Natural England
Principal Finance Officer - ( Ref : 6662 )
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East Midlands (England), East of England, London (region), North East England, North West England, South East England, South West England, West Midlands (England), Yorkshire and the Humber
Job Summary
This position is based Nationally
Job Description
Join us in shaping a future where nature and people thrive. Whether you're drawn to hands-on conservation or playing a vital part behind the scenes, your work at Natural England will support lasting benefits for the environment and society.
Our Role
Natural England is the Government’s adviser for the natural environment and the Nature regulator with a wide range of statutory duties and powers. We provide the evidence, expertise and advice to recover Nature and shape better places for people to live. We do this working through and with others.
Strategic Outcomes for Nature
Our strategy is framed through four strategic outcomes. Each of these outcomes reinforces and amplifies the others, and together they address environmental, social and economic actions critical to thriving nature.
- Recovering Nature– Increased scale and quality of places where nature thrives.
- Building Better Places– Greener homes and infrastructure create healthier, more investable places, recognising we live better where nature thrives around us.
- Improving Health and Wellbeing– Build nature into everyday life so people can support, access and benefit from nature, wherever they live.
- Delivering Security through Nature– Nature helps us adapt to the threats of a changing climate and improves our national security, supporting more resilient food production, healthy soils, clean and plentiful water and clean air.
Find out more about the work of Natural England at:
Natural England’s Strategy: Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security - GOV.UK
The Role
The Principal Finance Officer role sits within the Landscape Recovery team in Operations. Landscape Recovery (LR) is one of three Environmental Land Management schemes, alongside Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship. It supports landowners and managers to deliver large-scale, transformational change for nature, bringing together multiple partners to restore landscapes over the long term. Following a two-year development phase, projects submit detailed delivery plans that must pass through a rigorous assurance process before securing 20+ years of public investment.
Job Description
We are looking for a Principal Finance Officer who will provide leadership and oversight of the finance workstream. They will lead on financial approaches for the programme, including payment models, processes and financial management, ensuring these are effective, proportionate and support delivery at scale. Working closely with the wider Landscape Recovery partnership (Defra, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission) and colleagues across Natural England, they will help ensure strong financial controls and clear processes are in place, and that financial considerations are embedded in programme design and decision-making.
Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities
- Provide leadership and oversight of the Landscape Recovery Finance function across Development and Implementation, setting direction and ensuring delivery aligns with programme priorities.
- Provide technical and functional leadership for the finance team, building capability to enable high-quality delivery.
- Build and maintain strong relationships across NE, Defra and delivery partners, enabling collaborative working and knowledge sharing.
- Oversee financial processes, systems and controls, ensuring these are fit for purpose and meet Natural England and Defra requirements.
- Monitor assurance timelines to ensure forecasts reflect a realistic position, identifying budget risks and providing mitigation recommendations to various boards.
- Lead development and continuous improvement of finance processes and products, working with colleagues and delivery partners to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of delivery.
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Knowledge, Skills & Experience
- Strong financial management experience, including budgeting, forecasting and financial control.
- Experience of working in a government, grant funding or programme environment.
- Strong leadership skills, with the ability to functionally lead a dispersed team to deliver programme outcomes.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills including use of appropriate language and techniques to clearly present complex information and risk positions.
- Ability to use financial information to support decision-making and manage risk.
- Experience of developing or implementing financial processes, systems or payment approaches and business cases.
- Professional financial qualification.
Benefits
At Natural England, we support a healthy work-life balance by offering full-time, part-time, and flexible working arrangements.
We provide excellent opportunities for career progression, training, and development tailored to your role. This includes ten days annually for personal learning and development, plus three additional days for volunteering.
You’ll receive a generous leave allowance of 25 days per year (pro rata), increasing by one day for each year of service up to 30 days (pro-rata), access to the Civil Service Pension scheme with a 28.97% employer contribution, and a range of benefits such as shopping discounts and a cycle-to-work scheme. Staff can also join the Civil Service Sport club for discounts on sports, leisure activities, and social events.
We are committed to fairness, equality, and inclusivity. Our employee-led diversity networks help foster a welcoming environment where everyone feels valued and supported.
Locations
Natural England has adopted hybrid working – which means our staff work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. All new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England, and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographical area. Staff are expected to attend their associated office for 20% of their contractual hours.
Staff members are required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Travel expenses will be paid if work-related travel is required but does not apply to travel between home and your associated office.
National team roles can be linked with any Natural England office while Area Team roles will be linked with an office in the relevant geographic area.
View a map of our office locations here: online map of Natural England office locations
Pay
It is Natural England policy to employ at the entry point of the salary range.
You will become an active member of the relevant local leadership community, the group of senior Natural England staff in each of the localities across England who we ask to provide support and co-ordination for the local group of staff.
How To Apply
We welcome and encourage applications from all communities. Natural England is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.
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If you require a reasonable adjustment at interview, or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you should notify us of this at application stage where possible, or well in advance of your interview. We now provide primary interview questions in advance for all formal recruitments.
This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We'll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process. Please be aware that we reserve the right for roles that receive a high volume of applications to initially sift applications for one competence only.
Technical Skills and Knowledge
Strong financial management experience, including budgeting, forecasting and financial control. (Essential)
Personal Effectiveness
Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and the organisation you represent and inspire others to act. (Expert)
Putting People at the Heart of the Environment
Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and the organisation you represent. (Expert)
Work Delivery
Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines. (Expert)
When completing the application form you should present relevant examples using the STAR format. Give us an example of how you have demonstrated the competency (which can be work related or from another area of your life) and tell us about the Situation, the specific Task you had to undertake, the specific Actions you took, and the Result (both immediate and in a wider context) of your Action.
Please note that STAR format is not required when answering the Technical Skills & Knowledge competency.
Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency.
If you are successful at the shortlisting stage, you will be invited to attend an interview via MS Teams or a suitable alternative, where you will be asked to give examples for all competencies as set out in the Job Description.
As with all roles in NE, these roles require office attendance of a minimum of 20% of the working time – one day per week for those who work full time, subject to any reasonable adjustments and/or existing contractual homeworking.
Competencies
Competence 1
Professional competency
Technical Skills and Knowledge
Description
Strong financial management experience, including budgeting, forecasting and financial control. (Essential)
Experience of working in a government, grant funding or programme environment. (Essential)
Strong leadership skills, with the ability to functionally lead a dispersed team to deliver programme outcomes. (Essential)
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills including use of appropriate language and techniques to clearly present complex information and risk positions. (Essential)
Ability to use financial information to support decision-making and manage risk. (Essential)
Experience of developing or implementing financial processes, systems or payment approaches and business cases. (Desirable)
Professional financial qualification. (Desirable)
Competence 2
Professional competency
Personal Effectiveness
Description
Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and the organisation you represent and inspire others to act.
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