The British Psychoanalytical Society is the oldest psychoanalytic organisation UK. With around 400 members, the Society is a UK wide and international community of professionals, dedicated to helping people enhance their lives through intensive talking therapy and psychoanalysis. The Institute of Psychoanalysis is the outward face and training body of the British Psychoanalytical Society.

Our alumni include some of the most important figures in the history of psychoanalysis, including Michael Balint, Wilfred Bion, John Bowlby, Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Joseph Sandler, Hannah Segal and Donald Winnicott. The Society continues to have as members world renowned psychoanalysts and the forefront of its psychoanalytical practice.

We are looking for a Head of Finance to take the lead for the financial performance management of the organisation, managing the function operationally, strategically and in relationships with stakeholders, including directing and evolving our finance team.

Reporting into the Chief Executive Officer, this is a key position and your responsibilities include:

• Overall responsibility for the development and successful delivery of the Finance function and providing successful leadership across the organisation;
• Leading on financial  planning and developing projections and business models in line with the Strategic Plan;

• Communicating complex financial information and influencing and building rapport with a range of internal and external stakeholders;
• Leading the design, implementation and review of systems, processes and procedures;
• Producing the Trustee’s Annual Report and Financial Statements; reporting to the Finance & Audit Committee and the Board of Trustees;
• Managing a small team.

The successful candidate will be a qualified accountant with experience of the UK charity or not for profit sector, advanced knowledge of SORP and charity VAT. You will robust technical skills and a proactive approach with a proven ability to ‘roll sleeves up’ and focus on solutions. You will have excellent leadership and communication skills, able to motivate your team and build rapport with a range of finance and non-finance persons across the organisation.

This would be a fantastic opportunity for an ambitious professional looking to step into their first Head of Finance position. We will also consider experienced professionals on a part time basis looking to make a sideways move.

Recruitment timetable:

Application deadline: Sunday 16th August

Shortlisting: w/c 24th August

First stage interviews: w/c 31st August

Second stage interviews: w/c 7th September

To apply please send your CV and supporting statement via the link. For an informal conversation, please contact Bryony Feeney via theAllen Lane agency website. 

British Psychoanalytical Society COVID-19 Response and Impact

We are pleased to say that we have managed to significantly minimise the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our activities and finances.  We made the decision to close our building and move our activities online in early March ahead of the government lockdown requirement.  Our staff, members, candidates and patients have adapted remarkably well to working online and we have not experienced significant difficulties.  Since we have been able to run the majority of our work in full and some areas such as library and archives in part, we have not needed to furlough any staff or apply for government assistance funds.

Moving our work online so quickly has allowed a much wider engagement with people outside of London and UK. We are looking at how in the future, we can continue to use online elements in our activities alongside face to face to ensure that we continue to reach and engage much wider audiences than we had been able to before.  We are also updating our IT systems to enable staff to work more flexibly from home in the future.