Finance Business Partner

Transport Scotland is the national transport agency for Scotland and is accountable to Parliament and the public through Scottish Ministers, with a budget of around £3.5 billion per year. Transport is a vital feature of the Scottish Government's focus on increasing sustainable economic growth, and transport investments and policies have major impacts on the economy, people, and the environment.  For more information visit http://www.transport.gov.scot/.

Structure of the team:

We are recruiting for a Finance Business Partner within Transport Scotland’s Finance and Corporate Services (FCS) Directorate.  This is one of nine directorates within the agency and the FCS consists of three distinct functions – Corporate Services, Transport Scotland Finance and Transport Portfolio Finance.

Reporting into the Head of Finance Business Partnering, you will provide professional accounting, budgeting and wider financial stewardship advice to at least one Transport Scotland Directorate. The Finance Business Partnering team delivers key finance business partnering and management accounting to Transport Scotland Directorates. The team develops awareness of drivers of financial performance to date, and accurate forecasting and outturn reporting and provides professional financial advice to support achievement of objectives within available resources.

Responsibilities

• Providing professional accounting, budgeting and wider financial stewardship advice at senior levels, improving financial awareness and overviewing the robustness of financial controls within your assigned Directorate(s).
• Working with colleagues across the agency to develop awareness of drivers of financial performance to support the achievement of objectives within available resources, bringing constructive challenge to ensure robust decision-making.
• Robustly assessing projections of future income and expenditure and ensuring regular updates to financial plans to support corporate and Scottish Government budgeting, value for money decision-making, risk management and long-term financial planning.
• Support the finance teams, stakeholders and Ministers by engaging in the budget setting process, contributing to the development of applicable documents and advice for Transport Scotland.
• Deputise for the Head of Finance Business Partnering, as appropriate in matters relating to finance business partnering and management accounting.
• Lead a small team, inspiring and motivating them to be fully engaged in their work, encouraging learning and development and ensuring wellbeing needs are met.

Competencies

Leading Others

Financial Management

Communications & Engagement

Analysis and Use of Evidence

The successful candidate must be fully CCAB qualified with up-to-date CPD.

Essential Criteria

1. Strong finance experience, with the ability to provide high quality advice to a wide range of Civil Servants and stakeholders, with the ability to communicate and explain complex financial concepts to non-accountants.

2. Highly effective management, communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence, negotiate and collaborate effectively with a range of staff and stakeholders.

3. Strong background in finance business partnering or management accounting and experience of both supporting and challenging partners.

4. The ability to think and act strategically and make links across policy and organisational boundaries to achieve positive outcomes.

Minimum Time in Post
You will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of three years unless successful at gaining promotion to a higher Band or Grade. 

You must discuss your intention to apply with your current line manager to help ensure release dates can be agreed.

Location
This post is based in either Glasgow or Edinburgh, with hybrid working in line with current Transport Scotland policies. You will be expected to be office based twice per week, pro rata.

The post is a full time role, but staff with different working patterns are invited to apply, and we will assess proposed working patterns against the business requirements for this post.

Additional Information
To apply please fully complete the application and submit evidence based examples to demonstrate your knowledge/skills (300 words). Remember, your answers should be clear, concise and reflect what actions you undertook. You may want to use the STAR(R) approach to respond to each criterion.

Sponsorship Information

Changes to legislation concerning Skilled Worker Visa Sponsorship were implemented on 04/04/2024. If you think you may require Visa Sponsorship it is important that prior to applying you read the official Home Office guidance to confirm eligibility.

Any applicants that are not eligible for sponsorship will be withdrawn at either application stage or the point of offer, with any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

Important Information regarding Interviews

Candidates will be required to sit a numeracy and comprehension/reasoning test as part of the assessment process if successful at sift stage

Interviews  may be conducted in a virtual/remote setting. All applicants must ensure that they have a suitable space to complete the virtual interview via MS Teams and ensure that Wi-Fi/Broadband capacity will be sufficient to carry both audio and video feeds to undertake the interview.

For information on this post please contact Hiring Manager, Mary Fitzgerald by email at Mary.Fitzgerald@transport.gov.scot 

The Scottish Government is a diverse and inclusive workplace and we want to help you demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. If you require any adjustments to our recruitment process, please let us know via scottishgovernmentrecruitment@gov.scot

As part of any recruitment process, Scottish Government and associated public bodies collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants and applicants for public appointments.

Personal information you provide in the recruitment process will be made available to Scottish Government and our additional data processors.