Job Description

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The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) vision is an economy that works for everyone – with great places in every part of the UK for people to work and for businesses to invest, innovate and grow.

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Our objectives are:

1. Deliver an ambitious industrial strategy;

2. Maximise investment opportunities and bolster UK interests;

3. Promote competitive markets and responsible business practices;

4. Ensure the UK has a reliable, low cost and clean energy system.

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Our values are:

• Brilliant

• Enterprising

• Inclusive

• Skilled

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The majority of the Department’s £14 billion budget is spent through our partner organisations and subsidiaries.

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This is an exciting time to join the BEIS Finance and Portfolio Directorate. The new  department and Directorate (formed in July 2016) are now fully established and finance is at the heart of decision-making in a number of Government priority areas, including those impacted by EU exit .

 

Competency 1  |  Leading and Communicating 

• Provide financial leadership within the policy space and with partner organisations, helping teams complement and reinforce one another and ensuring a culture of good financial management. 

• Ability to set the direction of own work area, taking tough and sometimes unpopular decisions, seizing opportunity to add value and implement change. 

• Be visible to staff and stakeholders and regularly undertake activities to engage and build trust with stakeholders; 

• Clarify strategies and plans, communicate purpose and direction with clarity and enthusiasm; 

• Stand by, promote or defend own and team’s actions and decisions where needed;

• Lead by example, communicate in a truthful, straightforward manner with integrity, impartiality and promoting a working environment that supports the Civil Service values and code; 

• Be open and inviting of the views of others and respond despite pressure to ignore, revert or concede.

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Competency 2  |  Collaborating and Partnering 

• The candidate must be a strong team player, demonstrating capability to build a network of colleagues, contacts and organisational partners to achieve progress on objectives and shared interests. 

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to put complex financial issues into layman’s terms for non-specialist audiences, including senior officials and Ministers. 

• Ability to seek constructive outcomes in discussions, balance a firm stance with a willingness to compromise when beneficial to progress 

• Demonstrate genuine care for staff and others, is approachable and build strong interpersonal relationships; 

• Encourage contributions and involvement from a broad and diverse range of staff by being visible and accessible; 

• Work as an effective team player, managing team dynamics when working across Departmental and other boundaries; 

• Actively involve partners to deliver a business outcome through collaboration that achieves better results for citizens; 

• Seek constructive outcomes in discussions, challenge assumptions but remain willing to compromise when it is beneficial to progress. 

 

Competency 3  |  Seeing the Big Picture

• Adopt a Department perspective to ensure alignment of activity and policy 

• Ensures relevant issues relating to their activity/policy area are effectively fed into strategy and big picture considerations 

• Bring together views and perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders to gain a wider picture of the landscape surrounding activities and policies 

 

Competency 4  |  Making Effective Decisions

• Push decision making to the right level within their teams, not allow unnecessary bureaucracy and structure to suppress innovation and delivery

• Ensure the secure and careful use of all government and public data and information within their area of activity and Department. 

• Analyse and evaluate data from various sources to identify pros and cons and identify risks in order to make well considered decisions.

• Draw together and present reasonable conclusions from a wide range of incomplete and complex evidence and data – able to act or decide even when details are not clear.

• Identify the main issues in complex problems, clarify understanding or stakeholder expectations, to seek best option. 

• Make difficult decisions by pragmatically weighing the complexities involved against the need to act.    

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About the Role

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This is an exciting and challenging role at the heart of the BEIS Finance and Portfolio
Directorate, leading the Corporate Services Finance Business Partner team in providing high quality financial advice and support to the Corporate Services Director General and her senior leadership team. Corporate Services plays a critical role in enabling the wider department to deliver on its challenging objectives and policies.

 

About the Team

 

You will lead a team of finance business partners, reporting to a Group Finance Deputy Director, whose portfolio covers three finance business partner teams. The wider team is one of six deputy director teams reporting to the BEIS Chief Financial Officer. 

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Key Responsibilities

 

Key responsibilities include:

• Provide leadership and direction to a team of finance business partners, acting as the key contact for the Corporate Services Senior Leadership team

• Lead problem solving and provision of robust advice and options of how they may be overcome to reach a positive solution.

• Drive financial management and insight, including identifying possible areas for focus and improvement and develop cost mitigation, income generation or risk management strategies.

• Transform information into insight to aid the decision-making process, through the analysis of complex information.

• Use strategic and commercial acumen to champion a culture of effective strategic decision making and risk management to underpin strong financial performance for both business as usual and projects and programmes.

• Work collaboratively and constructively with colleagues to support the development of business cases, ensuring that HMG controls and guidance are complied with.

• Ensure that risk management, internal control and governance procedures are followed and act at the first line of defence for financial management.

• Work collaboratively in an integrated and interdependent way to improve financial capability and understanding across the organisation.

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Person Specification

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You will need to be self-starting, flexible and proactive to respond to complex and diverse financial management challenges and to ensure an efficient and effective service to both Corporate Service budget holders and central finance teams within BEIS. You will be a results-driven and collaborative team player with excellent attention to detail. You will have great stakeholder management and communication skills and have proven experience of building high performing teams. You will have an enthusiasm for delivering continuous improvement and contributing positively to change.

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Essential skills / experience are to be full or part qualified, and with previous experience of business planning or management accounting and strong Excel skills

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Part qualified means:

• Achieved Management and Operational Level of CIMA

• Achieved Professional Level of ICAEW

• Achieved Applied skills Level of ACCA

• Achieved Professional Certificate and Professional Diploma Levels of CIPFA 

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About BEIS

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BEIS is a new department at the heart of the Government’s agenda, with a vision of an economy that works for everyone. We are responsible for developing and delivering a comprehensive industrial strategy and leading the Government’s relationship with business; we work to tackle climate change and ensure that the country has secure energy supplies that are reliable, affordable and clean. Our role is vital to lead the Government’s vision in a context of momentous change, responding to both the short-term domestic impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union and working to define the next stage. 

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We feel the department has an exciting remit, and we hope you agree.
 

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Contact​

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For an informal discussion regarding this role please contact Michael Quest. 

020 3031 9638  |  michaelquest@allenlane.co.uk

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