Head of Faculty Finance Business Partnering (Maternity Cover for 12 Months)

The Finance Department within the Manchester Metropolitan University is looking for a proactive Head of Finance Business Partnering to lead and manage the University’s Faculty Finance Business Partnering team. Whilst leading a team of Faculty Business Partners and Assistant Business Partners, you will play a prominent role in supporting strategic decision making by the faculties. As the Head of Faculty Finance Business Partnering, you will collaborate with and ensure delivery of a strategic, seamless and high-quality service to all stakeholders and departments.

In this role, you will:

• Be responsible for providing robust and timely forecasting and management information for the University to deliver on its strategic priorities.
• Lead delivery of end-to-end professional support to budget holders including provision of management reporting and support with planning and compliance.
• Co-ordinate Faculty Finance Business Partnering activity, ensuring a best practice and a consistent approach.
• Develop a deep knowledge of diverse business areas, their needs, and priorities, making sure that the business understands the financial implications of decisions and available choices.
• Acting in an intelligent customer role to actively work with the business to understand cost drivers and performance priorities and interpret financial implications of decisions.
• Building, maintaining and influencing strong relationships with key stakeholders and budget holders, acting as the link with colleagues, ensuring that variances, forecasts and planning assumptions are reported and understood.
• Supporting the financial analysis of business areas to prepare for the business planning processes.
• Identifying sustainable cost savings targets and initiatives as part of the business planning cycle, along with understanding and articulating the impact of reforms and their ultimate effect on the business.
• Supporting on the construction of business cases through financial challenge and the identification of commercial implications of options considered.
• Building financial and commercial awareness of non-finance staff within the business.
• Support the Assistant Director of Finance – Financial Management, attending meetings and forums as appropriate, providing practical and operational knowledge.

The ideal candidate will be:

• An excellent communicator, particularly when dealing with complex financial information and a non-financial audience.
• Able to influence the behaviour of senior managers to ensure they deliver the expected financial performance for their area of responsibility.
• Good at networking, both internally and externally, and building relationships at all levels of the organisation.
• Proven ability to motivate, lead and develop a professional team.
• Able to analyse large amounts of data and producing summaries which provide clear insights.
• Commercial in their approach to finance, balanced with a clear understanding of the non-financial objectives of the University.
• Able to work autonomously across a large and complex organisation.
• Hold a first degree or equivalent qualification and/or be an ACCA, CIMA, ICAEW or equivalent qualified accountant.

About the team:
Supporting the University in a series of increasingly dynamic, demanding and competitive environments, our work sees us involved in a growing number of partnerships and communities, across the city but also nationally and internationally. Our financial professionals play a key role in helping shape our strategic direction, making a key contribution to the long-term financial sustainability of a great global university. The work is intellectually challenging, exciting and hugely rewarding.

For informal enquiries about this position, please contact Emma Taylor (Head of Faculty Finance) at e.greenwood@mmu.ac.uk.

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