Background
We are a public sector education organisation undertaking a confidential search for a commercially minded Fractional Finance Director on a six-month contract.
This is more than an interim cover role. The successful candidate will stabilise, assess and transform the finance function, creating greater clarity, stronger management information and a more effective platform for the permanent role holder.
The immediate priority is a seamless transition from the outgoing FD, maintaining strong financial control, compliance and business continuity.
Alongside this, you’ll take a fresh and objective look at the finance function - its people, systems, processes and reporting - and identify and implement practical improvements.
You’ll therefore need to operate comfortably at both strategic and operational level: maintaining day-to-day control while having the experience and confidence to challenge, improve and transform.
The Role
The assignment has four broad objectives:
Stabilise – ensure continuity, control, compliance and an effective handover.
Improve visibility – give the Principal and Executive Team much greater clarity around financial performance, budgets, spend and cash flow.
Transform – assess the finance function and implement practical improvements across people, processes, systems and reporting.
Prepare for the future – leave behind a stronger, more effective finance function and support the Principal in appointing a permanent successor.
The Ideal Candidate
We’re looking for an experienced, qualified FD who is commercially minded, transformational at their core and highly collaborative.
You’ll be proactive, resilient and analytical, with the credibility to work effectively with senior leaders and the ability to bring people with you through change.
Ultimately, we need an FD who can diagnose quickly, create clarity and make change happen - providing stability without becoming absorbed by the status quo - and leaving the finance function demonstrably stronger than they found it.
You will:
- Bring strong FD-level experience and a clear track record of successfully transforming and improving finance functions
- Be commercially astute, connecting financial information with organisational priorities and decision-making
- Have strong experience of developing management information and reporting for senior leadership
- Turn complex financial information into clear, accessible and actionable insights, improving financial understanding across the organisation
- Be comfortable challenging existing ways of working constructively and asking the right questions
- Combine strategic thinking with a hands-on approach and the ability to turn recommendations into tangible improvements
- Build strong relationships quickly with the Principal, Executive Team and finance team
- Be an effective people leader, creating clarity, accountability and confidence
- Be pragmatic and proportionate, recognising where genuine transformation is needed and where existing processes simply need tightening
Key Responsibilities
Stabilise and lead the transition
Lead a structured handover from the current role holder, capturing key processes, responsibilities, relationships and critical knowledge.
Maintain financial control, compliance and business continuity throughout the transition.
Take leadership of the finance team (currently three direct reports), establishing clear priorities, responsibilities and expectations.
Strengthen financial control and compliance
Ensure Board reporting, regulatory and statutory returns, and audit requirements are accurate, timely and well controlled.
Identify and address immediate financial risks, control weaknesses or governance issues.
Ensure robust financial processes and accountability are embedded across the organisation.
Transform management reporting and financial visibility
Review and redesign management reporting to provide clear, timely and genuinely useful financial information for the Executive Team.
Improve visibility of budget versus actual spend, variances, commitments and emerging pressures.
Strengthen monthly cash-flow reporting and forecasting, providing a clear view of current and future requirements.
Move reporting beyond historical performance towards forward-looking analysis that supports better decision-making.
Improve financial commentary and make complex information accessible to non-finance colleagues, raising financial literacy across the organisation.
Support a review of the institutional operating model, working closely with the People & Culture Team .
Review and transform the finance function
Undertake a pragmatic review of the finance function across people, processes, systems, governance and reporting.
Assess structure, capability, controls, efficiency, ownership & opportunities for simplification or improvement.
Develop a prioritised roadmap for change and implement achievable quick wins during your tenure.
Build a finance function that is fit for purpose, commercially useful, efficient and sustainable.
Support the Principal and permanent succession
Act as a trusted financial adviser to the Principal.
Help define the requirements for the permanent FD and support the search and assessment process.
Provide an objective view of the finance function and the leadership required for its next phase.
Ensure the permanent successor receives a comprehensive handover, with clear priorities and momentum already established.
External relationships and risk
Act as the key finance contact for relevant legal, insurance and external adviser relationships.
Maintain appropriate oversight of financial risks and obligations.
What Success Looks Like
At the end of six months, we expect the finance function to be more effective, commercially focused and significantly clearer to the Executive Team , with:
A successful transition and a finance team with clear leadership, accountability and priorities.
Strong financial control, with regulatory, Board and audit requirements firmly under control.
Management reporting that gives clear visibility of performance, budget, variances & cash flow.
Financial information that is better understood and actively used to support decision-making.
People, processes and systems objectively assessed, with priority improvements implemented and a clear roadmap for further change.
The Principal is clear on the strengths, weaknesses and future requirements of the finance function.
The permanent FD identified or recruitment well advanced, with a comprehensive handover ready for their arrival.
It is absolutely essential that you can commit to a 6 month contract.
If you are interested in learning more, and have prior Finance transformation experience, please tell us more about you.