The Opportunity
Salary: £75,305 to £80,340 per annum
Working Pattern: Full time
Location: County Hall, Chichester and hybrid working
Interview date: Week commencing 27th July
We are seeking a senior finance professional with extensive leadership experience and technical ability. You will be highly motivated, demonstrate meticulous attention to detail, and adopt a methodical approach, underpinned by a solid understanding of accounting principles and statutory accounts within the public sector.
As the Chief Accountant within the Finance Directorate, you will play a key role in fostering a culture that is responsive, commercially aware, and forward-thinking, ensuring that our financial resources are aligned with organisational priorities and that the Council remains secure, compliant, and resilient within an evolving regulatory environment.
Additionally, you will possess the ability to work collaboratively and manage key internal and external relationships effectively.
You will lead and manage the Chief Accountant’s Team of up to 20 members, including 5 direct reports and oversee the Council’s core financial governance and reporting functions.
Having recently implemented Oracle Fusion and you will play a key role leading both the ongoing maintenance and any opportunities for future development of the Council’s finance system.
About You
We are looking for senior finance leader with:
- Full CCAB qualification and ongoing membership of relevant professional body.
- Significant experience in delivering high‑quality financial reporting and governance in a public‑sector environment.
- A strong understanding of accounting principles, statutory requirements, and financial controls.
- The ability to lead, influence, and inspire teams while managing multiple priorities to tight deadlines.
- Excellent communication skills, with the confidence to advise senior officers, members, and external partners.
- Committed to continuous improvement, innovation and maintaining high standards of professional practice.
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 ourStaff 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 CRS01100.
For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role 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 explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the 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.
