Commercial Financial Controller

Organisation: Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO)

Work Location: Barnsdale Way, Grove Park, Enderby, Leicester, LE19 1ES plus regular attendance at County Hall, Glenfield, Leicester, LE3 8RA

Salary: £69,789 - £78,777 per annum

Working Hours: 37 hours per week (some work outside of normal working hours will be required)

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 5th January 2025

Interview Date(s): To be confirmed

Are you an experienced senior finance professional looking for a new challenge?

This is a unique commercial leadership opportunity, delivering an effective business-focussed finance function for both Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) and Leicestershire County Council's (LCC) Traded Services. ESPO is a large, public sector owned buying organisation with significant growth potential, serving over 20,000 public sector customers.

About the Role

Reporting to the Chief Officer of ESPO and LCC's Assistant Director - Finance and Commissioning, you'll deliver robust financial planning, reporting and control to drive sustainable growth, and deliver financial targets. Your time will be predominately spent supporting ESPO at 4 days per week, due to the size of the business and wider finance responsibility, however this may change over time due to the needs of the respective businesses.

As a member of ESPO's Leadership Team, you will contribute to the development of the long-term strategic direction of the organisation, taking responsibility for the creation and delivery of the medium-term financial strategy.

You will lead and develop the delivery of operational finance activity for ESPO (Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Credit Control), with a continuous improvement approach, to ensure effective service delivery outcomes and operational efficiency. You'll also be responsible for managing the external audit of ESPO's accounts and risk activity including maintaining the risk register.

In your role with LCC's Traded Services, you will support, challenge, and influence financial matters and commercial decisions, ensuring the planning and analysis activity for traded services is undertaken effectively and efficiently. The Council's Traded Services include a range of hospitality, catering and professional services delivered to schools and other customers, as well as the Council's County Parks Service.

Your work will bring you into contact with Members and senior leaders who'll be looking to you for strategic advice and guidance. You must therefore be a confident communicator who is able to develop effective working relationships and influence change.

This post is politically restricted therefore the postholder is disqualified from undertaking certain political activities under the Local Government Officers (Political Restrictions) Regulations 1990.

For further information about the role, please click here.

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

• Have a CCAB Accounting (or equivalent) qualification and membership of the relevant body, plus continuing professional development.
• Have a background of significant achievement in a senior finance role in an organisation of comparable scope, size, and complexity, and experience in a wide range of financial disciplines including business partnering, financial planning, financial reporting, balance sheet management, and operational finance.
• Be an effective communicator, with experience of developing successful working relationships with senior and operational managers, other finance professionals, and external stakeholders, who can influence change within the business and has the presence to build strong financial management.
• Have experience of developing links between financial and operational information and processes to ensure business and financial objectives are met.
• Have experience of working in and leading cross functional teams and significant experience of leading and managing teams through periods of change to deliver successful outcomes.
• Have experience of identifying opportunities for efficiency and change.
• Have knowledge of relevant current legislative and governance requirements, as well as an understanding of the different areas of finance in a commercial environment, including statutory reporting and trading Profit and Loss accounts and how the use of technology, aligned to business processes, can support the management of efficient and effective services.
• Have strong analytical and creative thinking skills and be able to lead and deliver sustainable, collective high performance.

You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion.

In addition, we expect you to share our commitment to our values and will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the interview process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.

What we offer:

• Flexible working opportunities and access to employee benefits portal with car lease scheme.
• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays (increasing to 33 after 5 years' service), and a scheme to buy additional leave.
• Local Government Pension Scheme with a generous employer contribution.
• Opportunities for learning development.
• Great office location next to Fosse Park, with free on-site parking and easy access to M1 and M69.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Kristian Smith, Chief Officer of ESPO

Telephone: 0116 2657887

Email: [email protected]

How to Apply

ESPO is an inclusive organisation which is on a journey to embed and celebrate equality, diversity, and inclusion at every level. We warmly welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, as having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values and enriches the services we offer our customers. We particularly welcome applicants from Ethnically Diverse and LGBTQ+ communities and people with disabilities to create a balanced workforce and one that reflects the customers we serve. Applicants with a disability who meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above will be offered an interview under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme.

To apply for this job, please click on the apply button. You will need to upload a copy of your CV and a supporting statement which explains how you meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above. For more information, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raise a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.freshdesk.com/support/home.

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.