Senior Finance Officer

West Sussex County Council; Chichester; On-site; GBP 39,000 - 43,000; Full time

Job summary

A local council in Chichester is seeking a Senior Finance Officer to join the Financial Planning Team. This role involves project accounting, client queries, and maintaining records on SAP. The successful candidate will demonstrate strategic thinking and effective relationship management. This position offers a hybrid work environment with generous holidays and development opportunities.

Benefits

Generous holiday entitlement

Flexible working options

Training and development opportunities

Health and wellbeing benefits

Qualifications

• Experience in delivering a finance business partnering model.
• Proven ability to manage client relationships effectively.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Respond to client queries and provide reliable information.
• Produce and update monthly highlight reports.
• Maintain and reconcile records on SAP.
• Collaborate to produce detailed business cases.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Relationship management

Critical thinking

Tools

SAP

Job description

Senior Finance Officer

West Sussex County Council

• Location: County Hall, Chichester and working from home (Hybrid)
• Salary: £39,862-£42,839 per year
• Permanent
• Full-time
• Interview date: w/c 06 October 2025

The Senior Finance Officer forms part of the Financial Planning Team in Corporate Finance. Your responsibilities are varied, incorporating all aspects of project accounting, statutory returns and the application of internal governance. You will work directly with the service you support providing reliable, efficient and accurate information. This will include responding to day-to-day client queries, producing and updating monthly highlight reports, providing monthly complex information in a clear and concise manner, maintaining and reconciling records on SAP, and working alongside service colleagues to produce detailed business cases for future investment.

Responsibilities

• Respond to day-to-day client queries and provide reliable, efficient, and accurate information.
• Produce and update monthly highlight reports and present monthly complex information clearly.
• Maintain and reconcile records on SAP.
• Collaborate with service colleagues to produce detailed business cases for future investment.

What are we looking for

As well as being a finance professional with experience in delivering a finance business partnering model, you will also need to be a:

• Strategic thinker - think beyond the surface of a task/issue and provide a strategic view and added value to the service.
• Relationship manager - able to successfully manage key client relationships.
• Critical friend - able to challenge, persuade, negotiate and influence the service that you support.

Working for us

We recognise our employees are central to achieving our goals. We aim to support your development and provide a great place to work, with benefits including:

• Generous holiday entitlement of 27 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• A range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• Maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• Volunteering opportunities
• Training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• A range of discounts offering access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers, and saving opportunities through the West Sussex Choices benefits platform
• Health and wellbeing benefits including access to the Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans

Further information

The reference number for this role is CRS00974. For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Gary Jefkins (Capital Programme Manager).

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to references, health check and right to work in the UK. West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.

For information regarding eligibility to apply under our Disability or Veteran's Guaranteed Interview Scheme, see our page.

Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We’ll be in touch directly if we need you!