Head of Finance Operations

Overview

National/Hybrid

£76,965 - £88,682 per annum + HCAS where applicable

Job Summary:

Are you looking to make a real impact in a life-changing, life-saving organisation through finance leadership? As Head of Finance Operations at NHSBT, you will be at the heart of a complex, mission-driven organisation, leading the financial operations that enable the safe, efficient flow of funds which support the delivery of blood, organs and tissues that save and improve lives every day.

Main duties of the job

• Financial Transaction Leadership & Control:
  Own and ensure strict oversight of the organisation’s income (£650m) and expenditure (£300m), including cash management, receipting, payments, and the Purchase-to-Pay process, ensuring timeliness, accuracy, and compliance.
• Finance Systems & ERP Expertise – Serve as the operational subject matter expert for Oracle e-Business Suite and all inward and outward-bound financial transaction interfaces, including BACS and other bank payments and the implementation of a new ERP system, shaping business processes to support efficient financial transaction capture, reporting, and decision-making.
• Governance & Compliance – Embed robust financial controls across transactional processes, ensuring adherence to Government Functional Standards, IFRS, HMRC regulations, audit recommendations, and finance systems best practice.
• Process Improvement & Stakeholder Collaboration – Partner with senior operational managers across Finance, Commercial, Digital (DDTS) and wider business to review, design, and continually improve end-to-end transactional processes, data quality, and reporting.
• Leadership & Reporting – Lead a team of 16 staff (including 4 direct reports), ensuring delivery of operational financial services and statutory outputs, including contributions to the Annual Report.

You will be required to travel and spend time away from base, which will involve working irregular hours and overnight stays when required, with prior notice.

Experience and Knowledge

• Knowledge and experience of transactional, operational and strategic financial management in a large multi-disciplinary organisation.
• Significant line and team management experience.
• Significant experience of report writing, process documentation and business cases.
• Extensive experience of translating technical financial accounting requirements into transactional processes which can be used at scale and maintain financial controls, data integrity and audit trails, whilst maximising reporting and management information opportunities.
• Knowledge, understanding and practical experience of complex, cross-discipline business process inter-relationships, preferably across a manufacturing, warehousing and service supply chain.
• Knowledge of process improvement methodologies, business analysis techniques and related concepts, and demonstrable experience of delivering improvement.
• Extensive knowledge and experience of designing, implementing and managing best practice financial transaction processes, and managing performance against published and/or Board committee level KPIs.
• Advanced specialist knowledge of Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) data processes, Power Query, VBA, SQL and the management of inbound and outbound interfaces.
• Demonstrable experience of managing the operation, and change, of large complex financial ledger or ERP systems.
• Knowledge and practical experience of negotiating process change and outcomes in a challenging environment.

Qualifications And Training

• Masters-level professional accounting qualification from a CCAB or equivalent awarding body, with full membership of the respective accounting body having been achieved, plus significant post qualification experience working at a strategic level in a large complex organisation.
• Demonstrates commitment to own continued professional development (CPD).

It takes all types of people to deliver the kind of service that saves and improves lives. At NHS Blood and Transplant, you’ll join a team of more than 6,000 people who are making a genuine difference to communities, families, friends, relatives and more across the UK. We play a unique and special…