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Finance Strategy Manager, 

Continuous Improvement

£45,000 - Â£62,000 per annum

Job Description

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What we value at Westminster

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We believe that through our leadership and working together we can create the best environment to support growth that benefits our local communities and our unique heritage of which we are the proud custodian.

 

Our vision is for Westminster to be an unrivalled City of choice and aspiration where the connections we build amongst our teams, residents, businesses and visitor’s gets stronger as everyone plays their part in and benefits from the city’s continued success.

 

 

Our culture

 

​We aim to be Productive, Ambitious, Collaborative and Enterprising. We want all our teams to have the skills, confidence and network to contribute to and deliver our City for All vision.

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We want you to have the opportunity to put your ideas into action, to have a real opportunity to set the standard and the PACE and make your career your own. We want your ambition and we want to help you learn and grow.

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Portfolio/responsibilities of this role

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The continuous improvement team, led by an experienced ex-Monitor Deloitte consultant, mirrors that of a private sector internal consulting unit. We have a mandate to drive high performance across all aspects of the finance department’s service delivery. Practically, this entails strategy development, alignment with the leadership team and project based interventions designed to improve performance. In a nutshell, the finance strategy manager will be responsible for senior stakeholder management, problem identification, methodology development, project management and presentation.

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 Specifically this will involve:

  • Development of the finance team’s strategy and identifying initiatives to deliver on this strategy

  • End- to- end project implementation

  • Stakeholder Management involving the development and implementation of ideas across the function of finance as a whole

  • Identifying business improvement opportunities directly, or through others, to improve financial management and reporting

  • Developing finance transformation initiatives

  • Guiding the team through digital disruption through the joint development of a digital transformation strategy

  • Driving a planning, project management and high performance culture

  • Performing quality assurance over the research and deliverables of junior (and sometimes senior) staff members

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What do we expect this role to achieve?

 

​Principal Accountabilities

 

​Strategy development

Assist in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all strategic plans used by the City Treasurer’s Team. At present these include, the overall department strategy, the digital transformation strategy, the learning and development strategy and the commercial strategy, amongst others.

 

​Service delivery

Analyse performance information across multiple metrics for the entire City Treasurer Team,  ensure feedback is obtained and used for continuous improvement of across all strategies.  Identify suitable topics and relevant service providers for the provision of financial and commercial training both finance and non-finance staff.  Innovate in training delivery methods including e-learning and ensure cost-effective provision. 

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Business improvement

Identify opportunities directly or through others to improve all aspects of the services delivered by the City Treasurer team, for example, through process change or additional training. Develop relevant interventions to enhance overall performance and obtain alignment from senior stakeholders. Take ownership of strategic interventions and lead on the implementation thereof.  Help to drive a planning programme and project management culture.  Report regularly to the Senior Leadership Team on improvement initiatives. 

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​Values and behaviours

Positively demonstrate the Council’s Values and Behaviours in your role, to support the achievement of the corporate vision.

 

​Compliance

Ensure that all activities comply with the council’s constitution, Standing Orders, financial regulations, health and safety and safeguarding responsibilities and that effective systems operate within the service to manage performance and risk.

 

​Equality and diversity

Uphold and promote the aims of the council’s equality and diversity policies to ensure non-discriminatory practices in all aspects of work, and that diversity is embedded in everything, from workforce planning and policy development to planning service delivery.

 

 

Work experience

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  • Ideally have 2-4 years experience in a top tier management consulting environment (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Monitor, Big 4 Strategy teams) or 2+ years in a similar organisation coupled with a professional qualification or highly analytical degree (Finance, Economics, Maths, Physics, Engineering etc…)

  • Have some experience working in or with the public sector, with a working knowledge of a similar organisation’s objectives and operating model

  • Have some experience working in or with a public sector finance team, with a working knowledge of a similar organisation’s objectives and operating model

  • Experience in senior stakeholder management.  A proven track record of success in managing and supporting significant organisational and culture change, effective working communicating and engaging with staff and other stakeholders, building partnerships and productive working relationships, positively promoting organisational reputation and interests

 

 

Skills/ Knowledge

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  • Have the ability to think critically to develop credible solutions to identified problems through rigorous analytical investigation

  • Have the ability to structure thoughts and ideas and effectively communicate these to senior stakeholders to obtain buy-in

  • Superior presentation, communication and interpersonal skills and ability to apply these to a variety of audiences including the ability to chair and facilitate meetings and workshops

  • Ability to be innovative, creative and problem solve issues to a successful conclusion.

