Dreadnought Alliance Finance Director

Dreadnought is the UKs most critical and complex major programme. Design commenced in 2007 following a Parliamentary vote, and construction commenced in 2016 following a further vote to replace Vanguard Class submarines. This programme will deliver four state of the art submarines within a 31Bn (plus 10Bn contingency) budget to host the UKs strategic deterrent and maintain the ultimate guarantee of our security in an uncertain world.

In April 2018 the MOD entered into a Commercial Alliance with key industry parties BAE Systems (BAES) and Rolls Royce (RR) to deliver Dreadnought. This has strengthened its senior management team to ensure better management of risk and delivery to performance, cost and time. The Dreadnought Alliance Finance Director is a critical member of the Alliance Management Committee. Ultimately, MOD manages the financial risk and the lead for managing those risks within the Alliance is the Dreadnought Alliance Finance Director.

The Dreadnought Alliance Finance Director leads a multi-organisation team for effective financial and cost management, bringing the knowledge and experience commensurate with a programme of this scale and size. Leadership of the financial relationships with industry parties is key to develop the systems and capabilities necessary for effective financial and cost management bringing with it increased efficiency in a cost-conscious environment.

The Dreadnought Alliance Finance Director will directly manage a team consisting of Alliance finance and cost staff, drawn from across the 3 parties and located at Bristol Abbey Wood and BAES Barrow sites. Financial delegation will be held for the Dreadnought Programme together with responsibility for ensuring that all financial transactions are in accordance with legislation and MOD/SDA policy/instructions. The Dreadnought Alliance Finance Director will be making programme level decisions necessitating assessment of value for money on commitments, balancing performance, time and cost, on a best for programme basis. This will require working closely with customers, engineering, project managers and commercial leads within the programme.

These decisions and their consequences will be visible at the highest levels within Defence and wider Government and their ability to engage effectively with very senior stakeholders will be vital to their success.

Responsibilities:

• Lead a multi-site and multi-organisation (SDA and industry partners BAES & RR) team to improve financial control and the management of risk and opportunities.
• Provide strategic advice and robust financial information, vertically (from the customer through to industry partners) and horizontally (across functional and organisational boundaries), to Alliance Managing Director (MD) and Alliance Leadership Board (ALB) to enable timely and effective decision-making.
• Create a robust outturn position against cost baselines set in the joint cost model, clearly laying out risks against this baseline.
• Lead the key financial relationships with Industry and DNE to create a cost-conscious environment.
• Maintain a robust control environment to ensure Equipment Plan (EP) and operating costs ( Opex ) are accurate, driving delivery against budgets, targets and KPIs. Work collaboratively with Alliance Project Managers, Industry Partners and MoD colleagues to manage and report costs as required by key stakeholders.
• Establish an effective end to end financial governance system for management of the Dreadnought programme within the funding approval and control totals (total programme 31Bn). This will involve the development of business processes and system capabilities across the Alliance industry partners, driving improved efficiencies.
• Plan, deliver and assure in-year and Annual Budget Cycle (ABC) costings, including establishing more effective processes for improved estimates & final costings, interfacing with industry partners. Ensure rigorous due diligence is carried out to deliver a robust, accurate costing with clear narrative to explain the position, providing advice and recommendations as appropriate.
• Development of capability for all Finance staff in the Alliance, including leadership across the split site teams and personnel seconded into the Alliance from BAES & RR.
• Ensure compliance with accounting policy, Managing Public Money, HMT Control framework and Tax policy.
• Preparation and briefing of financial material to senior stakeholders (Including the SDA CEO, Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) and reps from HMT, Cabinet Office) on the status of the programme including financial options/choices.

Person specification

Whilst not exhaustive, the following capabilities and demonstrable competence will be required for successful execution of the role:

• Fully engaging with senior leaders from across the DNE and industry partners to inform and influence strategic decision making. Confront issues and challenge assumptions, in an assertive yet constructive way.
• Ensure teams understand their role within the DNE wider business. Shaping the team role and purpose in delivering DNE priorities which are in the national interest and meet the diverse needs of all stakeholders.
• Leading business and budgetary planning, controls, reporting, business case development and manage cost against budget and approvals.
• Performance Management to deliver an agile, responsive, empowered and capable business unit and to build a high performing team.
• Strong and effective stakeholder management and communications skills. Ability to operate in a complex environment and deal with uncertainty and ambiguity.
• Develop clear and focused strategies and priorities considering political, economic, social, environmental and technological impact.
• Demonstrate transparency around decisions and create a culture where others feel able to challenge decisions being made. Give unbiased evidence- led advice based on extensive robust analysis.
• Drive an inclusive and collaborative working culture which values diversity and encourages, openness, approachability and sensitivity. Ensure the wellbeing of all individuals is valued across the organisation.
• Build a strong innovative culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing. Promote the importance of developing everyone to their full potential. Take a strategic perspective to identifying the capability needs of the organisation now, and in the future.

