Enhanced Shared Services Senior Manager

Key Responsibilities

Leadership

• Undertake line management, mentoring and countersigning tasks as required by the role. This role has 2 direct reports and 4 countersigning roles, (total team of 9).
• Maximise resources, including people, by encouraging innovation, championing diversity & inclusion flexibility & continuous improvements for HLB/Defence.
• Identify & tackle improvements through development & prompt management action.
• Ensure team members’ objectives and goals include commitment to Mid-Year Reviews/End of Year Reviews are undertaken in line with Defence Business Services (DBS).
• Ensure L&D plans match business needs & personal aspirations
• Champion improvements in employee engagement underpinned by a clear & communicated action plan.
• Direct business training approach to ensure all training needs are managed, using the best mechanisms to deliver learning, have robust learning needs analysis (to support individual development), provides value for money, exploits learning from experience and knowledge transfer.

Personal Development

• Undertake your own learning and development and upskilling as required.

Enhanced Shared Services Routine Requirements

• Development of stakeholder network and including financial operations, finance business partners, DBS and commercial to support procurement and system use, to identify best practice and streamline transactional services supporting business areas.
• Development of knowledge of different payment processes, including ePC, Digital Workplace and CP&F.
• Identification of new ways to centralise and automate shared services seeking continuous improvement opportunities.
• Management of the Enhanced Shared Services team, providing an expanding list of transactional services to HLBs including but not limited to: ePC Virtual Hub and ePC administration; ePC Holder including use of card for procurement, monthly reconciliations and administration and completion of assurance checks; ensuring JSP332 alignment; providing advice to other card holders; scrutinising/Actioning delegated limit increase requests; LoD updates; maintaining the ePC Card Holder register and audit trails
• Payment Solutions: Pilots across MOD including Tailspend administration; Non-Contract Procurement reporting; Variant 3 SME and oversee applications; HR1108s approvals and administration.
• CP&F Management: System user, including completing requisitions and administration towards procurement when necessary; Supporting Line Manager and obtaining correct approvals and complete Government agreed contract agreement administration on CP&F Onboarding; Queries.
• Management of Finance systems access controls; Invoice raising (for income generating activities); Finance systems access controls; Invoice raising (for income generating activities); Oversight of the various streams of the ESS team with a robust understanding of all areas of responsibility; Responding to ad-hoc enquiries from service users; Other ad-hoc tasks aiding financial, system and procurement processes; Taking ownership for service quality, including the timely response to service requests and ad-hoc enquiries.

Continuous improvement

• Dedicating time to sharing best practice and ideas for refining standardised processes and procedures.
• Foster a culture of best practice and seeking opportunities for improvement within the team and across all UKStratCom stakeholders.
• Seeking feedback on the services provided, and continuously striving to improve the service provision. Promptly address any key issues that arise ensuring that processes or ways of working are adapted accordingly, and customers are informed where there is an impact.
• Managing issues highlighted during internal or external audit, engaging relevant stakeholders to enable corrective action. Promptly addressing any misinterpretation of guidance, sharing with team members to promote embedding the lesson(s) learnt.

OEA/Fuels Routine Requirements

• Leadership and management of all Operational Energy Authority Financial processes which include forecasting and accounting for fuel, third party revenue, fuel exchange agreements and leases alongside the usual forecasting and reporting requirements of a busy finance function. Responsible for ensuring programme/project costs are rigorously controlled and monitored against approvals alongside providing robust in year forecasts and 10 year forward plans through the Annual Budgetary Cycle (ABC).
• Ensure accuracy of all technical financial reporting including but not limited to: General Ledger activities ensuring the correct balances, accruals entries, lease accounting, inventory accounting utilising the Inventory Accounting Tools, adherence to foreign exchange rate agreements and other extant settlements in place.
• Work with non-finance colleagues to deliver OEA financial forecasts with insightful commentaries to enable the business to understand month on month variances and the level of financial risk exposure.
• Manage the Financial input to the Annual Budget Cycle process in conjunction with OEA colleagues and customers from other Commands. This includes the production of the Programme Cost Review (PCR) submissions in the form of screening packs and ensuring resulting actions are recorded and reflected accurately in the financial systems. Clear explanations of variances and risks are essential.
• Challenge and interpret complex supply chain cost data to assure Fuel Weighted Average Cost (WAC) calculations by the OEA finance team, confirming they are robust, correctly accounted, and charged out to Front Line Commands. Ensure third party charging is timely, and invoices are correctly stated on the system. Ensure VAT and duty is correctly applied and accounted for across all areas.
• Manage the team to actively support audit and internal compliance, ensuring accruals, journals, invoices and option proposals have robust supporting evidence. Ensure efficiencies captured are promptly and adequately supported by auditable evidence
• Work with OEA colleagues to develop cost models and assist in the production of Investment Appraisals and support to business cases. Monitor project expenditure against approval and ensure the appropriate VAT and duty is applied to all cost. Noting these could relate to the wider ambitions of the OEA in terms of sustainability and innovation.
• Lead your team to ensure adherence to the financial timetable, with the right return, the right information at the right time. Noting the formation of the OEA will drive change across these processes. This role is key in understanding this and working with both OEA colleagues and the wider UKSC finance teams to embed these changes.

