Head of Finance

**Head of Finance**

**The role**
- To be accountable for the delivery of initiatives to increase income and reduce costs across the 25 schools and the central functions of our Trust.
- To deputise for the CFO from time-to-time as required.
- To lead on the provision of a forward-thinking, responsive and professional finance service for schools, while ensuring the Trust remains compliant with the requirements of the ESFA Academies Financial Handbook, Companies House, the Charities Commission and other relevant statutory and regulatory requirements.
- To partner with School Leadership Teams and the Trust Central Leadership Team to ensure that Finance is an enabler for our schools to deliver the best possible outcomes for the pupils within our care.
- To work alongside the Chief Finance Officer to develop the Trust’s finance strategy, engaging with and influencing key stakeholders to gain support and agreement from all academies in the Trust.

**Your responsibilities**
- Maximise existing revenue streams by ensuring appropriate processes are in place to deliver upon the opportunities to increase these.
- Form a strong understanding of grant funding opportunities and collaborate on an academy-by-academy basis with School Leadership Teams and the Central Trust Teams to deliver them
- Work within procurement frameworks to identify and deliver upon areas of spend where economies of scale or other efficiencies can deliver cost reductions
- Form a key part of procurement transition projects to ensure that the financial impacts are appropriately considered and that value for money is benchmarked in line with MAT internal policies.
- Play a major and proactive part in the Annual Budget Setting Process, working with the CFO, Senior Finance Manager and existing finance team, school leadership teams and central functions to ensure that the financial information provided to schools enables school leadership teams to effectively manage their budgets.
- With support from the wider team, prepare and draft the annual returns to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), e.g. Budget Forecast Return(s), Academies Accounts Return, etc., presenting them to the CFO and Finance and Estates Committee for review, before submitting a final version to the ESFA ahead of the deadline.
- Undertake integrated curriculum and financial planning (ICFP) reviews at a select number of schools, identifying efficiency savings and supporting the school’s senior leadership team to develop an affordable curriculum that meets the needs of the school.

***What are we looking for?**
- Professional qualification in finance or accounting
- A minimum of five years’ experience working within a finance function
- Experience of managing complex budgets
- Experience of producing and presenting complex management accounts
- Ability to produce complex financial information in a logical, user-friendly way
- Ability to evidence experience of finance in an internal or external customer-facing capacity
- Project Management experience

Please note that the closing date may be brought forward depending upon interest.

**Being part of the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust**

On 1st September 2018, the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, part of the Diocese of Nottingham, brought together 25 Catholic schools located in Derby City, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire and Stockport together in partnership, to ensure the very best spiritual, social and academic experiences and outcomes for the young people in our schools.

Everything we do is to better the lives and futures of our children, providing access to first-class teaching, both academically and spiritually and we are united by our collective vision to excel.

**Why work for the St Ralph Sherwin Multi Academy Trust?**

To find out why you should come and join our team, click on the link to our ‘Why work with us?’ brochure.

A summary of our fantastic benefits are as follows:

- ** Access to first class CPD opportunities.** We also work in partnership with Nottingham Teaching School Alliance to deliver meaningful and relevant CPD. Our Leadership Academy identifies and develops future leaders.
- Genuine opportunities for **career progression** - with 25 academies in our family, and 84 academies across the Diocese, opportunities for career progression are a reality.
- ** Professional assistance** - you will have access to an Employee Assistance Programme which provides confidential, independent and unbiased information and guidance 24/7. If clinically advisable, it also offers face-to-face counselling sessions.
- ** Pension** - automatic enrolment into the Teachers’ Pension Scheme with 23.68% employer contributions, or to the Local Government Pension Scheme for support staff, one of the most competitive on the market, with employer contributions of above 20% in most cases.
- ** Terms and Conditions** - we have committed to following nationally agreed terms and conditions