Senior Programme Accountant

Norwich, Norfolk
Norfolk County Council

Do you like a challenge? Do you enjoy working with numbers and have an affinity with people? Are yo good at communicating and influencing? Are you motivated and enthusiastic to support and enable transformational change in the public sector? If yes, then this role may well give you the opportunity to take the next step in your career.

We are offering an exceptional opportunity for one CCAB qualified accountant to join us in Norfolk County Council’s Financial Management community. Working for the Finance Business Partner for Children’s Services, this role offers you the chance to enable, support and drive real change for one of the Council’s most important services.

Children’s Services is currently on an ambitious, transformational change journey to improve outcomes for children, young people and families in Norfolk by meeting their needs earlier, whilst reducing demand for specialist support.

This role plays a vital part in enabling this transformation to be successfully delivered within the resources available, shaping key investment decisions and the direction of travel and the financial impact being understood and tracked. In particular, the focus for this successful candidate will be our recently launched Local First Inclusion programme that will provide significantly more advice, support and funding for mainstream schools, introduce school and community teams as well as development of dozens of special educational classrooms, alternative provision in mainstream schools and the building of new special schools.

Whilst a finance role, the postholder will be embedded into the change programme within Children’s Services and will be the first point of contact for all financial aspects of the service’s transformation programmes and projects. You will therefore get the opportunity to be part of a wide array of interesting and thought-provoking pieces of work. In working closely with both programme managers, service leads, and other accountants you will have plenty of opportunities to develop and enhance your existing skill set.

You will be expected to have a level of technical financial skills to support non financial staff with the creation of business cases and key project documentation. You will need to be able to balance both challenge and support as we seek to ensure our investment of taxpayer monies is based on strong evidence and offers value for money. Your role will need to work closely with the service department, the wider finance team, and external partners to monitor and evaluate the financial benefits associated with the changes we are undertaking. At times you will be asked to look into specific topics in detail, and at other times you will need to be able to exhibit a more strategic approach and mindset.

We are looking for a confident individual, who is solutions focused and can remain calm under pressure.
It is crucial that you are both competent with numbers but also have an ability to be effective in communicating and influencing. Whilst a very rewarding role, at times the job will present you with challenges and therefore it is important that you adaptable and resilient in your approach. You will be supported in your pursuits and each day will be varied and interesting. If you are the right person for the job, we don’t believe that you will ever be bored in the role.

We welcome applications from individuals currently working in other organisations, however we would like to make you aware that priority consideration for this post may be given to current employees who are affected by restructure within the organisation or are in a redeployment position.

We want our people to be inspired and motivated to work well together, make the most of our workspaces, enjoy a healthy work-life balance, and deliver excellent services to Norfolk and its people.

Flexibility is built into the way we work, with hybrid working a key feature for many roles. Our technology platform and equipment are first class, enabling you to connect and collaborate remotely.

We ask that you have in place good Broadband connectivity.

Already a Norfolk County Council employee? See and apply for all internal and external vacancies via myOracle using email address.

Before you apply please see the full job description and person specification in the below link – this will help you to shape your application to demonstrate how you meet the criteria for the role.

Job description and person specification

You can also find out about the rewards and benefits we offer as well as our other terms and conditions.

These are some benefits you can enjoy by working for Norfolk County Council:

• Competitive salary
• Generous holiday entitlement with the ability to buy and sell leave
• Health and Wellbeing services including fast-track physiotherapy and a free counselling service
• Flexible working opportunities including flexi-time, part time, remote and hybrid working – dependent on your job role and business need.

Financial benefits such as:

• ‘Norfolk Rewards’ our employee discounts programme which helps you save money on almost anything, from everyday groceries and clothes, to holidays, new technology, gym membership, trips to the cinema and days out.
• A Blue Light card for Fire Service and Social Care Workers
• Relocation expenses paid upfront (where applicable)
• An advance of your expenses if you travel for work
• Local Government Pension Scheme with generous employer contribution, life assurance, death in service payments and dependants’ pensions.
• A payment if you refer someone you know to a hard to fill job.
• Tax efficient ways of getting extra pension, new bikes and electric cars.

Closing date: 20 June 2023.