Private Secretary to the Chief Financial Officer and Business Support Manager
- Hiring from
- United Kingdom
- Work type
- Hybrid
- Posted
624,106 remote jobs, straight from company career pages
100% free · New jobs every minute
Show job descriptionHide job description
Ready to help shape how Scotland’s public finances are managed?
As Private Secretary to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Business Support Manager, you will oversee the effective coordination and workflow of the Scottish Government’s crucial in-year spending controls process, and work on a range of high-priority issues to support the CFO in her role as Director of Financial Management.
In this busy role you’ll need to be well organised and resilient, thrive in a fast paced and ever changing environment, and enjoy liaising with networks across the Scottish Government and beyond. You’ll also need to be able to use your initiative to identify and progress tasks with minimal supervision, be good at prioritising competing pressures, and be able to draw out key findings from a wide range of information to support decision making.
In return, you’ll work on varied activities that help deliver the Scottish Government’s key priorities, support effective governance and assurance processes, and support effective management of financial resources and capabilities across the organisation.
Financial Management Directorate supports Ministers and senior officials across the public sector make sound decisions about the allocation and management of resources. In doing so, we deliver a range of financial management, compliance, and strategic roles to help the organisation manage and govern around £50 billion of public spending.
Responsibilities
- Coordinating effective and timeous operation of the Scottish Government’s in-year spending controls on behalf of the CFO, including responsibility for progressing and tracking all related Accountable Officer processes.
- Leading proactive monthly identification and mapping of spending requests across all Director General areas, analysing and mapping associated data for relevant senior leaders and stakeholders in line with agreed schedules.
- Proactive monitoring and management of the CFO’s workflow of priorities and current issues, ensuring that these are tracked and progressed timeously, and that relevant inputs are commissioned and collated in line with required deadlines.
- Horizon scanning to identify, adapt to and address emerging or urgent CFO matters for action, taking the initiative to co-ordinate activity and manage risks, and collate and process relevant information.
- Strategic overview and management of CFO mailbox and diary to ensure that time is used efficiently and effectively , making astute judgements to triage requests, and proactively planning ahead to organise relevant materials and correspondence.
- Building and maintaining effective working relationships with colleagues across the directorate, Directors General, Permanent Secretary and Ministerial offices to coordinate relevant commissions, actions, events or advice.
- Providing confidential and professional first point of contact for internal and external enquiries, including coordination and oversight of correspondence, PQs and FOIs, and engagement with UK Government or Devolved Nations.
- Supporting the CFO as Head of the Finance Profession including business support for training schemes and events, managing mandatory professional subscription processes for the directorate, and communications and engagement across the wider Scottish Government profession.
- Delivering compliance and continuous improvement in a range of corporate roles, including undertaking Oracle Cloud purchasing, Electronic Purchasing Cardholder and travel management activities, HSLO and hybrid working arrangements, and ad hoc project support to Divisions and the finance profession as required.
- Supporting the CFO and the Directorate’s five Divisions with their information management responsibilities, including undertaking IMSO and appropriate related initiatives.
Success profile
Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of behaviours, experience and technical criteria (if applicable) that candidates will be assessed on. The Success Profile will include the Professional / Technical skills, Experience and Behaviours.
Technical / Professional Skills:
- Connections and communication - Working
- Data and insight - Working
- Delivery and decision making at speed - Working
You can find out more about the skills required here: ODP Competency Framework
Experience
- Experience of working with stakeholders to coordinate and proactively drive spend control or financial governance and accountability processes.
- Well-developed organisational knowledge of the Scottish Government finance operating model, with experience of building collaborative relationships at all levels to solve problems and support decision making at pace.
- Experience of delivering and continuously improving your impact in corporate roles including EPC cardholder, IMSO, HSLO and Oracle purchasing.
Behaviours
- Communication and influencing - Level 3
- Seeing the big picture – Level
- Working Together – Level 3
Find out more about Success Profiles.
How to apply
Apply online, providing a CV and supporting statement (of no more than 1000 words) providing evidence of how you meet the behaviours, experience and technical skills listed in the Success Profile above. Both the CV and the supporting statement provided will be assessed against the criteria for the role.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.
Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.
If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and a presentation.
Assessments are scheduled for w/c 30th November if possible, however this may be subject to change.
Recruitment Principles
As a government organisation, we adhere to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and we investigate any complaints received in relation to recruitment cases.
About us
The Scottish Government is the devolved government for Scotland. We have responsibility for a wide range of key policy areas including: education, health, the economy, justice, housing and transport. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles.
Our staff are part of the UK Civil Service, observing the Civil Service Code and working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland.
We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer.
As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
Working pattern
Our standard hours are 35 hours per week and we offer a range of flexible working options depending on the needs of the role, including Flexi-leave. Scottish Government staff in hybrid-compatible roles should aim to work in-person 40% of the time, either in an office or other agreed work location. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us.
This role is based on Victoria Quay but will involve working in St Andrews House or other office locations on occasion.
Skilled Worker Sponsorship not being offered
Skilled Worker sponsorship is not available for this role. As a result, we are unable to appoint candidates who require Skilled Worker sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants must have an existing and ongoing right to work in the UK.
Security checks
Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).
You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website, and read about the Government Vetting Charter, or about all the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide.
Internal candidates may need to gain higher security clearance than they currently hold if successful in their application.
Equality statement
We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation.
Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.
Further information
Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website.
Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.
