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Job summary

Main area
Financial Strategy and Planning
Grade
Civil Service: Senior Civil Servant (SCS) 1
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
  • Job share
  • Flexible working
37 hours per week
Job ref
919-KP-300164-EXT
Employer
UK Health Security Agency
Employer type
Public (Non NHS)
Site
National/Hybrid
Town
London
Salary
£75,000 - £117,800 per annum, pro rata
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
07/11/2024 23:59

Employer heading

UK Health Security Agency logo

Deputy Director – Financial Strategy and Planning

Civil Service: Senior Civil Servant (SCS) 1

The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is a system leader for health security; taking action internationally to strengthen global health security, providing trusted advice to government and the public and reducing inequalities in the way different communities experience and are impacted by infectious disease, environmental hazards, and other threats to health.

UKHSA’s remit, as an agency with a global-to-local reach, is to protect the health of the nation from infectious diseases and other external threats to health. As the nation’s expert national health security agency UKHSA will:

  • Prevent: anticipate threats to health and help build the nation’s readiness, defences and health security
  • Detect: use cutting edge environmental and biological surveillance to proactively detect and monitor infectious diseases and threats to health
  • Analyse: use world-class science and data analytics to assess and continually monitor threats to health, identifying how best to control and mitigate the risks
  • Respond: take rapid, collaborative and effective actions nationally and locally to mitigate threats to health when they materialise
  • Lead: lead strong and sustainable global, national, regional and local partnerships designed to save lives, protect the nation from public health threats and reduce inequalities.

Job overview

This Deputy Director role will lead a first-class, Strategic Financial Management team to enable the delivery of UKHSA’s strategic vision, having a constant and relentless focus on Value for Money. They will be accountable for leading a clear financial strategy supported by optimal resource allocations and investment choices, ensuring UKHSA stays within its annual budget and has aggregated reporting of financial and operational performance, delivering a ‘single version of the truth’, and providing in depth analysis of trends and relevant insights to inform decision making.

The role holder will be the accountable person for the business planning and fiscal events (including Spending Review) in UKHSA and be accountable and responsible for the overall corporate guardianship of the budgets and protection of the accounting officer.

The role holder will drive continuous, sustainable improvements in UKHSA’s financial management, controls and reporting.

A key aspect will be building and maintaining excellent relationships alongside management with internal functions and external stakeholders including Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Ministers including Secretary of State, His Majesty’s Treasury, No.10, Cabinet Office.    

 

Main duties of the job

•    Responsibility for the financial strategy of UKHSA, leading the annual business planning/budget setting process, to enable a balanced budget to be produced that aligns to the organisation’s strategic goals. 

•    Lead medium and annual financial plans and budget allocations with strong links to organisational strategy and annual business plan (in line with Departmental outcome delivery plan)

•    Accountable for the provision of corporate level management accounting information, including Board level reporting.

•    Accountability for the provision of the Main and Supplementary Estimates for our sponsor department and HM Treasury.

•    Provide strategic financial advice to Ministers, Senior Officials and decision-making bodies

•    Own the relationship with the Departmental Financial Sponsorship team to understand and consider the cross Departmental position, risk and potential Devolved Administration / Other Government Department implications

•    To be an active board member, providing the necessary challenge on behalf of UKHSA and Secretary of State in respect of the financial and operational performance of spin-outs and other relevant entities

 

Working for our organisation

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.   

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.  

Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For this vacancy we are using Success Profiles to assess your application, using Behaviours. It is important that through your CV and Statement of Suitability you give evidence and examples of proven experience to deliver against the following criteria:

Essential Criteria
•    Excellent leadership skills, and the ability to motivate and develop a diverse finance team. Promoting consistent excellence in the team’s output, whilst balancing working at pace to manage a full workload with conflicting short and long-term priorities.

•    Ability to confidently, clearly and credibly influence strategic planning at pace, making an impact at senior levels through excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including building and maintaining broad diverse networks and relationships, especially across Government with HM Treasury and Cabinet Office. 

•    Evidence of strategic thinking, excellent analytical skills and the ability to translate current challenges in order to create and contribute to a culture of innovation, risk management and long-term improvement. Using evidence-based strategies to evaluate the full range of options, understand the impacts and get the right solution.

•    Expert understanding of cross-government financial processes.

•    Demonstrable experience of building and maintaining a strong and effective network of collaborative relationships with a range of key senior colleagues.

Requirements of the role (e.g. qualifications, licenses and registrations)

Essential:
•     Full membership of a professional accountancy body recognised by the CCAB, or CIMA, plus significant post qualification experience

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).  

Stage 1: Application & Sift 

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on essential criteria, and this will be in the form of:

•    a CV/ Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
•    a 750 word Statement of Suitability. 

This should outline how you consider your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria. 

The CV and Statement of Suitability will be marked together. 
Unfortunately, late applications will not be considered.

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview & assessment.

Please do not exceed 750 words.  We will not consider any words over and above this number.

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2: Interview  (success profiles)

You will be invited to a (single) remote interview. 
Behaviours will be tested at interview and this will include a 5-minute presentation, the topic of which will be confirmed prior to the interview. Visual aids will be allowed.

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

•    Leadership
•    Communicating and Influencing
•    Changing and Improving
•    Seeing the Bigger Picture (Presentation)

Interviews will be held week commencing 18 November 2024. Please note, these dates are subject to change. 

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

If successful you must hold, or be willing to obtain, security clearance to SC level. More information about the vetting process can be found here.

 

Person specification

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Statement of Suitability
  • CV

Behaviours

Essential criteria
  • Leadership
  • Communicating and Influencing
  • Changing and Improving
  • Seeing the Bigger Picture

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Purple SpaceApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyAge positiveImproving working livesMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerThe Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (enei) is the UK's leading employer network covering all aspects of equality and inclusion issues in the workplace.Carer Confident -AccomplishedHappy to Talk Flexible Working

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Luke Heath
Job title
Director, Finance & Corporate Services
Email address
[email protected]
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