Finance Business Partner

DEFRA is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people’s day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.

As a Finance Business Partner (FBP) your role is to protect value, drive value and add value. You will ensure stewardship of public funds, efficient and effective use of budgets and play a key role in transformational change. You will provide advice on budgets across the organisation and protect the Accounting Officer’s interest as outlined in Managing Public Money.

This role will involve collaborating with colleagues from across Defra Group Finance, other arms length bodies and the business areas to deliver successful outcomes. You will also assist in providing insightful financial analysis and establishing a robust challenge to inform strategic decision making and business planning. You will need to be skilled at listening, interpreting, influencing, negotiating, inspiring and challenging, which are all vital to the role.

As a Finance Business Partner, you will provide strategic support to Directors/ Budget Holders and Managers. You will provide an effective Business Partnering service to budget holders that drives business outcomes through excellent service and strong stakeholder relationships.

You will challenge the robustness of plans and drive effective decision making ensuring that issues, risks, and opportunities are clearly identified and managed so that the budget holder and wider organisation land their budget to target.

You will provide insightful financial analysis, promote commercial awareness to inform decision making, provide constructive challenge and ensure that financial governance, control, and alignment is maintained. Your role is to protect, drive and add value.

You will build trust with decision makers so that your advice is actively sought; the FBP is expected to be a critical friend, giving sound financial advice while challenging existing assumptions.

You will own a portfolio of key business areas and stakeholders to help shape and influence plans and develop business cases which demonstrate value for money while meeting the organisation’s priorities.

You will gain a thorough understanding of our customer and ensure that the finance team protects and adds value, matching resources to priorities and supporting Budget Holders in the delivery of their accountabilities.

You will be highly visible and engage early in the process of development of business cases and new ideas to ensure that finance is at the heart of planning and decision making.

You will work collaboratively with colleagues, to ensure that good practice is identified, shared, and developed between FBPs, that consistency of approach is adopted and to build and embed financial capability and understanding across the organisation.

You will be respected for your financial knowledge and skill, providing sound advice, and ensuring the business adheres to relevant finance policies. The role is equally about relationship and information management as it is about financial technical skills

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities will include but not be limited to:

• Developing an understanding of the business, its stakeholders, and deliverables, and being at the heart of decision making within your business area.
• Building and maintaining relationships with budget holders and key stakeholders.
• Providing financial advice on compliance with policy, standards, accountabilities, and controls.
• Supporting the development of a balanced business plan, and allocation of this into an organisational budget.
• Translating, owning, and adding insight to financial data to provide clear information and evidence to support business activities and requirements.
• Providing strategic financial guidance at appropriate level budget holder meetings.
• Reviewing, challenging, and providing input to business cases/ strategic documentation and ministerial submissions.
• Identifying and applying relevant costs, benefits, and investment appraisal techniques.
• Providing relevant finance coaching and training to the business.

Essential Experience and Skills

• Possesses emotional intelligence and has the ability to think empathetically, considering the strategic goals of others.
• Fosters a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration between the business, finance, and other corporate services.
• Can tailor their communication style to a range of audiences, including internal and external stakeholders.
• Uses facts and evidence to aid negotiation and influencing.
• Helps others to understand the interdependencies between business and finance.
• Proactive and passionate, inspiring others to continuously improve.
• Ability to ‘speak the language’ of finance to business, and vice versa, acting as the critical translator between the two.

Technical Skills

Expert

• Oral and written presentation skills.

Practitioner

• Budgeting, forecasting and costing.
• Data and analytics interpretation.

Working Knowledge

• Consolidated Budgeting Guidance.
• HMT Green Book.
• Managing Public Money.
• Data and Analytics Interpretation.
• Commercial acumen.
• Investment appraisal and evaluation.
• Performance and risks.

Qualifications

• Part-Qualified with CCAB, CIMA or equivalent.

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

• Blended Working

  Defra operates a blended working policy subject to business need, giving people the flexibility to choose when and where they work and collaborate with others.

  Individuals are expected to work from one of the office locations stated in the advert to connect with their colleagues, as required by their role and business team needs.  There is flexibility to split the working week, spending minimum of 40-60% in the workplace, unless exceptional circumstances apply and/or you are a contractual home worker,

Job contact :

• Name : Emma Bryan
• Email : emma.Bryan@hays.com
• Telephone : 01553600242

Recruitment team

• Email : defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk