrastructure.

External candidates will be offered a starting salary at the lower end of the pay scale, while current employees will be appointed in accordance with our established pay policy.

We are committed to creating a diverse environment and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.