Head of finance business partnering jobs in halesowen, west midlands

Head of Finance - Interim | £545 per day (Umbrella) | Hybrid | Midlands | 3 months +

For a Children's Trust providing support and social care for children, young people and families in the Midlands, we are recruiting an Interim Head of Finance. Reporting to the Director of Resources, this is a key role in the strategic leadership team helping shape the future of care and support for young people in the area. This role will develop and implement financial strategies, lead the finance function through planning, managing and delivering, and will provide sound advice and decision-making support for the senior leadership team. This roll will be custodian of all financial regulations, statutory requirements and internal policies. The role will be for at least 3 months but could be extended / made permanent.

Main Duties:

• Lead all financial aspects of the Trust including financial planning, management and reporting
• Provide strategic financial advice to the Director of Resources and wider executives to ensure financial and legal obligations are met
• Develop the short-medium-and long-term financial strategy, budgets and forecasts
• Oversee all financial transactions and operations to provide sound financial controls
• Prepare and present all financial reports, annual accounts and management information
• Support stakeholders with budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning
• Lead and manage the Finance teams through mentorship and innovation
• Seek improvements to processes and procedures, and improving the financial literacy of non-finance stakeholders through insightful business partnering

Person Specification:

• Qualified Accountant (CIPFA, ACA, ACA, CIMA)
• Experience working at senior level within Local Authority, Government, or Children's services
• Experience of developing and implementing financial budgets and forecasts
• Experience of managing and delivering complex programmes of work
• Experience of providing leadership and direction and partnering executives
• Experience of managing and understanding Local Authority financial issues including financial objectives, complex budgets and strategies relating to service objectives
• Knowledge of national and local policy contexts, and the application of operational policies, statutory regulations and government guidance

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As an employer, we are committed to ensuring the representation of people from all backgrounds regardless of their gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, age, neurodiversity, disability status, or any other aspect which makes them unique. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds to apply and would encourage you to let us know if there are steps, we can take to ensure that your recruitment process enables you to present yourself in a way that makes you comfortable.

Unifrog’s mission

We’re on a mission to level the playing field when it comes to young people finding and applying for their next step after school. We're achieving this by bringing all the available information into one single, impartial, user-friendly platform that helps students to make the best choices, and submit the strongest applications. We also empower teachers and counsellors to manage the progression process effectively.

Our outlook is global - we work with schools and universities all over the world, from the US to New Zealand, and from Italy to Hong Kong. We want to make it so that young people can compare every opportunity taught in English, wherever it is in the world, and have all the support they need to make successful applications.

We have a clear social purpose, and we’re hugely ambitious. We already work with over half of UK secondary schools, and hundreds of international schools. We are growing rapidly in terms of the number of our customers, in terms of how much they use our platform, and in terms of the breadth of products we offer.

Our team is at the heart of our business and is integral to our success. We work hard to foster a culture of openness, happiness and innovation, and we commit to helping every individual learn and grow so that they can reach their full potential. We want to hire talented people, whatever their background. If you are excited by our mission and are ready to work hard, please don’t hesitate to apply. We look forward to hearing from you!

We believe in the power of diversity. If you are from an ethnic minority background, we would like to strongly encourage you to apply. In advance of applying if you have any questions about working at Unifrog, please contact Mhairi (details on our jobs page).

What you’ll do

As Finance Executive, you’ll play a key role in keeping our day-to-day finance operations running smoothly; from processing transactions and performing reconciliations, to ensuring our partners are billed correctly and pay on time. You'll be a key point of contact for finance queries across the business, and your work will be essential to maintaining accurate records and enabling wider decision-making. You'll also play an important role in driving process improvements, and support the team by analysing data and producing insightful reports that inform decision making.

This is a varied role where you’ll get exposure to lots of different areas within the finance function of a SaaS company. It’s perfect if you’re keen to explore your interests and gain a solid grounding across multiple aspects of finance.

