Band 2 Head of Finance Business Partnering

Job description

Job Purpose

Reporting directly to the Head of Finance, this is a high-profile role offering regular exposure to ONR’s senior leadership and Board. You will lead ONR’s Finance Business Partnering function, which includes management reporting and budget management. You will be working closely with senior budget holders to shape financial strategy, influence key organisational decisions and support the effective allocation of resources.

Leading a specialist team, you will translate complex financial information into clear, meaningful insight and present recommendations to senior management and the Board, helping to set, monitor and manage ONR’s budget and strengthen financial performance across the organisation.

About The Role

Principal Responsibilities:

The Head of Finance Business Partnering will:

• Lead the Finance Business Partner function to deliver effective budget monitoring and reporting. Coordinating the inputs from across the organisation to provide insightful financial reporting to assist effective decision making.
• Write and deliver quarterly financial reporting at Senior Leadership Teams and Board level, ensuring information is accurate, meaningful and relevant.
• Providing expert advice on key risks and opportunities to effectively manage the organisation’s financial position.
• Engage effectively and productively with colleagues within and external to the Finance Directorate to guide and support financial proposals.
• Develop and maintain an informative, efficient, appropriate, and accurate month end accounting process.
• Lead the budget setting process for the organisation, ensuring alignment with business plans and strategic priorities.
• Establish and maintain processes for managing resources, working with business managers and budget holders and regulatory governance bodies to effect budgetary controls.
• Exploit the reporting capabilities of the finance system and associated reporting tools.
• Develop financial performance information and KPIs.
• Delivery of ONR’s Finance training package covering Budget Management and Budget Setting.
• Work with the business to develop effective income forecasts and support debt management activities.
• Lead change projects to improve financial management, drive efficiencies and value for money throughout the organisation.
• Working with your Finance colleagues, provide a credible and accurate source of advice, guidance and analytical support to the business, to aide decision making.
• Represent ONR in any stakeholder engagement and financial meetings as and when required, enhancing relationships and reputation of ONR’s purpose and delivery.
• Prepare a range of outputs in support of the ONR corporate business plan (e.g. financial management and control, budget performance and variance analysis, payroll reconciliation and workforce planning).
• Support and develop a professional competent Finance Business Partner team to ensure the finance offering is trusted and accurate, and future focussed to meet ONR needs.
• Support and deputise for the Head of Finance when required.

Line Management Responsibilities

As part of this role, there will be an expectation to manage staff.

The Head of Finance Business Partnering is expected to act as the line manager of our two Senior Finance Business Partners

Location / Travel

This post may be undertaken from a base at Bootle, London or Cheltenham. Regardless of base location you must be willing to travel to other locations when there is a business need.

ONR operates hybrid working (working in the office and or at home) as part of our flexible working policy. There is an expectation that everyone will spend time in the office on a regular basis, recognising that some work is better done face to face. Managers will work with their teams on what works best to meet individual, team, business and organisational needs to enable collaboration, as well as balancing personal choice and wellbeing.

Work with Us

Our colleagues are from all walks of life with varied personal experiences and career journeys into ONR. We want the best people for our roles. As an inclusive employer we value individuals’ contributions, regardless of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, social background, religion, or belief. Our values ‘supportive, open-minded, fair and accountable’ are central to this. We invest in our people to build capability, resilience, and promote wellbeing in our great teams, underpinned by our inherent focus on inclusion and excellence.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate will be required to undergo and obtain security clearance to Security Check (SC) level.

Person Specification

Inclusion

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. We will consider reasonable adjustments to ensure the recruitment process is inclusive and barrier-free. If you require reasonable adjustments as part of your application, please contact ONR HR as soon as possible, preferably before the vacancy closes, by emailing [email protected] or [email protected] discuss further.

We will also offer an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for applicants who opt into the guaranteed interview scheme.

We recognise we have a role to play in helping those leaving the Armed Forces and have a Veterans guaranteed interview scheme. We offer an interview to Veterans who meet the minimum criteria for applicants who opt into the scheme. Please see eligibility criteria below.

• served for at least one year in His Majesty's Armed Forces (as a Regular or Reserve).
• be in transition from, or ceased to be a member of, His Majesty’s Armed Forces.
• not already be employed by ONR.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Substantial experience of working within a finance function, including working in finance business partnering, or similar, roles.
• Proven ability to communicate the results of complex financial information to non-financial senior managers and operational staff and using your professional judgement to guide and influence senior management
• Strong attention to detail; consistently producing outputs to a high standard and providing a quality service.
• Able to prioritise own workload, in a busy environment with often competing priorities, ensuring key deadlines are achieved.
• Experience of delivering change, instilling a culture of continuous improvement and developing high performing teams.

Desirable

• Experience of working in or with public sector
• Experience of delivering efficiency initiatives

Qualifications

• CCAB/CIMA Qualified Accountant, with demonstration of a commitment to continuous professional development.

For Further Information

For more information about this vacancy please contact Alex Goddard.

E: [email protected]

How to Apply

Please submit your application through the recruitment portal.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 2 nd October 2026 at 11:45pm

Your application should include:

• CV to include a full record of your education and professional qualifications and a full employment history.

• A suitability statement (maximum of 800 words) highlighting how you meet the skills and experience required for the role, which will be used at shortlisting in conjunction with your CV.

• Where applicable highlight if you have any experience under ‘desirable skills and experience’ within the application form.

Throughout our shortlisting process, we will make decisions about your capability to do the job, based on evidence you provide against the essential criteria (and the desirable if applicable).

Artificial Intelligence
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Whilst these examples will appear on your application, this will not prevent it from being reviewed at the shortlisting stage.

Important guidance when providing CV’s – please upload text-based CVs with no graphics or pictures to ensure the anonymisation function works correctly.

Please note: the system may ask you to upload a CV, this will not be required for this role.