About the Team
The Finance Directorate plays a leading role in shaping the future of the Council, by being responsive to customer and stakeholder needs through an empowered, flexible and commercially focused team and by aligning resources to provide a professional service appropriate to future organisational needs.
This is in addition to keeping WSCC safe and secure through appropriate financial control. The Directorate will ensure that the basics are done well with emphasis on challenging the County Council to spend its money better, especially in the context of becoming more strategic and forward looking.
The Opportunity
Salary: £48,226 to £51,356 per annum
Working Pattern: Full-time, 37 hours per week
Location: Hybrid working, based at County Hall, Chichester and working from home
This is a fantastic opportunity to join the Strategic Finance team! As a Principal Finance Officer you will be responsible for providing a reliable, efficient and effective flexible support to the Strategic Finance Team in delivering a specialist financial service.
Your wider responsibilities will include taking a leading role in preparing, monitoring and closing budgets. You will support budget holders to manage service budgets and implement change, through adopting a business partnering approach. This will include preparing for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).
What are we looking for?
We’re looking for a finance professional with experience of working independently to tight deadlines as part of wider project of critical importance to the organisation. You’ll need keen attention to detail, a methodical approach with a sound understanding of accounting principles, and the ability to work in partnership and manage key client relationships.
- Able to demonstrate the relevant skills and experience, with great communication and interpersonal skills to make the most of your talent.
- Be proactive with a can-do attitude, and a focus on personal and professional development.
- A good team player, keen and able to work collaboratively with stakeholders, partners and third-party suppliers to achieve outcomes within a complex operating environment.
- You will be able to effectively manage conflicting priorities, to deliver high quality projects.
- A strong focus on continuous improvement and a commitment to delivering and ensuring value for money.
For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.
Working for us
As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this we want to help support your development and provide a great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including:
- an excellent local government pension scheme
- generous holiday entitlement of 30 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
- a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
- maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
- volunteering opportunities
- training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
- a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
- health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans
For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further information
The reference number for this role is CRS01124.
For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact John Edwards [email protected] or Stef Young [email protected]
For issues or queries regarding your application please contact [email protected].
To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter. In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explain how you meet the skills and experience required for this role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to 3 years referencing and a health check.
Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.
We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.
Job Reference: CRS01124
