Chief Financial Officer

Job summary

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Chief Financial Officer to lead the Cabinet Office Finance directorate during a period of significant change and transformation in the department and as we prepare for a new multi-year Spending Round next year.

This is a fantastic opportunity to get deep experience working at the centre of government, contributing to the leadership and delivery of the Prime Minister’s priorities, as well as the future strategy for the UK Civil Service and Government f unctions and s ervices.

As Cabinet Office CFO you will work closely with Cat Little in her role as both Permanent Secretary for the Cabinet Office and Chief Operating Officer of the Civil Service. You will be a member of ExCo and the Departmental Board (also attending the Cabinet Office Audit and Risk Committee), as well as representing the Cabinet Office in the Government Finance Function.

As CFO, you will be responsible for supporting the Principal Accounting Officer in managing risk and compliance with Managing Public Money. You will have a pivotal role in the establishment of the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the creation of the OneGov Agency, which will take effect from 1 April 2027.

Working with the Cabinet Office Chief People Officer, you will play a leading role as part of the Matrix cluster of departments, overseeing Cabinet Office’s migration to a new ERP (shared services platform) and developing strategic opportunities for shared corporate services across the wider Cabinet Office Group.

You will report to Harriet Aldridge, Cabinet Office Chief Operating Officer and work alongside functional leaders in Strategy, HR, Commercial and Digital as a key part of the Cabinet Office Corporate Services Senior Leadership Team. You will lead a team of 4 Deputy Directors (SCS1s) and c120FTE based predominantly in London and Glasgow.

Job description

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership:

• You will provide strong, visionary leadership for all aspects of the Cabinet Office Finance function, including strategic finance, financial controls and operation, compliance, debt and risk.
• You will play a key role in the creation of the Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC), and in the establishment of the OneGov Delivery Agency, which will involve the carve out of a number of service delivery areas from the department of state.
• Working closely with the Chief People Officer (CPO), you will oversee the Cabinet Office’s migration to the new shared services plat form as part of the Matrix cluster, and the strategic opportunities for future corporate services that come from this.

Financial Management and performance:

• You will provide the department’s Permanent Secretary, Board and Executive Committee with a clear understanding of our financial performance including budgets, forecasts, risk and opportunities, and choices / trade offs to optimise the use of resources and ensure that the resources authorised by Parliament for use by the Cabinet Office are used for the purposes intended.
• You will provide accurate and timely Estimates to Parliament and a robust cash management system.

Strategic financial advice:

• You will be responsible for providing the Permanent Secretary (as Principal Accounting Officer) with hi gh-q uality advice to ensure the financial and accounting consequences of decisions / options are well understood, and ensuring that the Accounting Officer is appropriately discharging her PAO duties with respect to Regularity, Propriety, Feasibility and Value for Money .

Financial Planning and controls:

• You will lead the department’s financial planning process, as part of Business Planning, ensuring the department has a coherent, affordable and effective financial plan that can be delivered within an acceptable risk tolerance. This includes having personal accountability to the Accounting Officer for the economic, efficient and effective use of resources and working closely with other key partners, in particular the Cabinet Office’s Strategy Director, Chief Digital & Information Officer and the Chief People Officer, to secure the resources the department needs to deliver its policies, programmes and operational delivery requirements.
• You will be responsible for leading and ensuring compliance with HMT spend controls and overseeing Cabinet Office corporate compliance and assurance, as well as debt management.

Skills and capability:

• You will be responsible for developing and continuing to improve the financial management capability of the department and its leaders, through education, control and influence.
• You will lead the Government Finance Function within the Cabinet Office to build strong, diverse, effective and high-quality inclusive functions that are respected and collaborative, command credibility at all levels and promote a culture of evidence based and expert decision making, as well as value for money across the organisation.

Governance and performance:

• You will be responsible for ensuring the department has clear and effective frameworks for budget management, planning, performance and investment management.

Business Partnering and Stakeholder management:

• You will be required to influence and build relationships with senior leaders and stakeholders, including at Board level, with HM Treasury and other government departments; with partners in the Matrix shared services cluster and challenging constructively to ensure alignment with financial and organisational strategy.
• You will be responsible for leading and developing a highly expert, respected and user focused business partnering function which operates in a wholly integrated and seamless way with HR, digital and commercial teams.

Person specification

It is important that, through your CV and supporting statement, that you provide evidence of the professional skills, breadth of experience and personal qualities for this post.

Essential Criteria:

• Proven Leadership : evidence of a track record of success in a senior Finance leadership role in a large and complex organisation w ith success in building, motivating and inspiring supportive, inclusive and high performing multi-disciplinary teams, leading through both business-as-usual and transformational change.
• Strategic Vision : experience of delivering a clear strategic vision for the future of a finance function in a large and complex organisation.
• Stakeholder Engagement evidence of strong ability to influence and build relationships with senior leaders and stakeholders, including at Board level, as a trusted finance advisor and partner with the ability to communicate complex financial positions compellingly with confidence, clarity and credibility.
• Political Sensitivity: you will have to show excellent political skills, including the ability to understand and operate within complex, evolving and ambiguous environments, to manage risk and reach sound judgments on a range of strategic and reputational issues.
• Operational Excellence : you must demonstrate how you consistently promote excellent service delivery and a continuous improvement approach in your team’s output, whilst balancing working at pace to manage a full workload with conflicting short and long-term priorities.

Qualifications

You must hold a professional finance qualification (CCAB,CIMA or equivalent.) and must be evidenced in the qualifications section of your application.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £130,000, Cabinet Office contributes

£37,661 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).

Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service. It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead. You’ll benefit from a wide range of training and development opportunities, regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.

This includes:

• 25 days annual leave on entry, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service. This is in addition to 8 public holidays.
• This will be complemented by one further day paid privilege entitlement to mark the King’s Birthday;
• Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers;
• Childcare benefits (policy for new employees as of 5 April 2018): The government has introduced the Tax- Free Childcare (TFC) scheme. Working parents can open an online childcare account and for every £8 they pay in, the government adds £2, up to a maximum of £2000 a year for each child or £4000 for a disabled child. Parents then use the funds to pay for registered childcare. Existing employees may be able to continue to claim childcare vouchers, so please check how the policy would work for you here.
• Interest-free loans allowing you to spread the cost of an annual travel season ticket or a new bicycle;
• The opportunity to use onsite facilities including fitness centres and staff canteens (where applicable); and occupational sick pay.
• A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension; where your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken; and where your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire.

Things you need to know

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

Application process

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process, outlined below. This should be completed no later than 23:55, Monday 28th September 2026.

1. A CV (max 2 pages or 1250 words) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.

2. A Statement of Suitability (no longer than 1250 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification.

Failure to complete both sections of the online application form (CV and Statement of Suitability) will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say’. See the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for more information.

Should you encounter any issues with your online application please get in touch with us via: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Selection process

Your application will be acknowledged when it is received.

A panel, will assess all applications to select those demonstrating the best fit with the role by considering the evidence p