• Record, process and reconcile transactions for the company using platforms like Spendesk and Xero, and ensure transactions are accurately recorded and categorised. 
• Manage our finance email inbox, responding to queries from schools, universities and employers. 
• Manage our accounts receivable processes, keeping track of overdue invoices, chasing partners for payment and recording received payments. 
• Support our sales teams with general finance related queries and keeping their partner records up to date on Salesforce (our CRM system).
• Improve, streamline and automate processes within the finance function. 
• Get involved with projects such as:
  • Setting up a simple way to keep track of the subscriptions we pay for, and make sure we’re getting good value from them.
  • Finding solutions to increase the number of invoices paid on time.
  • Creating useful reports and dashboards on Salesforce to aid decision making. 
• Support the Finance Lead to:
  • Prepare the payroll for our accountants (including commission calculations) and manage associated schemes (e.g. pension contributions).
  • Manage our accounts payable processes, making and recording payments. 
  • Work on forecasting and variance analysis to support business planning.
  • Check through our quarterly VAT return.
  • Manage the banking for our much smaller Hong Kong and US companies.
• Support the Head of Finance (your line manager) to:
  • Create the annual budget.
  • Support on ad-hoc projects and data analysis requests.

Who we’re looking for

You’ve got some experience in a finance or operations role, or you can demonstrate that you’ve built the relevant skills in another setting and are ready to learn more.

• You’re organised and methodical, with strong attention to detail that helps keep things running smoothly and accurately.
• You enjoy solving problems and thinking critically about how things can be improved, streamlined or automated.
• You’re quick to learn new systems and tools, you might not have used platforms like Xero or Salesforce before, but you’re keen to get stuck in.
• You take ownership of your work, following through on tasks and making sure nothing falls through the cracks.
• You’re proactive and hands-on, excited to go beyond your core responsibilities to improve how we work and help make it a success.
• Being a proficient user of Microsoft Excel (formulas, pivot table, x-lookup) is a bonus.
• Having an educational background in Finance, Accounting or a Business related discipline is desirable, but not essential. 

Working together

We’re a small but mighty team of 3 within Finance (this role included). You’ll be line managed by the Head of Finance and will be working very closely with our Finance Lead too. You’ll also have regular contact with most people across the Unifrog, especially our partner-facing teams and the People team. You’ll also be liaising with our external accountants who take lead with the financial accounting and payroll side of things. 

Key benefits 

Head to our jobs page for a full list of the excellent benefits we offer our team.

• Join one of ‘the best organisations to escape to’ and help transform careers and destinations in schools.
• Become part of a committed, dynamic, and growing company. We want to build our team for the long term: if you do well, we will do our best to make sure you want to stay at the company for a long time.
• Professional development is important at Unifrog. You will define your own 6-month objectives and will be supported by your line manager and the rest of the team to achieve them. You will have an annual training allowance to spend on what you need to grow and progress.
• Influence the company’s direction: we love to promote great ideas, wherever they come from.

Key details 

• £33,000 - £36,000 per year, depending on experience (Grade B).
• This position is advertised as Finance Executive, though internally it will be referred to as Finance Coordinator to better align with Unifrog job titles. 
• Work remotely, or flexibly in our London or Edinburgh office.
• 28 days paid holiday per year (plus bank holidays).
• Working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Thursday, and 9am to 4:30pm on Friday.
• Start date: as soon as possible, though we will be flexible for the right candidates.
• If you require reasonable adjustments, or want to discuss any details about the role before applying, please contact Mhairi (details on our website).
• We can only consider candidates who have the right to work in the UK.

Application process
Deadline: 10:00am (BST) on Monday 1st September 2025. 

Stage 1: Application form (~1 hour) 

Visit our website to upload your CV and complete the questions and tasks below. Please note that we do not review CVs at this stage of the application process so please be as specific as possible about your experience.

• i. With reference to examples of your recent experience, what would make you an excellent candidate for this role? (250 words)
• ii. Describe a time when you identified an opportunity to improve something in your team or organisation. What steps did you take, and what was the outcome? (250 words)
• iii. Our Finance team is looking to reduce the number of late payments from our partner schools. What kind of information would you want to understand the issue, and what steps might you suggest to help improve the situation? (250 words)

Stage 2: Phone interview (15 minutes) 

• The next stage of the application process will be a short phone interview. 

Stage 3: Video call interview and task (1 hour 20 mins) 

• In-tray exercise (20 minutes)
• Standard Q&A from a panel of three, including questions about your experiences and how these relate to the role, and scenario questions based on common situations you might face (plus time for your questions) (60 mins).

Phone interviews will be held throughout the application window. Video call interviews will be held w/c 15th September 2025.

