Finance Partner

The starting salary for this full-time, permanent position is £34,356 per annum based on a 36-hour working week.

This role is open to hybrid working meaning you aren't required in the office 5 days a week. In support of our people and our greener futures strategies, we'd welcome a conversation with the successful candidate on what remote working may look like for you.

Are you looking for an opportunity to further your finance/business administration career within a large, diverse and forward-looking organisation?

One of our fantastic team members is moving on due to internal promotion, so we're looking for the next outstanding candidate to take on the challenge of becoming the Finance Partner for our Surrey Education Services Support team, within our School Relationships and Support Service.

Rewards and Benefits

• 26 days' holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years' service
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days plus 1 team volunteering day per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources

About the team

You'll be part of a multimillion-pound operation - an important member of the team that provides the infrastructure and support for the council's portfolio of support services and training, which is traded to education customers across Surrey and beyond via our online platform, the Surrey Education Services Hub.

This is activity that provides important income generation for the council, while also enabling school and academy customers access to good quality, value for money services and training. The team has been expanded and transformed over the course of the last 3 years as part of our drive towards a more joined up and commercial approach to trading services and training with our education customers.

This is a finance role, but it's not just about the money for us, as our ultimate goal is to deliver a true 'one stop shop' for accessing the council's entire offer for education, from traded and non traded services and training, to information and communications.

About the role

You'll work as the team's in-house Finance Partner, supporting the team Manager in the delivery of robust financial administration processes to support the business function. You will oversee the day-to-day financial processes including billing and invoicing, and the processing of card payments.

You will also support the team manager with income reporting and financial modelling in support of proposition development, high level reporting and financial assurance. You will become the recognised subject matter expert with regards to the financial processes for schools traded services and training, and to become a central single point of contact for internal and external customers in relation to billing and financial queries.

Shortlisting criteria

You'll need to be super organised and comfortable working to deadlines. You won't need to be a qualified accountant to be considered for this role, but a head for numbers, a flair with Excel, and prior experience in financial administration such as billing and invoicing is a must.

Equally important is a customer focused mindset. We pride ourselves on delivering an outstanding customer experience both for our education customers and for our internal customers, so you'll need to be a true customer service hero to make the grade for this role. You'll also be the type of person who can quickly up-skill and learn their way around the two key systems for this role, Unit4 (our Finance system) and the Surrey Education Services Hub.

To be considered for shortlisting for interview your application will clearly evidence:

• Experience of working in a similar finance role within a customer-facing team
• An ability to work with, interpret and present complex financial data, plus experience of financial modelling within a commercial context
• A flexible and collaborative approach to working across a team

Contact us

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferable skills or any barriers to employment.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 29.04.2024 with interviews planned for 17.05.2024.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

A Basic DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.

We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.