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Interim Head of Finance & Operations
Career Ready is a social mobility charity that believes that every young person deserves the opportunity to enjoy a rewarding future.
We were founded in 2002 by leading business figures with a mission: to boost social mobility by empowering young people and giving their talents a platform from which to flourish. Since then, we’ve grown in England and Scotland to support young people in areas of need.
We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced, qualified Finance professional to lead our Finance & Operations function.
About the Role
Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer the Interim Head of Finance & Operations leads on and assumes day to day responsibility for providing high quality, strategic financial management for Career Ready.
You will lead on business operations to ensure the ongoing effective functioning of the charity and drive sustainable growth.
The Interim Head of Finance and Operations plays a key role in leading greater organisational efficiency and simplifying processes and will continue the delivery of a project plan reflecting the 2025-30 strategy.
You will play a critical role in driving the increased quality of Career Ready’s offer to our stakeholders in line with our strategy, vision and values.
Member of our SMT, comprising of the CEO, Director for Scotland, Director of Programme and Partnerships and Heads of functions.
This is an interim role to cover a period of maternity leave.
Main responsibilities and accountabilities
· Lead, direct and manage the finance and operations functions, overseeing two direct reports, ensuring they deliver a high-quality service to all internal and external stakeholders and are seen as adding value, in enabling Career Ready to achieve its vision and strategic objectives through its people.
· Continue the delivery of a project plan reflecting the 2025-30 strategy, ensuring that activities happen at pace, are deadline-driven and achieve a high level of impact.
· Assume overall responsibility for the financial management of Career Ready, working with the SMT to ensure high quality and effective use of charitable funds.
· Input into and review the financial elements of funding applications and ensure that fund accounting processes align with funders’ requirements for project reporting.
· Produce financial reports for various stakeholders, as well as leading on financial modelling.
· Have oversight of all financial and accountancy matters including month end reports, management accounts, cash flow management, compliance, tax liability, presentation of management information and KPIs. Ensure that the CEO and Trustees are provided with accurate, timely information and analysis.
· Oversee and coordinate the fully managed payroll services with the external bureau for all Career Ready employees and for some internship students (Jun to Aug during the Summer)
· Administration of the Staff Opt-In Pension Scheme, including onboarding new staff (Royal London)
· Act as a role model in our ‘one team’ culture. Lead in the development of efficient working practices across the charity, creating momentum and supporting motivation within the charity.
· Lead risk management strategies and internal control procedures to minimise the risk of loss, or damage to, Career Ready’s assets.
· Prepare and submit annual operational budgets and annual accounts to the CEO for review and approval.
· Draft and deliver papers for Trustees and Finance and Fundraising Committee (F&FC) meetings.
· Attend Board and F&FC meetings to present papers and answer questions related to areas of expertise.
· Provide day to day line management of the Senior Finance Officers and support their ongoing growth and development.
· Management of organisational governance and compliance activities, including policy management.
· Oversee and manage the organisation’s risk management register and process, with input from SMT.
· Oversee reviews and renewals of all insurance policies that affect the organisation.
· Lead on the compliance of statutory and charity regulatory reporting, giving guidance to colleagues where required.
· Ensure any changes to processes and procedures across the function are clearly documented.
Person Specification
Essential skills and experience
- Belief and commitment to Career Ready’s mission and values
- Qualified (ACA/ACCA/CIMA/AAT) accountant with at least 5 years’ experience in financial management including budgeting, preferably in the charity sector.
- Significant experience in producing management and financial accounts
- Skilled in financial reporting and producing VAT returns
- Preparing for and ensuring a successful year-end audit, and demonstrable knowledge of UK Charities SORP and other reporting standards
- Experience in budgeting to support strategic decision making.
- Financial dexterity and strong analytical skills.
- Strong IT skills, including advanced MS Excel skills and extensive of using an accounting software, preferably Xero
- Excellent organisational and prioritising skills and ability to work independently and with autonomy
- Strong starter finisher with ability to lead and drive projects
- Knowledge of charity governance and compliance requirements
- Ability to build excellent relationships and have effective engagement with stakeholders
- Good communication skills and ability to communicate financial concepts to non-finance staff
- Attention to detail
- Ability to present financial information to various audiences
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and sensitivity of financial information
- Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
- Ability to cope with competing demands to deadlines
- Honest and dependable
Desirable skills and experience
- Experience of leading a team, strong team building skills
- Line management experience
- Experience of using MS Planner or other project management tools
- Genuine interest in the work done by the Charity
- Experience of using a CRM (Salesforce)
- Degree in financial management or accounting
Full details are provided in the candidate pack
Salary and Benefits
Salary: £52,000 to £54,000 FTE (salary will be pro-rata for part time hours)
28-35 hours per week. Career Ready is committed to supporting condensed/flexible working patterns.
Permanent and remote. Travel to London required on an occasional basis
You will be rewarded with the following benefits:
· 6% contribution to personal pension plan, subject to 3% employee contribution.
· Annual leave: 27 days per annum plus bank/public holidays (pro rata for part time). The charity is also closed between Christmas and New Year. Career Ready also allows flexible use of some Bank & Public Holidays
· Cycle to Work Scheme
· Access to both our Reward Gateway Portal and an Employee Assistance Programme.