Your answers are an opportunity to let us know more about your motivations and experience. While we understand that candidates might want to use AI to improve parts of their application, we strongly encourage you to write your answers independently. 

Please note, we compare all answers to an AI generated answer. Where we suspect AI has been used to write the majority of the answer, this will be taken into consideration when scoring.

The Charity and The Vision.    

Scotty’s Little Soldiers is a UK-based charity dedicated to supporting military children and young people (0 to 25 years) who have experienced the death of a parent who served in the British Armed Forces. Founded in 2010 by Nikki Scott following the death of her husband, Corporal Lee Scott, the charity offers a unique blend of emotional, practical, and educational support to over 700 young people, and we have big ambitions to support over 1,000 children annually by 2030.    

We are proud of our vibrant, non-traditional culture, which puts the needs of bereaved children and young people at the heart of everything we do. We embrace innovative approaches, are committed to creating smiles and believe in the power of community, resilience, and connection.    

Role Mission.  

At Scotty's, we believe every bereaved military child deserves our support. As Head of Grants, your role is to secure and manage major, long-term grant funding, maintain strong relationships with funders, and report on our impact to encourage continued support.  

I am accountable for…  

• Strategic Grant Income Growth: Developing and delivering an ambitious pipeline of grants income that not only meets but exceeds our annual agreed income budgets. Securing those multi-year, high-value grants that fuel the long-term sustainability of the charity's strategic growth and allow us to reach more families.  

• Grant Funder Relationships: Cultivating and expanding deep, long-term, and genuinely mutually beneficial relationships with a diverse portfolio of military and non-military grant-making organisations.   

• Grant Portfolio Management: Overseeing the lifecycle of all awarded grants, ensuring reporting, optimal allocation and tracking of funds (balancing restricted and unrestricted to best serve our families), and administrative oversight to maintain high standards of compliance and transparency which our funders expect and deserve.  

• Impactful Storytelling and Application Development: Translating Scotty's heartfelt mission and profound impact into compelling, donor-centric narratives and high-quality proposals that truly stand out from the crowd. We want to demonstrate our social value and inspire significant, transformative investment.  

• Best practice grant management: Championing the very best practices in grant fundraising, positioning Scotty's as a charity of choice for major grant-makers.  

• Financial Stewardship & Forecasting: Providing regular, insightful forecasting of our grants pipeline (using Salesforce) and working with the Finance Team to ensure funds are being correctly used and logged - so we always know where we stand.  

I am responsible for:  

• Grant Strategy & Planning: Developing and implementing the grants strategy with a comprehensive, rolling programme of grant applications that are perfectly aligned with our charity’s strategic plans and agreed annual budget. We'll be focusing on securing those larger, transformative grants that make a real difference to starting each year with a higher percentage of funding already secured.  

• Funder Research & Identification: Proactively researching and identifying new, high-potential funding opportunities that truly resonate with Scotty's mission and strategic priorities. This means using industry best practices and relationship building to find our perfect partners.  

• Proposal Development & Submission: Leading the end-to-end development of high-quality, persuasive grant applications. This involves crafting compelling narratives from the heart, developing robust budgets factoring in overheads, and ensuring timely submission.   

• Relationship Management & Stewardship: Building and nurturing strong, long-term relationships with both our existing and prospective funders. This means regular, personalised communication, sharing impactful updates and acting as a Scotty’s ambassador at funder events and meetings.  

• Grant Management & Reporting: Meticulously managing all stages of awarded grants, including careful financial tracking (using Salesforce), ensuring we always adhere to grant agreements, and compiling comprehensive, insightful end-of-project reports that truly demonstrate our impact and foster continued support.  

• Internal Collaboration: Working closely with our Families team, Finance Team, Comms Team and Fundraising Team to identify funding needs, gather powerful impact data, and ensure seamless delivery and awareness of all grant-funded activities. We work to weekly transparent Success Measures (3 key agreed metrics which help show we’ve had a great week and give leading and lagging indicators on how we’re doing), monthly and quarterly budget targets and short, daily and weekly team huddles to share good news, keep our culture forefront and ensure we can best support each other and deliver for the charity.  

• Pipeline Management & Forecasting: Develop and maintain a robust pipeline of grant opportunities, regularly tracking progress, and providing accurate forecasting to help us make smart, strategic decisions for our future.   

• Data Management: Ensuring all grant funding information, relationships, and communications are accurately inputted and updated on our charity’s CRM database (Salesforce). Keeping things tidy and organised is key for good governance.  