Please provide evidence of the following Essential Criteria in your Supporting Statement

Essential Criteria:
Experience of financial management and leadership in the context of a large and complex organisation with evidence of leading successful strategic change. The ability to make complex decisions at pace balancing performance, time and cost on a best for programme basis.Ability to uphold policy and process, deliver finance and accounting competence and demonstrate a commitment to excellence.An excellent communicator with proven strong stakeholder management at senior level. Ability to challenge and influence senior leadership.Able to collaborate and build consensus with a wide range of stakeholders across a national endeavour, utilising exceptional influencing and negotiating skills.An inclusive leadership style which role models. inspires, motivates, and promotes collaboration to develop/coach high performing teams, and champions wellbeing, equality, diversity and inclusion.
Desirable Criteria:
Ability to think beyond the strict boundaries of a role to develop and implement long-term strategies. A business acumen based on commercial knowledge and leading a large capital portfolio with project delivery experience.
The successful candidate will hold the following Qualifications / Memberships:

CCAB (including CIMA, ICAEW, ACCA, CIPFA, ICAS, Chartered Accountants Ireland) or international equivalent qualification, with full Associate or Fellowship membership of the relevant accounting body and up-to-date CPD records.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of 76,000, Ministry of Defence contributes 22,017 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Application

To apply for this role, please submit your full application by email to: DESHR-SCSRecruitment@mod.gov.uk . All applications will be acknowledged.

All applications must include the following:

• Please quote the role title Dreadnought Alliance Finance Director in the subject heading of the email.
• A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
• A separate Supporting Statement of no more than 2 pages in a PDF document providing clear evidence of how you meet the Essential Criteria laid out in the Person Specification
• As part of the application process, you are asked to complete a Diversity Monitoring questionnaire provided. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the characteristics, you have the option to select 'prefer not to say' but completion of the form is a mandatory part of the process , and your application will not be considered complete without it.
• The information you provide when submitting your application will help us monitor our progress towards the Civil Service becoming the most inclusive employer. For more information, see the
  Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
• All applications will be reviewed by the selection panel withthestrongest candidates being invited to the interviewprocess in Bristol. Full details of the selectionand assessment process will be made available to shortlisted candidates.
• SDA reserves the right to make any offer of appointmentconditional upon references and satisfactory conclusion of security enquiries.
• By applying for this role, SDA will also consider yourapplication for other suitable roles within the organisationfor a 12-month period from the closing date of the original campaign.
  

Applications must be submitted by 23:59 on 13th October 2024.

If you have any further questions about the role before applying , please contact Nicholas Hamilton ,SLG Recruitment via DESHR-SCSRecruitment@mod.gov.uk .

Any data collected in this section will be reported in an anonymous and aggregate format and will not be seen by anyone assessing your application.

Shortlisting

All applications will be reviewed by the selection panel who will consider the evidence provided by the candidates against the essential criteria to determine a shortlist.

Assessment

Candidates shortlisted will be invited to attend a panel interview for an in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the essential criteria set out in the Person Specification. Candidates will also be required to deliver a presentation at the interview stage. Full details will be made available to shortlisted candidates.

Full details of the assessment process will be made available to shortlisted candidates.

Conflict of Interest

If you have any interest that might be relevant to the work of the Submarine Delivery Agency,and which could lead to a real or perceived conflict of interest if you were to be appointed, please provide details in the Diversity Information Form.

If you have queries about what constitutes a conflict, please contact the application address DESHR- SCSRecruitment@mod.gov.uk

Offer

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible after the final interview.

The SDA reserves the right to make any offer of appointment conditional upon references and satisfactory conclusion of security enquiries. Due to the volume of the applications we receive we cannot guarantee feedback in relation to the shortlist results.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window) .

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window) .

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements
Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window) .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) .

Location: UK, GB

Posted Date: 9/30/2024