INTERNAL ONLY VACANCY. This post is open to existing Leeds City Council employees only. Applications will not be considered from external candidates.

Job title: Finance Manager

Grade: PO4 £46,142 - £49,292

Hours: 37

Contract: Permanent – Internal Only

Location: Merrion House, Leeds - hybrid working

Applications will not be considered from external candidates.

This post sits within the Asset Management and Regeneration service within City Development.  The role is to manage the City Development Income Team, which is responsible for the collection of rent and associated income for Leeds City Councils commercial property portfolio, together with recharging arrangements associated with the council’s revenue and capital budgets.

As a Finance Manager you will need to thrive on being highly motivated and a confident person to undertake this role. Good communication and interpersonal skills are vital to this role as the post will involve close liaison with internal colleagues and external Debtors and Creditors. The post holder will need to be able to manage the workload of the team, as well as their own, to ensure work is completed appropriately and within challenging deadlines.

Good working knowledge of basic Microsoft IT systems, Dynamics F&O (formerly FMS and Civica) and other Microsoft applications is essential, as is the ability to undertake complex financial analysis.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

• We are seeking a self-motivated, problem solving, versatile, organised applicant to manage the Income Team and have experience in Budget Monitoring and produce various reports to explain the council’s position with budget holders in City Development and other Directorates and excellent communication skills.
• The successful applicant should demonstrate the necessary skills and experience.
• You will have experience of working as part of a dedicated team and be effective in managing people, competing priorities and workloads, responding quickly and appropriately to changing needs and be able to demonstrate excellent organisation skills.

About the role

• You will work as part of a larger team with a proactive culture and in partnership to help deliver income, in line with the service objectives.
• You will manage a team of 5 staff and work closely supporting our surveyors and staff from other Directorates.
• You are responsible for debt recovery, banking cash daily, producing weekly invoice runs, chasing debt, raising purchase orders, processing internal recharges journals across the council using Dynamics F&O, producing management reports and providing expert knowledge on the results,
• You will be required to work closely with Finance Business Partners and the Land and Property team to provide technical support for budget monitoring, estimates, closedown data and debt position. Providing evidence for audit, taxation queries and freedom of information requests and reconciliation activities between Qube and other LCC financial systems including Civica EPay and Dynamics F&O.
• Database management including property / tenant input, billing dates and charge amounts, lease terms and service charges
• Playing a significant role in a working group for the implementation of a new replacement commercial property rental system.
• Data cleansing and archiving old records.
• Managing the time recording system, currently Timemaster, to deliver recovering income from internal and external clients for Highways and Transportation.
• You will be part of a working group and have input into deciding and implementing a replacement system to Timemaster.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

• a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
• membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
• flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
• a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people. 

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visa route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Job Purpose:  To lead a small team to provide a comprehensive financial management service to directorate-based officers, third parties and stakeholders. 

By helping make sure that financial information is placed at the heart of decision-making, the role plays an important part in ensuring that the council is both enterprising and efficient.  

Responsibilities

The post-holder will deliver a range of financial support services to directorates, third parties and stakeholders

Principal Accountabilities

• Provision of expert operational financial advice and management information to officers, members and other internal stakeholders in order to support effective decision-making and support the provision of timely responses to enquiries from people/organisations external to the Council
• Utilisation of service data and financial forecasts to ensure that budgets are effectively managed, budget-holders are given appropriate levels of support, risks are identified and actively managed and services areas are supported to optimise income generation
• Provision of independent challenge, analysis and interpretation of financial and performance information to ensure that inefficiencies, irregularities and performance variances (financial and non-financial) are investigated and opportunities for improved delivery are identified
• Collaboration with directorate senior officers and budget-holders to produce:
• Supporting reports / working papers for annual revenue budgets
• Budget Action Plans and Contingency Plans
• Timely and accurate in-year budget monitoring reports
• Provision of financial information and analysis to support investment/disinvestment decisions and the development of complex business cases
• Promoting the efficient and effective stewardship of assets and resources, for example by supporting directorate-based senior officers to implement the recommendations of Internal Audit
• Assist in the preparation of year-end accounts and other financial returns  
• Line management of an assistant Finance Manager and a small number of finance officers.  
• Display customer focus and role model the behaviours expected of a manager
• Provide accurate and timely financial information, challenge, insight and advice to directorate budget-holders and appropriate City Development officers
• Apply a risk-based approach to the monitoring of revenue budgets, attending budget meetings for high risk revenue budgets
• Support directorate budget-holders to analyse and understand the financial position within their services
• Lead on the compilation of challenging and robust revenue budgets for a range of directorate -based services
• Contribute to the identification and development of service reviews and other savings plans
• Advise on the optimisation of all current/potential sources of income and alternative approaches to achieve full cost recovery
• Explain complex data to non-financial stakeholders to help inform and challenge decision-makers
• Provide financial support and challenge to invest to save business cases and other option appraisals.
• Maintain financial systems, processes and procedures

Qualifications

AAT qualified or equivalent (which may include substantial relevant work experience within a financial environment)

PERSONAL SPECIFICATION: Method of Assessment will be through one or more of the following Application Form, Test, Interview, and Certificate

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS: It is essential that the Candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post within the context of the specific role duties and responsibilities:  Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate on the application form that they meet all the essential requirements 

• Ability to provide independent challenge, analysis and interpretation of financial and performance information
• Good written and oral communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to work collaboratively with internal partners/professionals
• Ability to plan and organise own work and that of others competently with minimum supervision, and to strict deadlines
• Sound problem solving and analytical and skills
• Ability to clearly present financial information in a manner appropriate to the recipients of the information
• Ability to understand and meet customer expectations
• Ability to establish credibility with senior management and other stakeholders
• Up to date knowledge of current financial and accounting developments
• Sound working knowledge of core financial business processes including budget planning, budget monitoring and reporting and closure of accounts
• Good knowledge and understanding of the specific financial and business context facing a service directorate and the relevant legislative requirements
• Understanding of managers’ responsibility for health and safety.
• Practical experience of providing financial support to directorate-based managers with non-financial expertise
• Management experience including staff supervision, training and development
• Experience of providing financial support to decision making
• Experience of supporting service delivery improvements within a financial setting.

Essential Behavioural & other Characteristics

• Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct
• Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
• Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
• Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health, Safety and Wellbeing
• Willingness to actively participate in appraisal, training and development activities to ensure up, to date knowledge and skills.
• Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
• Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity of Leeds City Council.
• Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person
• The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.

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