Executive Director Business Services
c. £110,000 per annum
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time (35 hours)
Location: The role can be based at any of the Heritage Fund offices in the UK - London, Exeter, Birmingham, Nottingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff. Regular travel to London and to other offices across the UK will be required, as will visits to stakeholder organisations and project site visits.
Hybrid working: Staff are expected to work from their contracted Heritage Fund office at least twice a week. Time spent on site visits to projects or meetings at another Heritage Fund or external office are counted as part of those two days. Employees may work from home for the remaining days.
Reporting to: Chief Executive
Responsible for: Director of HR, Director of Legal and Governance, Head of Finance, Director of IT and Estates, Executive Assistant
Organisational chart
Business Services
Business Services provides corporate service functions across the Heritage Fund. Our role is to enable, partner and support the delivery of our ambitions. We provide the core services for all our operations and work as business partners to the other departments - across all the teams in the UK. We have specialist professions in Legal, Governance, HR and People, IT, Estates, Finance and Procurement.
Job purpose
The Executive Director of Business Services will lead a dynamic multifunctional directorate of business-focussed functions which enable, underpin and facilitate the work of the organisation, auditing and aiding the quality of work, and smooth-running of people and process. They will be a senior leader and key member of the Heritage Fund’s Executive Team. The post holder will support the CEO and other Directors of the Heritage Fund in ensuring that all Departments in the Heritage Fund have the right resources and right staff, in the right place at the right time and the organisation is able to respond at pace to the wider challenges and opportunities in the sector and risks that will impact on how our operations are managed. This will include supporting the implementation and delivery of our new funding Strategy and completion of our new Investment Management System (IMS) which is the grant management tool that will underpin all our operations and data management.
Specifically, the post holder will lead the following functions within the Fund:
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Finance
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HR
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Legal and Governance
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IT, Estates and Sustainability
Key duties and responsibilities
General
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To manage and deliver regulatory requirements for business service functions across the Heritage Fund.
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To anticipate and meet the needs of the Heritage Fund’s work staff and organisation as a whole and hold the overall organisational risk register.
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To service the needs of the organisation and deploy resources out to nations/regions as appropriate.
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To drive improvements across the delivery of business services, ensuring the smooth running of customer-focused teams delivering a high quality of service to internal customers and driving employee satisfaction.
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Responsibility as an Information Asset Owner for information assets in Business Services, with specific focus on:
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Preventing inappropriate access to, disclosure or loss of data.
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Preventing unlawful access to data and malicious use.
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Avoiding loss of access to information and loss of service.
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Ensuring effective management of suppliers and their performance.
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Finance
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To allocate, manage and account for resources of the Heritage Fund including administrative and project fund budgets.
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To lead on the delivery of the financial and accounting processes necessary for the Heritage Fund including (but not exclusively to): budget allocation; payment processing; financial governance, fraud and error including audit; endowment and investment management; financial and performance reporting; payroll and pension; contracts, procurement and supplier management; and tax and HMRC compliance.
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To lead on the production of Annual Reports and Accounts.
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To act as the Chief Executive’s and Accounting Officer’s principal adviser on all questions of financial planning and management, attending Board of Trustees meetings and Committees (Finance and Resources and Audit).
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To act as the key point of contact with DCMS, NAO and, where necessary, HMT, on financial and corporate services matters, including on Managing Public Money guidance. Close working with Finance Directors of other Lottery distributors.
Information Technology
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To lead the delivery of technology and innovation, delivering value adding solutions to enable the effective delivery of operational and strategic goals across the Heritage Fund. To ensure that internal & external needs are identified and delivered within agreed service standards whilst ensuring value for money and effectiveness.
Human Resources
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To drive high performance and effectiveness across the Heritage Fund by attracting, retaining and developing a diverse and engaged body of staff with the required knowledge, talents and values.
Legal and Governance
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To lead all legal and governance activities to ensure organisational compliance, alongside ensuring that project funding processes are compliant and that our systems, processes and contracts are fit for purpose.
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To ensure the effective delivery of governance functions supporting the delivery of Board, Committee and Panels within the Heritage Fund.