Delivering your area of responsibility

• Management of team members, empowering, motivating and coaching to enable effective delivery.
• Supporting individual’s personal development and careers, ensuring you and the team make time to develop themselves and their peers.
• Being open to challenge and new ideas, sharing of knowledge and experience, encouraging others through building a supportive team environment.
• Ensuring the team are getting the basics right at the first attempt.
• Developing and embedding the use of standardised processes to deliver a consistent output to customers.
• Exercising sound judgement and interpretative ability, and application of innovative thought to derive novel solutions.
• Seeking advice, referring upwards as required, where problems are particularly complex or have wider.

OEA/Fuels Routine Requirements

• Leadership and management of all Operational Energy Authority Financial processes which include forecasting and accounting for fuel, third party revenue, fuel exchange agreements and leases alongside the usual forecasting and reporting requirements of a busy finance function. Responsible for ensuring programme/project costs are rigorously controlled and monitored against approvals alongside providing robust in year forecasts and 10 year forward plans through the Annual Budgetary Cycle (ABC).
• Ensure accuracy of all technical financial reporting including but not limited to: General Ledger activities ensuring the correct balances, accruals entries, lease accounting, inventory accounting utilising the Inventory Accounting Tools, adherence to foreign exchange rate agreements and other extant settlements in place.
• Work with non-finance colleagues to deliver OEA financial forecasts with insightful commentaries to enable the business to understand month on month variances and the level of financial risk exposure.
• Manage the Financial input to the Annual Budget Cycle process in conjunction with OEA colleagues and customers from other Commands. This includes the production of the Programme Cost Review (PCR) submissions in the form of screening packs and ensuring resulting actions are recorded and reflected accurately in the financial systems. Clear explanations of variances and risks are essential.
• Challenge and interpret complex supply chain cost data to assure Fuel Weighted Average Cost (WAC) calculations by the OEA finance team, confirming they are robust, correctly accounted, and charged out to Front Line Commands. Ensure third party charging is timely, and invoices are correctly stated on the system. Ensure VAT and duty is correctly applied and accounted for across all areas.
• Manage the team to actively support audit and internal compliance, ensuring accruals, journals, invoices and option proposals have robust supporting evidence. Ensure efficiencies captured are promptly and adequately supported by auditable evidence
• Work with OEA colleagues to develop cost models and assist in the production of Investment Appraisals and support to business cases. Monitor project expenditure against approval and ensure the appropriate VAT and duty is applied to all cost. Noting these could relate to the wider ambitions of the OEA in terms of sustainability and innovation.
• Lead your team to ensure adherence to the financial timetable, with the right return, the right information at the right time. Noting the formation of the OEA will drive change across these processes. This role is key in understanding this and working with both OEA colleagues and the wider UKSC finance teams to embed these changes.

Delivering your area of responsibility

• Management of team members, empowering, motivating and coaching to enable effective delivery.
• Supporting individual’s personal development and careers, ensuring you and the team make time to develop themselves and their peers.
• Being open to challenge and new ideas, sharing of knowledge and experience, encouraging others through building a supportive team environment.
• Ensuring the team are getting the basics right at the first attempt.
• Developing and embedding the use of standardised processes to deliver a consistent output to customers.
• Exercising sound judgement and interpretative ability, and application of innovative thought to derive novel solutions.
• Seeking advice, referring upwards as required, where problems are particularly complex or have wider.

Qualification & Requirements

Essential criteria: Mandatory Training, Finance Skills Foundation, FCF1 Understanding the Principles of Government Finance, FCF4 In Year Management

Desirable criteria: Level 4 AAT, CCAB or CIMA Qualified Accountant or equivalent or working towards, Experience in a Finance environment, FCF2 Financial Governance, FCF3 Financial Planning, FCF6 Investment Appraisal Stakeholder Management.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

• Insurance Benefits
• Retirement Benefits
• Vacation Policy
• Other Perks and Benefits…