• Grants landscape: Staying abreast of the trends and developments in the grants and trusts sector, identifying new approaches and opportunities to enhance Scotty's fundraising efforts and keep us ahead of the curve.  

• Team Support: Providing a helping hand with administrative support to other areas of the charity if required. We're all good team players here at Scotty's, and we always support each other.  

3-Month Goals:  

• Onboarding & Immersion: Dive deep and achieve a comprehensive understanding of Scotty’s operating system (The Scotty’s OS), our values, our behaviours, our mission, and the significant impact we have. This will happen through intro meetings with everyone on the team and a tailored onboarding program.  

• Grant Portfolio Audit & Handover: Conduct an audit of our existing grant portfolio, reviewing active grants, reporting schedules, and our funder relationships. We'll begin the handover process for existing relationships with the Head of Fundraising, ensuring a smooth transition.  

• Funder Engagement & Feedback: Reach out and initiate contact with at least 5 key existing funders. This is about listening, gathering their valuable feedback, understanding their priorities, and beginning to build those personal, trusting rapports.  

• Pipeline Initiation: Identify and qualify a minimum of 5 new potential grant-making organisations. We'll prioritise those who truly align with Scotty's mission and have the capacity for significant, multi-year funding – our future partners.  

6-Month Goals:  

• Income Target Ownership: Take full, enthusiastic ownership of ensuring we are on track to hit our existing grant budget lines. You'll provide regular and accurate forecasting, keeping us all informed and confident.  

• Relationship Deepening: Strengthen relationships with at least 5 key funders, leading to demonstrable progress towards increased or renewed multi-year support.  

• New Grant Acquisition: Secure at least 2 new grants of significant value (e.g. £10k+) from previously untapped funders, showcasing your success in converting those pipeline opportunities into real impact.  

• Strategic Grant Mapping: Develop a comprehensive grant funding strategy, outlining key target areas, funder tiers, and a detailed timeline for our major applications for the next 12-18 months.   

• Impact Reporting Enhancement: Collaborate internally to refine and enhance our reporting mechanisms. We want to ensure our data is readily available and tells the most compelling story for our funder reports.  

9-Month Goals:  

• Multi-Year Grant Success: Secure at least one new multi-year grant partnership with an annual income of £50k+, truly demonstrating your ability to unlock larger, sustained funding that makes a lasting difference.  

• Pipeline Expansion & Value: Add £100k+ of new, qualified grant fundraising opportunities to our pipeline each month, always with a keen eye on those high-value prospects.  

• Income Exceedance: Be on track to exceed the annual grant fundraising target, demonstrating strong performance and strategic growth that helps more bereaved military families.  

• Innovation & Best Practice: Introduce at least one innovative approach or best practice (e.g. involving AI) to our grant fundraising strategy. This could be a new, heartwarming cultivation event, a bespoke reporting format, or a new research methodology – anything that helps us grow.  

• Personal Development & Leadership: Review your personal development needs and opportunities, actively seeking ways to enhance your leadership in the grants sector and contribute to the wider fundraising team's success. We believe in growing together.  

Essential Criteria  

• Proven experience in charity grant management.  

• Strategic planning: Ability to develop, implement, and evaluate grant strategies that align with the charity’s mission and objectives.  

• Financial acumen: Competence in budgeting, financial monitoring, and reporting for grant programmes.  

• Stakeholder engagement: Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build relationships with funders, beneficiaries, partners, and internal teams.  

• Analytical and decision-making ability: Skilled in assessing applications, monitoring outcomes, and making evidence-based decisions.  

• Excellent written and verbal communication: Ability to produce clear reports, guidance, and correspondence tailored to a variety of audiences.  

• Organisational skills: Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a fast-paced environment.  

Desirable Criteria  

• Sector-specific experience: Prior work within children’s bereavement, military-related charities, or with vulnerable children and families.  

• Evaluation and impact measurement: Familiarity with monitoring and evaluating the impact of grant programmes, including data analysis and reporting.  

• Policy development: Experience in developing or reviewing grant-making policies and procedures.  

• Public speaking: Confident in representing the charity at external events, conferences, or media opportunities.  