Estates
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To manage and deliver the Estate strategy, delivering a safe, efficient, fit for-purpose and sustainable estate to enable the workforce to meet customer needs across the UK.
Sustainability
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To support the Fund’s aim of reaching Carbon Net Zero for our operations by 2030, including embedding organisational change to reduce emissions relating to offices, travel, commuting, supply chain and homeworking.
Mandatory duties and responsibilities
For managerial roles:
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Leadership: The postholder is responsible for setting clear behavioural standards for their team and empowers and motivates their staff and colleagues to deliver high quality services in pursuit of the Heritage Fund’s strategic goals.
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Management: The postholder is responsible for ensuring effective and efficient services and setting clear performance standards for their team - rewarding, supporting and challenging staff to ensure individual, team and organisational objectives are delivered.
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Collaborative working: The postholder is responsible for ensuring effective collaborative working within their team, Department and wider Heritage Fund to ensure the strategic goals of the Heritage Fund are met.
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Digital working: The postholder is responsible for ensuring that the services, policies and processes delivered by their team maximise opportunities for digital working and support the Heritage Fund’s digital strategy.
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Values: The postholder is responsible for promoting, championing and delivering the Heritage Fund’s Values framework.
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Diversity and Inclusion: The postholder is responsible for ensuring their teams, processes and services proactively support and champion diversity and inclusion - both internally within their own teams and externally in services and relationships with customers and stakeholders.
Other:
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The role can be based at any of the Heritage Fund offices in the UK - London, Exeter, Birmingham, Nottingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff. Regular travel to London and to other offices across the UK will be required, as will visits to stakeholder organisations and project site visits. The Heritage Fund champions and encourages flexible working where this supports the needs of the Heritage Fund.
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The Heritage Fund has formally adopted a hybrid working approach. This means that most employees will work from their contracted Heritage Fund office twice a week at minimum. Time spent on site visits to projects or other meetings based at another Heritage Fund or external office are counted as part of those two days. The other days in the week employees may work from home.
Note on the Heritage Fund job descriptions: These are a guide to the contents of the job and the skills and experience required. Job content may change over time and are not part of the contract of employment.
Person specification
Essential criteria
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Educated to degree level or an equivalent standard;
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Professionally qualified accountant (CCAB or CIMA);
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Experience of working as a Director or similar level, ideally in a multi-faceted leadership role within a complex organisation with significant public and government accountability and regulation;
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Political awareness and sensitivity with a proven ability to win the confidence of a wide variety of senior stakeholders; such as senior civil servants, Director/Board level individuals, strategic agencies;
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A proven track record of managing a substantial budget and staffing resource and making effective or difficult decisions despite competing pressures and tight timescales;
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The highest levels of personal and professional integrity; and experience of leading values driven teams and a commitment to the Heritage Fund’s values of being inclusive, ambitious, trusted and collaborative;
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Resilience, and be comfortable with the pressures of external scrutiny and audit;
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Ability to challenge constructively, influence and negotiate across sector and professional boundaries, balancing conflicting priorities.
General skills/Experience Required
(for all Executive Directors)
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Highly developed interpersonal and influencing skills, with a track record of developing and maintaining effective relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders at Director/Board level, as well as Ministers of the UK government and its devolved nations;
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Excellent project management abilities with good financial management skills and proven ability of devising and managing budgets;
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Excellent leadership skills with the ability to build and maintain high performing teams and work as part of an executive team to provide visible leadership to the organisation;
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Ability to influence and build relationships at all levels, as well as being a highly-collaborative, team-player;
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Strong customer service ethos and focus on delivery with the ability to respond quickly to changing circumstances and tight timescales as priorities evolve and escalate;
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Strong analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills; with excellent judgment, able to develop creative solutions to problems and effectively manage risk;
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Excellent communication skills - clear, effective, persuasive and authoritative in both spoken and written communication, with well-developed presentation skills, and the ability to state a complex case clearly, logically and concisely;
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Excellent negotiation and influencing skills;
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Demonstrable experience of and commitment to the promotion of inclusion and enhancing diversity; and
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Strong level of numeracy and financial and business awareness; able to assess complex information and use it to make sound judgements.