· Flexible working
· Work from home allowance and paid travel expenses.
We regret that Career Ready is unable to offer visa sponsorship and candidates must be able to demonstrate their right to work in the UK. In accordance with our commitment to safeguarding, offers of employment are subject to completion of a DBS check.
Timetable
Applications close at 9am on Monday 21 July 2025
Please note that the closing date may be brought forward if we receive strong applications.
This is an interim role to cover a period of maternity leave, with a provisional start date of late September for a handover period.
Registered Charity 
21 - 50
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
The Senior Bid and Funding Officer is a new role for Involve as we seek to build the infrastructure to support the growth that we have experienced in recent years. This role will sit within our Finance & Support Services function and will work alongside colleagues at all levels in the Innovation & Practice, Capacity Building & Standards and Advocacy & Communications functions to identify and provide compelling proposals in response to fundraising and tender opportunities.
As Senior Bid and Funding Officer you will be responsible for identifying fundraising opportunities to bring forwards to the team for evaluation and coordinating the submission of returns ensuring high quality tenders are produced that meet the needs of funders and commissioners. You will support function leads in monitoring fundraising outcomes and comparing to income generation targets, developing a database of funders and improving tender response processes to reduce the administrative burden of tender responses without compromising on quality.
Our ideal candidate will have experience of managing the tender return process in other organisations, either in a commercial or charitable sector environment. You will bring strong project management skills, be able to coordinate tender submissions to set deadlines and have an inquisitive mindset to enjoy researching opportunities and thinking creatively how Involve can meet funder requirements while also advancing our mission.
We work across the UK, with offices in Belfast and London. Many of our staff work from home across the UK or in a hybrid pattern, rather than being based at one of our offices, though we meet up regularly as a team. We are flexible but you must be comfortable with regular travel both for project work and for Involve team activities. Must be able to travel to deliver work across the UK.
Please see our website for more details.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
This is a key leadership role within the CSA Centre, central to our ambition to raise awareness of the true scale and nature of sexual abuse and to drive evidence-informed improvements in policy and practice.
About the role:
The CSA Centre aims to reduce the impact of child sexual abuse through improved prevention and better response, and effective internal and external communication is absolutely central to that mission.
Leading our Communications Team, you will play a key role in developing and delivering the CSA Centre's communication plans over the immediate and longer term, helping us to ensure that our evidence, learning and resources have the widest possible reach into policy and practice at both local and national level.
As a member of the CSA Centre's Senior Management Team, you will work closely with the CSA Centre's multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team, enabling you to draw on expertise from a wide range of different professional backgrounds. You will lead our engagement with communications colleagues from across Government departments and key stakeholder groups.
We are looking for a highly motivated leader with strong skills and significant experience in communication roles, and the ability to manage an extensive and varied workload to deliver multiple objectives. Communication activity at the CSA Centre is extremely diverse; in any given week you might find yourself developing a new strategic approach to disseminating CSA Centre resources throughout practice, leading a briefing session on new research findings for prominent national media outlets, advising senior Government leads on plans for a new awareness raising campaign, working with expert stakeholders to develop national media guidelines for the reporting of child sexual abuse… No two days are the same!
As Assistant Director, Communications, you will play a role tackling child sexual abuse alongside the work of our colleagues across practice, research, policy and training. This is important work - the CSA Centre conservatively estimates that one in ten children will experience some form of child sexual abuse before age of 16, and our ambitious programme seeks to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of professionals (social workers, teachers, social workers, nurses etc.) in identifying and responding to child sexual abuse. We have already made great progress, but there is much more to be done – and we need your leadership to help us do it!
Although this contract has a permanent status, CSA Centre roles are subject to funding until 31st March 2026, in line with our current grant funding arrangements. This contract is due to expire on 31st March 2026 however this will be reviewed in late 2025, as future funding for CSA Centre from 2026/27 onwards is confirmed. If this funding is not extended further, you may be subject to a redundancy consultation or a TUPE arrangement.
About us
We are the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre). Our aim is to reduce the impact of child sexual abuse through improved prevention and better response. To tackle child sexual abuse we must better understand its causes, scope, scale and impact.
Established since 2017, we are a multi-disciplinary team that is funded by the Home Office, hosted by Barnardo's and we work closely with key partners from academic institutions, local authorities, health, education, police and the voluntary sector. We're proudly independent and our team will challenge any barriers, assumptions, taboos and ways of working that prevent us from increasing our understanding and improving our approach to child sexual abuse.
We bring about change by:
- Collating and analysing existing research, policy, practice and the real experiences of those affected, and filling the gaps we identify with new research, insights and analysis;
- Using that evidence and insight to challenge and improve existing policy and practice, develop new approaches and increase everyone's knowledge and confidence to more effectively tackle the issue.
This role is home based with regular travel required, usually to London.
Salary:
The CSA Centre acknowledges that tackling child sexual abuse can feel challenging but is incredibly rewarding and positive when actively making change. Our open working environment ensures that there is support for all employees, across the team and with access to a therapist, if needed. Please do get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of this further.
We believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore are open to offering flexible working arrangements.
The CSA Centre is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce. We actively encourage applications from disabled candidates and candidates from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, as they are currently under-represented at the CSA Centre.
When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification and Job Description.
Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.