Head of Corporate Services and Chief Finance Officer, Office for Place

The Office for Place is a non-departmental public body established to support the creation and stewardship of places that are beautiful, sustainable, popular and healthy. It has its origins in the recommendations contained in the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission’s report Living with Beauty. The Office for Place is responsible for supporting the implementation of government design policy and legislation in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill requiring every local planning authority to produce a design code for its area.      

The objectives of the Office for Place are to:   

• Catalyse a fundamental change within and across all levels of government, communities and the development, planning, and design industries;    
• Help neighbourhoods, communities and public servants working on their behalf, to request and be instrumental in delivering new places, and managing existing places, to ensure they become popular, healthy, beautiful and sustainable;   
• Support public sector planners and the British design and development industries to be world class place makers aided by improving UK and international data on happiness, health, popularity and sustainability.      

This is an exciting opportunity to join a newly established non-departmental public body and help shape its programme of work.  The Office for Place will be subject to the standard review of public bodies which will take place after 3-5 years to ensure continuing delivery for government and the taxpayer.  

More information on the Office of Place can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-for-place  

An information session to find out more about the work of the Office for Place and the role will be held on Wednesday 1st November. Please register here:   Office for Place Recruitment Information Session – 1st November, 1:30-2:30pm 

We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work.

Important – To apply for this role you will need to submit a CV and covering letter. These need to be merged into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter. There are further details in the Selection Process section further below in this advert. 

We are seeking a Head of Corporate Services to develop and oversee the organisation’s corporate support functions, with a particular focus on managing governance, finance and audit, acting as the Chief Finance Officer.  The role includes leadership of the human resources, IT, facilities, commercial and communications functions, as well as responsibility for the preparation of the annual management accounts, financial audit and annual report.    

This is a new role and you will be joining the Office for Place at its outset as it prepares for financial independence from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities by 1 April 2024.  Initially, your focus will be on the effective implementation of finance, human resource and IT shared services to enable independent operation and financial management from April 2024.       

It is envisaged that you will have responsibility for a team of 5 employees, but you will play a strong role in shaping and recruiting to these positions, as well as others in the new organisation as it builds its total capacity to 24 FTE during 2024-25.  You will report to the Chief Executive and be part of a leadership team with the Director for Policy and Engagement, and Director for Supporting and Accrediting.     

Your responsibilities will include:  

• Ensuring the Office for Place fulfils its duties and responsibilities in relation to governance and finance, including monthly financial reporting to the board, financial accounting and forecasting, risk management, preparing the annual report and accounts, preparing annual budgets and the annual audit, and the effective running of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.    
• Representing the Office for Place in finance and resourcing negotiations with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. 
• Overseeing the effective implementation and operation of finance and human resources shared services contracts, ensuring prompt payment and payroll systems.  
• Overseeing the provision of IT and facilities management contracts, and assets management policies, ensuring the smooth running of the organisation and delivering value for money.  This is expected to include a change in office accommodation during 2024-25 as the Office for Place moves from a temporary to a permanent home in Stoke-on-Trent, requiring oversight of lease negotiations and office move contracts.  
• Oversee the Office for Place’s human resource function, including compliance with HR, diversity and inclusion, data protection and health and safety policies that are being developed with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.  
• Lead the development of the annual business plan, and work closely with the Director for Policy and Engagement on the organisation’s annual state of the nation progress report.   
• Play an active role in leadership of the organisation, supporting the Chief Executive, senior management team and board to develop an organisational culture that promotes its values, and undertaking any additional responsibilities as required.    

Essential Criteria 

You should be a qualified finance professional with CCAB / CIMA or equivalent e.g. ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA, ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI. 

You should have experience of leading teams to successfully manage an organisation’s finance, accounts and audit functions.  You will be familiar with government accounting, specifically the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM), the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance (CBG) and Managing Public Money.  

You will be expected to lead across the organisation’s corporate services and therefore should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the requirements of human resources, IT, facilities and commercial functions.   

You will need to quickly gain the confidence of the Chief Executive and board, and be able to respond to their direction which will require you have excellent communication skills and to build strong relationships.      

Most importantly, you will be a self-starter with an ability to solve problems and demonstrate a positive ‘can do’ attitude.  As this is a new small organisation, flexibility will be key as you look to build capacity and manage resources.     

You will be expected to demonstrate an affinity with the work of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission and an understanding of, and willingness to deliver, the Office for Place aims and objectives.    

Desirable Criteria   

You will ideally be able to demonstrate an understanding of how to operate as part of a senior leadership team to deliver results and achieve organisational change.   

The successful applicated will initially be recruited into the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and on 1st April 2024, formally TUPE over to the Office for Place.  Terms and conditions for the new organisation are to be confirmed but will be no less favourable than DLUHC.

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

• Changing and Improving
• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service

• 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%

Alongside your salary of circa £67,000, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £16,631 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Job contact :

• Name : Suzanne Kochanowski
• Email : Suzanne.kochanowski@levellingup.gov.uk
• Telephone : 07716 079471

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk