Finance Accountant Ref. 2037

Stonewall Top Employer AwardSocial Mobility Foundation AwardThe Times Top 100Disability confident leader

Mission Enablers
Cheltenham, Central London
Central London: £38,656 to £43,186 Cheltenham: £35,736 to £40,011

If you are looking for an exciting career move then this is a unique opportunity to work within the UK intelligence agencies (MI5, MI6 and GCHQ) finance community. MI5, MI6 and GCHQ help protect the UK and UK interests from threats to national security at home and abroad.

We are in the process of creating new Cross-Agency Services to deliver a range of services including human resources, finance, security, vetting and commercial. This function will be at the centre of the agencies’ strategies and mission, and will allow us to deliver more whilst keeping our staff and other assets safe and secure. Finance is at the heart of all business decisions and actions and we are looking for finance professionals to help ensure we manage our money effectively and make the most of our resources. We have a range of roles available based in London and Cheltenham.

The Role

As a Finance Accountant you will help ensure we manage our money effectively and spend it wisely. You could be leading a small team, providing financial advice on issues ranging from planning and purchase orders, budget profiling, collating variance analysis or identifying risks and mitigations. Whatever the task, you will be looking for process improvements whilst making sure that it is completed in line with monthly and annual deadlines.

For successful applicants, we offer financial and study support in gaining Chartered Accountant status to those who demonstrate the talent and enthusiasm to progress in their finance career.

Key Responsibilities

We have a range of roles available where responsibilities may include:

•    Leading and managing a small team within our central finance function
•    Providing detailed financial analysis and accurate forecasting to support decision making by Senior Management
•    Meeting challenging deadlines in line with monthly and annual financial timetables
•    Providing proactive advice and support to stakeholders on financial issues including budget profiling, forecasting, financial planning, purchase order and expense claim advice
•    Building a wide ranging and effective network of relationships with finance and non-finance experts and working with colleagues to facilitate improvements including system changes and improvements to the ERP (enterprise resource planning)
•    Collating accurate variance analysis including identification of risks and mitigations

The Person

•    Ideally you will be a qualified or part qualified accountant (CCAB or equivalent)
•    You will have practical financial experience, for example you may be familiar with management accounting, cost accounting, planning or budgeting and you will be able to apply this to the role and understand how finance fits into the bigger picture
•    Experience of leading and motivating a small finance team to deliver positive outcomes or evidence of leadership capability
•    Evidence of strong communication and customer relationship skills, are essential for the role
•    You will have the ability to build relationships with colleagues across an organisation
•    You will have a good working knowledge of MS Office Applications including Microsoft Excel
•    Experience of using an ERP Accounting Systems is desirable

Before You Apply

This role is based in London or Cheltenham. Please note, we do not cover relocation costs.

Honesty and integrity are crucial if you want to work for the UK Intelligence Agencies. Giving misleading information or omitting or concealing information during the recruitment and vetting process is viewed very seriously. You should ensure that you follow our guidance from when you apply.

Recruitment Process

Initially, we will ask you to complete our pre-screening questions to find out if you meet our initial criteria. If you do meet these criteria we will then ask you to begin an application.

You will need to create a login and provide your full name, email address and memorable password. Once you have successfully created a personal account, you will be required to complete a registration form, providing contact details and equal opportunities mentoring information.

You will then be invited to upload your CV and complete an online application form. If you pass the sift, you will be required to attend a competency-based telephone interview which should last approximately 25 minutes and will further assess whether you have the potential skills to work for us.

Successful applicants will be invited to a face to face interview in Central London or Cheltenham, which will include competency-based questions and further explore your motivation to work for the security agencies and the role.

This will be followed by a security interview with a vetting officer which will take place in Central London or Cheltenham. This is an important part of the selection process. It is an interview to explore your life and experiences and is not a competency or capability-based interview.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process in order to progress to the next.

Disability Confident: Offer of Interview

As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. This is known as Offer of an Interview.  To secure an interview for this vacancy, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:

  • Eligibility Questions - You will be asked a series of questions relating to this vacancy. If you meet the criteria here you will be directed to the application form.
  • On successfully passing the application form sift, you will be invited to a telephone interview. This is our offer of an interview.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to apply, you must meet our residency criteria. You must be a born or naturalised British citizen and one of your parents must be a British citizen or have substantial ties to the UK. Candidates must normally have been resident in the UK for nine out of the last 10 years. This is particularly important if you were born outside the UK. You will nonetheless be considered if you have, for example, served overseas with HM Forces or in some other official capacity as a representative of Her Majesty's Government, studied abroad, or lived overseas with your parents. You can apply at the age of 17 years and 6 months, if successful you will not be offered a start date prior to your 18th birthday. Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application.  Further information on our eligibility criteria can be found on the How to Apply section.

Discretion

Owing to the sensitivity of our work, we do not publicly disclose the identities of our staff. Discretion is vital. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member providing they are British.

Equal Opportunities

The UK Intelligence Agencies / MI5 / MI6 / GCHQ are Equal Opportunities employers, committed to reflecting the society we protect.  Our recruitment process is fair, transparent and based on merit.  We particularly welcome applications from diverse and under-represented groups.






This Program / Vacancy is closed to applications.