  • Some understanding of the issues facing local government and those relevant to service/functional responsibilities, together with the legal, financial and political context of public sector financial management.

  • A commitment to equality and diversity.

 

 

Qualifications

 

Undergraduate degree in an analytical field of study (Finance, Economics, Maths, Physics, Engineering etc…)

OR

Professional Qualification in an analytical field (Charteded Accountant - CCAB/CIMA, CFA, professional economist, doctor, etc…)

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Post graduate degree in a finance related field (MBA, M.Comm, etc...)

 

Evidence of continuous professional development desirable

 

 

​Corporate standards

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​Resources / Financial management

We expect you to manage delegated budgets, funding and resources in line with our processes and our Westminster Way. We would welcome your ideas on the development of outcome based commissioning models and/or income generation opportunities to help the council receive value for money.

 

​Values and behaviours

Our values and behaviours are at the heart of everything we do. We expect you to work in this Westminster Way empowering, engaging and encouraging your teammates to deliver our corporate vision.

 

Compliance

We expect you to ensure legal, regulatory and policy compliance in area of your specialism, identifying opportunities and risks and escalate/report where appropriate.

 

Equality and diversity

We value equality and diversity as a city council and we want you to support and promote this in your day to day work.

 

 

PACE

 

Our values and behaviours: Set the PACE

The Values and Behaviours are essential criteria for each post. The bullet points alongside each value give examples of good practice or behaviours associated with that value. You will need to show that you meet each of the values to join us.

 

Productive

  • We show initiative, drive and determination to get the job done; and constantly to improve what we do.

  • We determine the right course of action through listening to the needs of our customers

  • We are accountable for our actions and the decisions we make

  • We help others to be productive, independent and make informed decisions

 

Ambitious

  • We are ambitious in creating new solutions which bring about     substantial benefit

  • We challenge ourselves to be the best we can be

  • We take pride in providing public services to our communities

  • We work as a team to support one another to be the best we can be for our customers

 

Collaborative

  • We provide local leadership and work with partners jointly to develop and deliver services

  • We listen to one another and respect one another’s point of view

  • We challenge one another respectfully and constructively, working together to resolve issues

  • We treat everyone with courtesy, fairness and transparency

 

Enterprising

  • We seek the best deal when looking for ways to improve value for money and reduce cost.

  • We look for new ways to generate growth, income and maximise commercial potential

  • We take managed and considered risks to enable us to achieve the best outcomes.

 

 

Additional leadership values and behaviours for managers

 

People and Service Management  

  • Managing excellent, cost-effective service delivery.

  • Driving forward performance - setting high standards, encouraging improvement and supporting the team to achieve. Having regular team meetings and one to one conversations about performance, including difficult ones when necessary.

  • Developing our people and our partners - giving people the scope to do well, taking time to understand their strengths and motivations, stretching them and coaching them to achieve.

  • Managing budgets responsibly – planning, monitoring and adapting budgets to respond to changing priorities. Delivering the Medium Term Plan

  • Working within the democratic framework - understanding the democratic process and its role in public organisations, anticipating Member needs and responding to their feedback.

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Leadership and Engagement

  • Inspiring the team to deliver the corporate vision, embrace change and develop opportunities.

  • Delivering the corporate vision – developing and communicating a direction for my service which keeps us focused on delivering the priorities of the corporate vision and makes it central to everything we do.

  • Leading change - being realistic, transparent and clear on the challenges. Communicating the reasons for change and ensuring understanding. Inspiring people to get involved, to question, and to take change forward.

  • Making difficult decisions – tackling issues proactively and finding solutions, being accountable for the decisions that have been made.

  • Engaging staff, communities and customers - winning strong support through effective and regular communication, collaboration and feedback.

  • Being commercial – creating opportunities to generate growth, income and maximise commercial potential.

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