Finance Readiness Lead (Ref: 81838)

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Job Title/ Position        SEO Finance Readiness Lead

Grade    SEO

Number of Vacancies    1 post (A reserve list will be held)

Business Group    Chief Operating Officer

Directorate    Financial Management & Control – Future Finance MoJ Synergy Team

Location    National

Hours    37

Post Type     2 year secondment with a view to extension

Role Type/ Team    Finance

Ministry of Justice an Inclusive Employer

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer of choice and ensuring equity of opportunity for all. We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring in terms of their culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Overview

The Ministry of Justice works to protect the public and reduce reoffending, while endeavouring to provide a more effective, transparent, and responsive justice system for everyone who uses or encounters it. We are responsible for prisons and probation services in England and Wales, and for the courts and tribunals in England and Wales and (in some cases) in Scotland. 

The Synergy programme has been set up to transform Shared Services in Finance, Commercial and HR, across a cluster of four government departments; Ministry of Justice, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office. 
 
This is a fantastic opportunity to join the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Synergy team as a Finance Readiness Lead. The Functional Readiness roles are based within the functional teams they are supporting, to be closer to their main stakeholders. The Readiness roles will be dealing with change being delivered by the Synergy Programme (procuring our new Finance and HR system and Business Processing Service) as well as leading on delivery of our own MoJ Synergy portfolio  of projects to be delivered in readiness for the new system.

Role Summary 

The post offers an exciting development opportunity for the successful candidate to utilise their finance expertise and excellent organisational and interpersonal skills, to work in a fast-paced environment over the finance, commercial and change disciplines. Drawing upon your knowledge and experience, you will have a key role in supporting Finance function readiness, through the delivery of a portfolio of projects from design and feasibility, to testing and deployment.

The role will bring flexibility to pick up a variety of work, and the ability to switch focus at pace is also key to being successful in this role. This role aligns strongly with the Synergy design principles, Government Finance Function Global Design Principles and Data Quality Framework. 

Role Responsibilities 

Key tasks include:

•    Working with a range of business Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), the post holder will lead on the delivery of a number of readiness projects within a portfolio, for their functional areas of accountability. 
•    Developing and delivering board recommendations, through analysis and development of process optimisation proposals, as well as ensuring effective risk and benefit management is maintained.
•    Line management of one individual may be expected. Overseeing the timely delivery of the project products and projects they are responsible for.  
•    Be an advocate of the ‘Adopt not Adapt’ concept of Cloud adoption, challenging established ways of working to realise the transformation aspirations of the programme; to move toward standardised or centralised, more efficient ways of working.
•    For your projects; work across a multi-disciplinary team/stakeholder network to build the case for change, gain Design Authority and Project Board approval to proceed to project implementation, or support handover to a Project Manager (where implementation is phased) and become lead SME for design and implementation of the project deliverables. 
•    Drive the research and gathering of business requirements for both “as-is” and “to-be” state. Identifying opportunities and consequences of change. Analyse, collate and document information, data, insight and evidence provided by stakeholders, other departments or the Synergy Programme; use intelligent analysis to help inform design decisions on complex issues.
•    Identifying, building and maintaining strong effective relationships with stakeholders; business users, owners and experts from across the department and Synergy cluster to confidently challenge, influence and negotiate positive outcomes and solutions. Also, for the portfolio of projects overseen, lead stakeholder analysis, develop strategies and ensure communication and engagement is delivered to plan. 
•    As well as being a champion of best practice and assessing and understand the impacts of change, the post holder will support the Project Manager to create the required business change products. Leading on engagement with subject matter experts to ensure products maximise benefit realisation.

Essential Skills

To be successful in this role, candidates will have (lead criteria in bold):

•    Strong Finance background with functional understanding of the interdependencies across the different processes, how these processes are delivered and designed within UK government or large corporate finance systems.
•    Extensive experience in at least one of the following areas: Purchase to Pay, Source to Contract, Order to Cash, Record to Report, Financial Accounting, Inventory, Grants or Non-current Assets.
•    Experience of engaging successfully with a variety of teams / grades e.g.  Finance, Commercial, Digital, HR, Operational Delivery and / or external partners, to deliver change / transformation.
•    An ability to gather and use information, data, insight and evidence, using analytical skills to inform decision proposals on complex issues.
•    Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to tailor messages for the audience, and effectively engage with and influence stakeholders.
•    Working well in a fast-paced environment by proactively managing and prioritising competing demands and risks, to meet challenging and changing deadlines.

Desirably, candidates will have:

•    Understanding of the Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) market and capability of these systems to be able to automate and streamline processes in future.
•    Knowledge/experience in large scale projects and programmes, and an understanding of project or programme management. 
•    MS Projects, Office 365, SharePoint and MS Teams Skills.
•    Prince 2 Foundation or Agile Foundation.
•    CCAB Qualified accountant (or working towards this) or extensive experience of working in finance, with significant expertise.

The MoJ is committed to offering apprenticeship programmes to new or existing staff at all grades.  The successful applicant will have the opportunity to apply to a range of programmes, including the finance route to become a qualified accountant.

Behaviours Required 

Success Profiles create a fairer and more inclusive method of recruitment by enabling us to assess the range of experiences, abilities, strengths, behaviours, and technical/professional skills required for different roles. This flexible approach to recruitment focuses more on finding the right candidate for the specific role. To find out more about Success Profiles to support your application please click here for further guidance.

To apply, you will be asked to submit a CV and 1000-word statement of suitability.

Your Personal Statement should demonstrate how you meet the criteria set out within the Essential Skills.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead criteria.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or straight to interview. 

At interview, we will select based on both strengths and behaviours. Interviews will be conducted online using MS teams. Behaviours assessed are as follows.

•    Leadership 
•    Making Effective Decisions 
•    Delivering at Pace 
•    Communicating & influencing

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed. 

The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences. If evidence of plagiarism is found your application will be withdrawn

Please refer to the Civil Service Behaviours Framework, which can be found here, to complete this application: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

Reserve / Merit List

Where candidates meet the minimum criteria for the role but are not first placed, they will be held on a merit list. If there are further vacancies for SEO roles within the Future Finance MoJ Synergy Team in the next 12 months, candidates may be taken from the merit list without running a new recruitment campaign.

Training 

The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

Networks 

The opportunity to join employee run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

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

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Job contact :

• Name : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com
• Telephone : 0845 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com