Job Details

Job introduction

This a senior finance management role working within Brighton & Hove City Council.

Given the current Covid-19 situation, special arrangements will be made with respect to interviews ensuring a safe interview process and equality of access for all participants.

Interview dates to be confirmed

 

About the role

Brighton & Hove City Council is seeking a full time Principal Accountant to support the Economy, Environment & Culture directorate within the Finance team. We are seeking a self-motivated, articulate and competent individual who is passionate about making a positive difference in the public service.

The successful candidate will be organised, have excellent communication and persuasion skills, be a good problem-solver and will focus on delivery and customer service. They will also have extensive knowledge and experience of financial management, financial planning and financial appraisal.

In this role you will be primarily supporting the Economy, Environment & Culture directorate of Brighton & Hove City Council which covers a wide range of services from CityClean refuse & recycling to the Brighton Centre, sustainable transport and major regeneration capital schemes. This directorate is heavily engaged in carbon reduction initiatives, regeneration of the city and providing city-wide council services.

Working in Finance in Brighton & Hove brings with it a range of benefits that people in our team enjoy, including working within;

• the City of Brighton & Hove which is an attractive, vibrant place to live and work;
• a friendly service with a wide age range and one where we are aiming for a gender-balanced and diverse service that reflects the city we serve;
• a flexible workplace where we accommodate a wide range of working. patterns and are keen to help staff maintain a good work-life balance; 
• a team that supports and develops its staff. Many of our current managers came through apprenticeships or entry level positions. The council provides a wide range of training and development opportunities for staff at all levels.

About the Role

This role is in the Brighton & Hove Service Finance team supporting the Economy, Environment & Culture (EEC) directorate. Overall, the council has a gross budget of nearly £800 million while the EEC directorate has a gross budget of around £108 million.

We are recruiting for a Principal Accountant to join our EEC Finance Team. This team also covers two other directorates but the role will be primarily focused on EEC. The team provides direct, localised support to our customers in Brighton & Hove. We are focused on being an effective Business Partner to our customers which means providing them with experienced and knowledgeable Finance Business Partners to advise them on a wide range of financial matters including financial management, budget planning, business case appraisal and development, capital investment programmes and so on. The Principal Accountant role is effectively a senior business partner role. 

The role requires you to use your financial skills and experience to lead on providing support to the EEC directorate including advising its Executive Director, senior management team, members, service leads and budget holders. The directorate covers a wide range of services and has an extensive modernisation programme and capital investment programme, particularly supporting regeneration. It generates very large incomes for the council through services such as parking, planning and event venues and this is a key area of financial management support. It is involved in exciting developments such as Carbon Net-Zero initiatives, green energy and sustainability projects, and regeneration projects.

This is an exciting opportunity to enhance your professional finance career in a team that provides a great working environment where you are supported and given a platform to develop.

We are looking for people who have:

• Experience of providing expert financial business partner support and advice to service departments;
• Experience in building strong stakeholder relationships;
• Experience of using management theory and techniques;
• Proven communication skills, both written and oral;
• The desire to contribute to providing high-quality public services.

Previous experience in public sector finance is desirable but not essential and we welcome applications from experienced finance professionals from other sectors. However, the successful candidate should be able to demonstrate awareness of the implications of working within a public sector environment and how this affects financial management and planning arrangements.

COVID-19 update: The role is traditionally based at Bartholomew’s House in Brighton. Please note that Brighton & Hove City Council is currently following the government’s advice on enabling staff to work from home if it is safe and practical to do so. Therefore, this role is highly likely to be required to work remotely to begin with until the Council makes any changes to these working arrangements.

If you have any questions regarding this position, please email nigel.manvell@Brighton-Hove.gov.uk 

To apply, please visit website: https://bit.ly/2OWAbo3

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

Work Permits: We may be able to obtain a Work Permit for this post but this is subject to meeting the requirements of the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) Points-based Immigration System. Please see Gov.uk for more information on the Skilled Worker Visa.

 

Company information

Please note this role is subject to a Standard Disclosure Check.

We welcome applications from all sections of the community but particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as, LGB, male or trans as these groups are currently under-represented in our Directorate workforce.

 

Files

• Job Description and Person Specification