Assistant Finance Business Partner

The Government's energy and net zero policy remain highly prominent, with a heightened emphasis on ensuring the UK's energy security and advancing the nation towards its net zero goals.

These roles sit within the Finance Business Partner team. As a trusted financial adviser, you will bridge the gap between policy teams and central finance, supporting essential Government initiatives focused on achieving net zero targets and energy security.

You will collaborate closely with policy and delivery colleagues, alongside specialists such as analysts, legal and commercial experts. As an AFBP, your role is to ensure that all colleagues across the Department are equipped with the necessary knowledge and support to effectively develop new policy with financial implications and manage expenditure, thereby contributing strongly to the achievement of the Department's broader objectives.

These roles provide a unique opportunity to engage with the entirety of our operations. While certain aspects of the role are driven by demand, there is flexibility to tailor the position according to your unique skills and interests. We offer a dynamic, fulfilling career path that promises diversity and excitement. Moreover, we are committed to supporting your professional growth through comprehensive training and development opportunities.

Person specification

• Ensure Senior Responsible Officers (SROs) for policies and programmes receive excellent financial advice such that DESNZ programmes are likely to succeed: meet strategic objectives, well-planned and governed, deliverable, value for money, affordable and correctly accounted for.
• Provide expert advice and challenge helping policy groups to stay within their delegated budgets, whilst maximising the value they deliver.
• Assist the business in developing realistic forecasts that consider financial risks and opportunities, and deliver financial reports to senior management furnishing them with the tools to make good decisions.
• Provide guidance to policy colleagues during the development of policy and when seeking financial clearance, including ministerial submissions and business cases.
• Share insights within the policy or Corporate Services teams and with the Senior FBPs to optimise business planning outcome for the Department as a whole, including challenging assumptions where necessary.
• Collaborate to enhance financial capability and understanding across business areas.

Essential Criteria

• Demonstrated capability to cultivate trusting relationships with stakeholders and effectively influence them with impact and professional credibility.
• Experience of communicating financial performance and management information for decision makers and advising on associated opportunities and risks.
• Experience of successfully applying accounting principles and explaining them with clarity to non-financial audiences.
• Experience of, or an ability to rapidly acquire an understanding of, central government finance policies and protocols (for example Managing Public Money, and Consolidated Budgeting Guidance).
• Evidence of being solution-focused with the ability to influence and work as part of a team, motivating and inspiring others to achieve a common goal.
• Ability to bring concepts and details together and have the confidence to decide when to delve into the specifics and when to focus on the broader perspective.
• Ability to work on own initiative and under pressure with competing demands to tight deadlines.
• Impeccable professional and ethical standards.

Desirable Criteria

• CCAB (or equivalent) qualified accountant status is desirable but not essential for this role. Non-qualified candidates with the relevant skills and experience will be considered for the role and will be supported.
• Experience using Oracle financial systems
• Previous finance business partnering or management accounting experience within the Civil Service.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Alongside your salary of £43,765, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £12,678 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete an online test, behavioural statements, CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 500 words) to briefly summarise why you are interested in this role, and your suitability with reference to the role specification.

After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Numerical Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.

Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the tests is 23:55 on 20th August 2026. If you fail to complete the online test before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.

You will be directed to the Talogy - True Talent – Scheduled Maintenance Window Webpage for online tests