UK Ministry of Defence
Head of Finance
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Abbey Wood (Bristol), Andover, London, RAF Wyton or Whittington.
This role will require regular travel to London and there is an expectation that a minimum of 60% of working time will be spent in the office. All work-related travel and subsistence costs will be reimbursed except when travelling to your base location in line with departmental policy. More details about business travel benefits specific to this role can be found on the next page.
Job Summary
The Head of Finance is a senior leadership role within the Defence Housing Service (DHS) (which is currently operating as a team within DIO), responsible for overseeing the organisation’s finances, governance, and risk management. The postholder leads finance-related change, compliance, assurance activities, and works closely with senior leaders to translate complex financial data into clear insights, enabling informed decisions on risks and investment consequences.
As the principal expert supporting the DHS Accounting Officer, the role ensures robust financial management, transparency, and security governance in a fast-paced environment. The postholder oversees the financial management of the Defence Housing Service (DHS) and plays a key role in strengthening governance and financial discipline. Through influence across teams and stakeholders, they shape strategy, planning, and investment decisions, while setting standards and guiding the future finance operating model and transformation.
The future delivery model for this team is currently under review and may change as part of potential organisational developments. This could include the team or function transferring to a different employer or organisational structure in the future. Should activities transfer out of the Ministry of Defence existing employees transferring with those activities will maintain the same or substantially the same terms and conditions of employment.
Job Description
Responsibilities
- Leads and line manages the Finance Team, Financial Accounting; Decision Support, Scrutiny and Assurance Team (DSSAT); Finance Business Improvement and Change team; Security; and Governance, Risk and Assurance teams.
- Oversees audit and corporate assurance activities, including management of statutory and internal audit processes.
- Manages the organisational risk management and assurance framework.
- Acts as lead for Corporate Governance, delegations, and investment approvals, providing financial scrutiny and cost-modelling expertise.
- Leads Financial and Capital Accounting, Balance Sheet management, VAT, counter-fraud, and related compliance activities.
- Provides decision-making support and advice to the DHS Executive and the wider organisation.
- Builds strong functional capability, embedding finance and good governance at the heart of decision-making.
- Ensures the adequacy and optimisation of the control framework, balancing risk management with the pursuit of faster, improved infrastructure delivery.
- Leads adoption and compliance with relevant policies within DHS, offering advice and guidance across the organisation.
- Directly leads and line manages the Accommodation finance team, working closely with Delivery as Finance Business Partners to deliver robustly in-year.
- Ensures Finance Team supports the production of ABC budget submissions alongside delivery colleagues, actively contributing to programming, risk management, and investment decision-making.
- Oversees the development and delivery of a change and finance improvement programme, collaborating with other parts of the organisation and the wider MOD.
- Supports DIO’s Senior Security Risk Coordinator, overseeing the DHS physical security and security vetting programmes.
- Accountable for DHS security performance, ensuring business outputs are delivered while maintaining robust and effective security governance.
- Accountable for business continuity arrangements across DHS and Industry Partners.
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Person specification
- Strong leadership skills to inspire confidence, lead multi-disciplinary teams, and drive change through innovative ways of working.
- Significant experience in financial accounting, governance, control, and senior-level financial management within complex environments.
- Extensive expertise in financial and capital accounting, audit oversight, risk management, and corporate governance.
- Proven ability to provide high-level financial advice and decision support to senior executives and governing bodies.
- Experience leading finance change and improvement programmes that enhance financial processes, systems, and ways of working.
- Strong communication and influencing skills, capable of engaging senior leaders and external committees effectively.
Qualifications
- Professional financial qualification (CCAB, CIMA, or equivalent) with substantial senior financial management experience.
Alongside your salary of £90,000, Ministry of Defence contributes £26,073 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).
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%
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
To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the Civil Service Jobs portal. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on Sunday 20 September 2026 and will involve providing the two documents which are weighted equally:
- 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 Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) providing tangible examples that clearly evidence how you meet the essential criteria for the role.
External candidates who join the MOD and are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.
Candidate Drop-In Session
David Brewer will be holding a online Q&A session on Friday 4 September 2026 from 15:00-16:00 to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
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This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
Security
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
This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
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).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact
Name : SCS Recruitment Team
Email : People-CivHR
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