Strategic Finance Lead

Strategic Finance Lead (Financial Accounting, Statement of Accounts & Treasury)

Large South West Local Authority Permanent 64,000 - 68,000

Panoramic Associates is supporting a large, high-profile local authority in the South West to recruit a Strategic Finance Lead into their corporate finance leadership team. Reporting to the Director of Finance & Procurement (Deputy s151), this role provides technical leadership across the finance function and plays a key part in ensuring robust governance, compliance and high-quality financial reporting.

The role

This is a senior technical finance post with responsibility for:

• Leading the production of the annual Statement of Accounts and statutory returns, ensuring compliance with CIPFA guidance and relevant regulatory frameworks
• Providing strategic financial advice to support medium/long-term planning, including 5-10 year scenario modelling across revenue and capital
• Acting as the professional lead for treasury management, financial risk mitigation, and technical areas including VAT, tax and financial control policies
• Ensuring the integrity and robustness of financial information used for modelling and decision-making
• Maintaining a centre of excellence for finance processes, data stewardship and continuous improvement
• Leading and developing a specialist finance team (c. 10+), setting standards and driving performance
• Advising senior leaders, external partners and elected members on complex financial issues
• Overseeing outsourced finance activity to ensure service quality and delivery

What they're looking for

• CCAB-qualified accountant (or equivalent)
• Strong experience in local government financial accounting and statutory reporting
• Proven ability to lead complex, high-profile financial work and influence at senior level
• Comfortable operating in a political environment with excellent stakeholder management skills
• Strong finance systems and data skills (ideally Oracle), plus advanced Excel capability

Additional details

• Politically restricted role
• Safeguarding/vetting requirements may include DBS / BPSS / NPPV depending on remit
• Some flexibility may be required for key deadlines (e.g., accounts closure)

Apply

To apply, please send your CV to Panoramic Associates and we'll share further information on the organisation, team structure, and interview process.