Additional Information  

• The role may require occasional evening or weekend work  

• Enhanced DBS check required  

• Travel will be required to events and team training days  

The Scotty’s Way  

At Scotty’s, our personal performance is only 50% of what success looks like. Our culture is equally important. When you join our team, you sign up to The Scotty’s Way, rooted in our four core values:   

1. Families Come First  

1. Everyone a Supporter, Every Supporter a VIP  

1. Love What You Do  

1. Remember, Every Day  

Our values are further supported by our four non-negotiable behaviours of Show Respect, Speak Up, Take Ownership and Actively Collaborate. We are looking for an individual who embodies these values and behaviours.  

The application window for this role has been extended and will close on Friday the 5th of September 2025.

Thank you for your interest in joining our team, we are an equal opportunities employer, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where all employees are treated with respect and given equal opportunities for employment and advancement.   

We do not discriminate based on race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability or any other protected characteristic.   

We encourage all qualified individuals to apply for employment within our charity, and we provide a fair and inclusive recruitment process for all candidates.  

In the words of Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee, "Pratham's impact on the lives of millions of kids has been tremendous; it is quite simply an exceptional, best-in-class organisation that has managed to scale across India."

Founded in India, Pratham has become one of the world’s most influential education charities—pioneering cost-effective, evidence-based solutions that have transformed learning for millions of children. Now, through Pratham UK and our global partners, we’re taking these proven programmes to communities across the Global South—from rural India to sub-Saharan Africa, and soon to Latin America, with a new office opening in Bogotá, Colombia.

In the UK, we’ve grown income from £350k to £1.7m in just four years, powered by a committed network of high-net-worth individuals and philanthropists—many from the Indian diaspora. We’re aiming even higher, with a goal of £4m annually by 2030 - our US sister charity raise $30m a year and $20m is raised in India, the programmes are effective and highly scalable.

We’re seeking a talented Head of Philanthropy and Special Events to lead major donor fundraising, oversee our flagship gala, and expand our high-value events. This is your chance to shape the growth of a pioneering Indian NGO with truly global impact.

About Chapter One

Chapter One is a dynamic, growing charity with a vision of a world in which all children have the literacy skills needed to thrive. Our mission is to close the reading gap by providing children with one-to-one support at the time they need it most. 

Our unique Online Reading Volunteer programme currently supports over 3,200 children a year. It pairs disadvantaged, struggling five to eight-year old (KS1) readers with reading support volunteers who come from over 160 local and national businesses. The volunteer ask is very focused: readers commit 30 minutes a week to read with a child using a bespoke digital platform for an entire academic year. The results are transformative, boosting children's reading confidence and ability. 

For more information about our programmes please visit our website. Please also take some time to visit our social media channels and watch our videos.
 

About the Role

The Finance Assistant has responsibility for a variety of finance functions including the purchase and sales ledger, making payments to suppliers, invoicing Corporate Partners and Schools and reconciling bank accounts. They support the day to day running of the Finance Team ensuring that tasks such as posting invoices, reconciling customer accounts, supporting credit control and chasing non-payments are carried out in a timely and accurate fashion. 

The Finance Assistant reports to and works closely with the Head of Finance and plays a critical role in resolving finance queries from Chapter One colleagues, maintaining accurate financial records, supporting internal processes and contributing to the effective financial management of Chapter One. 

This role is ideal for someone who has experience in a similar position within a finance team and has good working knowledge of accounting principles and a basic understanding of income for charities. They will work remotely and will need to have access to a reliable internet connection. This role is subject to an Enhanced DBS check, and the post-holder must be permanently based in the UK at the time of applying and for the duration of their employment.

All Chapter One employees are required to attend quarterly in-person staff meetings held in various locations across the UK (all expenses covered) as well as monthly all staff virtual meetings which are held on the first Wednesday of each month from 12:00 - 13:00; participation is mandatory.
 

How to Apply

Please read the full job description for details of the responsibilities of the role, and our employee recruitment pack to learn more about Chapter One. Application instructions included below.
 

Interview Dates

First Round Interviews: w/c Monday 8th September
Second Round Interviews: w/c Monday 15th September
 

Chapter One is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value and celebrate diversity in backgrounds and experience and are deliberate about the kind of teams we are building. Literacy is a universal concern, and we need people from all backgrounds to maximise our innovation, creativity and impact. We especially welcome applications from individuals who have experienced disadvantage and/or from those who are of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities who are currently underrepresented in the organisation