Finance Team Leader
Supported Housing | Squared Homes
Contract: Permanent
Salary: £33,000 – 35,000 per annum (depending on experience)
Hours: 37 hours per week (Monday to Friday)
Location: Luton, Squared is committed to agile, therefore you will work from any of the Squared sites or remotely as appropriate to business need.
About Squared
Squared is a not-for-profit housing association supporting communities across Luton and South Bedfordshire since 1962. We are a welcoming, inclusive organisation where people feel valued, supported and empowered to make a real difference.
Our Benefits
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33 days annual leave (including bank holidays), increasing with service (up to 38 days)
- Option to buy or sell up to 5 days leave
- Free Health Cashplan (after probation)
- Canada Life WeCare Employee Assistance Programme
- Pension scheme (Squared contributes 1.33% of employee contribution up to 8%)
- Life Assurance
- Personal Accident Cover
- Staff benefits portal with shopping discounts
- Essential Car User Allowance (in addition to mileage payments)
- Flexible, supportive working approach
About the team
Our Finance and Digital Services department is a vital division of Squared. The finance and digital services’ role is to protect the wealth of Squared’s assets, capital, staff and money, and develop and implement our digital transformation agenda.
The other functions finance is involved in includes
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Payroll-wages, pension and staff benefits
- Annual budget and business plans
- Monthly, quarterly and annual accounts for stakeholders
About the Role
You will play an important role at Squared in the Finance Department working closely with the Financial Controller (who is your line manager) and the Management Accountant (responsible for reporting). Your role will ensure the smooth running of all processing including sales ledger, purchase ledger, banking and nominal ledger. You will also set expectations of when regular work is to be completed each day, week and month and ensure the department achieves those targets. It should be noted, this is not merely a supervisory role though, you will also have your own workload and daily tasks to manage.
These are the things you’ll need to do in your role. You may be asked to achieve additional objectives and tasks in order to respond to the needs of the developing service, as part of your own personal development or as the role evolves:
- To be responsible for maintaining monthly cashbooks and undertaking bank reconciliations for all the association’s bank accounts, ensuring that rents received per the computerised rent accounting reconcile with the cashbook and rent statements.
- To be responsible for posting all necessary journals to maintain the nominal ledger.
- To be responsible for day to day supervision and target setting of all sales ledger related invoicing and posting, supporting any queries and working with other departments or management, as needed, to solve issues.
- To be responsible for day to day supervision and target setting of all purchase ledger related invoices and posting, supporting any queries and working with other departments or management, as needed, to solve issues. This includes ensuring proposed payment runs are prepared on a timely basis.
- To be responsible for day-to-day supervision and target setting of all rent collection activities, ensuring reconciliations take place on a timely basis.
- To assist in maintaining the fixed asset register for the association.
- To assist staff members with finance related problems, or when necessary, liaise with relevant suppliers.
- To comply with the requirements of the Financial Regulations
- To assist in collating and distributing papers for Board and other company meetings.
- Understand and follow Squared’s policies and procedures at all times, including Health and Safety, Fairness, and Business Continuity Planning.
You may be asked to achieve additional objectives and tasks in order to respond to the needs of the developing service, as part of your own personal development or as the role evolves.
About You
We’re looking for someone who is:
You’ll play an important role at Squared both now and as we develop and grow. We need a driven person who is amicable and influential to work with and supervise finance staff in a collegiate way that develops a sense of trust and team.
You’ll be a rare individual who is capable of negotiating and decision-making. You’ll be a proactive and motivated, hard-working self-starter, and you will be organised, efficient, able to both delegate and work quickly and accurately under pressure whilst maintaining professionalism at all times.
Needless to say you’ll be willing to go the extra mile to get the job done.
You will provide an excellent service to the Financial Controller (and Finance Team) ensuring that the reputation and work of the department is of a high standard. You will be proactive in identifying and recommending areas for improvement and be self-motivated, taking responsibility for initiating and checking your own output.
The table below detail the essential and desirable qualifications, knowledge, experience and skills you will need to perform in the role successfully. Our selection process will be based on assessing you against this criteria and how you fit with the required behaviours and values
Essential Criteria
Education / Qualifications
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Educated to GCSE/'O' Level standard in English and Mathematics.
- Qualified by experience in Finance.
Knowledge / Experience
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At least 2 years' experience working within a busy accounting office environment.
- Experience of using accounting software and payroll programmes.
Skills
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Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the organisation.
- Proficiency in the use of spreadsheets and word-processing applications.
- Ability to learn relevant software quickly and confidently.
- Excellent organisational skills.
- Ability to work as part of a team and use own initiative.
- Ability to manage time effectively, prioritise workload, and plan ahead to handle multiple tasks simultaneously without losing sight of priorities.
- Ability to adopt a methodical approach and work within established systems and procedures.
- Ability to handle sensitive data and maintain clear and accurate records.
- Strong attention to detail.
- Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
- Strong reconciliation skills.
Desirable Criteria
Education / Qualifications
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Part-qualified accountant studying towards a recognised accounting qualification.
Knowledge / Experience
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Experience of working within a Social Housing environment.
What Will Make You Stand Out
We're looking for someone who combines strong finance knowledge with the ability to lead by example. You'll be proactive, highly organised and confident managing your own workload while supporting and motivating a small team to meet deadlines. If you enjoy improving processes, building positive working relationships across the business, and take pride in accuracy and attention to detail, you'll thrive in this role. Experience in a busy finance environment, excellent reconciliation skills and a passion for delivering outstanding service will set you apart.
Why Work With Us?
At Squared, you’ll be part of a values-driven organisation where your work has genuine impact.
If you’re looking for a role where you can make a difference, develop your skills and work within a supportive and forward-thinking team, we’d love to hear from you.
Squared is a not-for-profit housing association that has been providing affordable housing in Luton and South Bedfordshire since 1962. We strive to find ways to continuously develop and grow with our tenants and residents needs at the heart of everything we do. We are proud to support the local community and embrace its diversity. Our aim is to empower individuals to make choices about their lives on their journey to lead fulfilled, independent lives, through an innovative approach to tackling local housing needs and homelessness. We don’t just give people a key, we offer on-going support to unlock their potential. We don’t just give advice; we offer genuine warmth and non-judgmental care. We don’t just provide business services; we offer expert consultancy and management. We provide homes for independent living and homes with support in Luton and Central Bedfordshire. To complement this work, we also run a lettings service for private landlords; a social enterprise inspired cleaning and gardening service; and an employee excellence focused HR consultancy - People Excellence. Every day, the people on our team make a difference to our customers. Whether they’re working with them directly or supporting behind the scenes they’re helping them regain their independence and live more fulfilled lives. As we expand our services, we’re also helping other businesses to thrive. This continued positive impact on our customers is extremely important to us and our success, and we can only achieve it by finding the right people to work with us. We look for people who share our ambitious, forward-thinking outlook and supportive, hardworking approach. If you join us, we’ll invest in you and continue to nurture your potential to help you achieve great things for you, us and – most importantly – our customers. We strongly believe in providing a working environment which recognises individuals’ differing needs, therefore encouraging a work/life blend is key to us.
