Finance & IT Director

• Opportunity to join a fantastic community charity
• Hybrid working

About Our Client

The Diocese of Bristol is the Church of England across Bristol, South Gloucester, North Wiltshire and Swindon.

There are 30,000 people worshipping regularly in more than 200 churches, led by hundreds of clergy serving within seven deaneries. Around 15,000 children and young people attend our 72 church schools, while chaplains serve in institutions across our region.

Our bishops lead and oversee the Church in the Diocese of Bristol.

The Diocese is embarking on a new and exciting 5 year strategic plan that will further increase its presence in the communities that it serves.
 

Job Description

The post of Finance & IT Director will sit on the Senior Leadership Team and will be pivotal in the sucess of the strategic plan of the charity.

The Finance & IT Director is responsible for the strategic direction and long term viability of the finances of the Diocese of Bristol, with operational responsibility for both the finance function and IT services.

The role holder will share in the management and leadership of the Diocesan Support Services (DSS) as part of the Staff Leadership Team (SLT), and be a role model of the values and culture of the Diocese. The role holder will ensure that the financial strategy supports Diocesan operational activity, and that their team runs smoothly and efficiently on a day-to-day basis.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

• Reporting to and providing sound financial advice to the Diocesan Board of Finance (DBF), the CEO/Diocesan Secretary, and the Bishop of Bristol.
• Acting as the leading interface between the DSS Executive and the DBF on financial matters.
• Acting as company secretary to the DBF working closely with the Chairman and Board of Trustees.
• Contributing to the strategic direction of the DBF.
• Ensuring appropriate funding and financial processes are in place to ensure the long term financial viability of the DBF.
• Leading financial strategy planning and budgeting, and ensuring strong processes are in place for resource allocation and performance forecasting and monitoring.
• Negotiating and establishing partnerships with commercial and professional advisors.
• Proving and external interface with banks, auditors, pension funds, investment managers and charity finance specialists.
• Bring a financial and commercial strength, and rigour, to the DBF.
• Ensuring appropriate risk management techniques and financial controls are embedded at both a strategic and operational level.
• Ensuring the reputation of the DBF is actively managed and monitored with all internal and external stakeholder groups.
• Providing or co-ordinating all accounting and taxation services to the DBF.
• Providing or co-ordinating all IT services.
• Reviewing and implementing process and system improvement initiatives.
• Providing management and development to all functional team members and the wider DSS personnel.
• Other duties as required by the CEO/Diocesan Secretary.

The Successful Applicant

Person Specification

• A qualified accountant (ACA/ ACCA/ ACMA or equivalent).
• Experience of operational and strategic financial leadership within complex institutions with multiple stakeholders.
• Understanding of the organisational structure, breadth and dynamics of the Church of England.
• Strong leadership and influencing skills, with the ability to bring order to complex situations and bring about change without being in a position of direct authority.
• Ability to think strategically and act pragmatically; comfortable oscillating between strategic context and detailed planning; able to operate in situations of ambiguity with resilience, passion and energy.
• Excellent relationship building skills and the ability to build trust, promote good practice, deal with conflict and address any barriers or resistance to change.
• Strong numeric, written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to tailor words and pictures to different audiences and present credibly to senior leadership teams.
• Able to resource, manage and develop specialist professionals and support staff to provide the function with the required experience and skills.
• Develops and implements an organisational wide cross-team and collaborative working culture.

It's worth noting that you do not have to be a practising Christian to apply for this role, however being sympathetic to the mission of the church.

What's on Offer

A salary in the range of £54,000 - £57,000

28 days annual leave + bank holidays

10% employer pension contributions, 5% employee pension contributions

hybrid working - 2 - 3 days per week in the office

Where specific UK qualifications are required we will take into account overseas equivalents. All third party applications will be forwarded to Michael Page.

  Ref Code: MPFEJN0620225647561Z