Financial Assurance Manager

Job Title - Financial Assurance Manager

Business Area/Directorate - Education Directorate

Location - Victoria Quay

Working Arrangement – Staff in roles compatible with hybrid working should spend 40% of their contracted working time working in person at their contractual workplace. More information can be found within Hybrid Working Policy

Grade - C1

Advert type - Temporary Promotion or Level Transfer

Duration - 12 months

Eligibility - Expressions of interest are invited from eligible colleagues in bands A-C for this vacancy

Sponsorship: Skilled Worker sponsorship is not available for this role. As a result, we are unable to appoint candidates who require Skilled Worker sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants must have an existing and ongoing right to work in the UK.

This role will drive effective decision making and stewardship in relation to the use of public money.

The role will have oversight of and lead on the strategic approach to effective management of Scottish Government finances in accordance with Scottish Government’s policies and guidelines as outlined in the Scottish Public Finance Manual. The role will also support wider corporate assurance priorities including workforce planning and risk.

The nature of the work is such that a key requirement of the role is a flexible and adaptable approach to managing tasks and programmes of work, with an ability to adapt quickly to change, in partnership with colleagues across the Team, Division, Directorate / Agency and wider Scottish Government community.

This role would suit a candidate with relevant experience, in a financial environment and knowledge of corporate assurance requirements and practices.

Education Directorate sits within the Director General Education and Justice family. This role sits within the Education Directorate Business Support Unit, and the C1 role leads the finance team within the Unit.

The Business Support Unit has a focus on: Financial strategy and support – budget, operating costs, invoicing. Grants and finance reporting activities; People support – workforce planning, recruiting, onboarding, learning and development and business Planning activities; Performance support – strategic planning and reporting, meeting or event coordination and inbox management/diary related activities; and Risk, Assuracne and Governance support – risk registers, business continuity planning, assurance, compliance and governance briefings.

The team is responsive and agile, collaborative and systematic, people-centric and relational.

The C1 Finance and Assurance Manager leads, manages and develops the BSU Finance Team.

Line Management responsibilities 1 x B3 and countersigning responsibility for 2 x B2 and 1 x B1.

Key Responsibilities

• Ensure that Education Directorate’s budget of almost £760 million (including resource (£731m), capital (£10m) and an operating cost budget of over £17 million for 217 staff) is managed in line with the Scottish Public Finance Manual and Accountable Officer spending controls;

• Overseeing forward budget planning, spending reviews and the Directorate’s collective response to budget management exercises including savings commissions and ensure sufficient levels of challenge and scrutiny in line with accountable officer controls;

• Provide advice, guidance and evidence based recommendations to the Director(s) of Education, highlighting issues and taking appropriate strategic action on their behalf where relevant;

• AO templates – provide advice and support. Ensuring financial processes are in line with current AO controls and, at a local level, ensuring AO processes in place are robust and routinely reviewed for proportionality;

• Ensure Director(s) are supported to discharge their delegated budget holder duties through the provision of relevant briefing for financial assurance meetings and/ or through support or representation of the Director(s) of Education at these meetings;

• Lead, manage and develop the Education Finance Team in BSU (2xB2 and 1xB3);

• Oversee EPM Finance including monthly monitoring, annual budget bill process and annual accounts and budget revisions. Ensure regular engagement with portfolio finance lead, FBP and financial reporting team;

• Championing and strengthening financial culture throughout the directorate, including through leadership of the directorate Financial Management and Moderation Group (FMMG) and leading on financial strategy in line with corporate approaches;

• Continually reviewing our processes and considering where there are opportunities to drive forward improvements for budget management, incorporating feedback from finance and SLT and findings from lessons learned exercises;

• Building and maintaining open, positive working relationships, engaging confidently with SMT, Directorate staff, Business Partners, DG Office, portfolio finance leads and other key stakeholders to share intel, provide advice, challenge and offer recommendations;

• Supporting the Director(s) to deliver on and provide assurance around key corporate priorities and business plan objectives including workforce planning (and FTE targets as set by DG), PfG and manifesto assurance, financial planning and monitoring corporate risks (including capacity, finance and business critical systems) through the appropriate channels;

• Oversee Certificates of Assurance;

• Ensure all relevant documentation is stored appropriately in erdm; and

• Ensure desk instructions are maintained.

Success Profile

Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of behaviours, experience and technical criteria (if applicable) that candidates will be assessed on.

Technical / Professional Skills:

You can find out more about the skills required, here: Finance Profession Capability Framework

Experience:

• Strong financial management and corporate assurance experience and ability to communicate complex financial information clearly and succinctly to a wide range of audiences, including to non-finance colleagues.

• Ability to influence, negotiate and collaborate effectively with key stakeholders and a prove ability to explain financial information effectively to stakeholders and non-financial professionals.

• Strong planning and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage a diverse workload and team, and able to adapt to changing situations and manage competing priorities.

• Experience of leading and managing teams to deliver a range of finance and/or management functions. Demonstrating effective leadership and delegation skills and the ability to develop and motivate staff.

Behaviours:

• Leadership - level 4

• Making effective decisions - level 4

• communicating and influencing - level 4

• delivering at pace - level 4

You can find out more about Success Profiles Behaviours, here: Behaviour levels - Success profiles: candidate guide

Working Pattern

This role is a temporary position with an expected commitment of 12 months.

This post is a full-time role, but we welcome applications from staff with different working patterns, proposed working patterns will be assessed against the business requirements for this post.

Our standard hours are 35 hours per week and we offer a range of flexible working options depending on the needs of the role, including Flexi-leave. Scottish Government staff in hybrid-compatible roles should aim to work in-person 40% of the time, either in an office or other agreed work location. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us.

Further Information

Further information about this opportunity is available from [email hidden]

How to Apply

Please submit an Expression of Interest (maximum 1000 words) outlining your suitability for the role, relevant skills and experience, and what you would bring to the team. Please align this to how you meet the behaviours, experience and technical skills listed in the Success Profile above.

Vacancies close at 23:59pm on Wednesday 11 November.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples 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, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.

If invited for further assessment, this will consist of a light-touch interview, scheduled for w/c TBC.

Temporary Promotion (If Applicable)

Please click the link to access further guidance and information on overview and eligibility Temporary promotion

Recruitment Principles

As a government organisation, we adhere to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and we investigate any complaints received in relation to recruitment cases.

About us

The Scottish Government is the devolved government for Scotland. We have responsibility for a wide range of key policy areas including: education, health, the economy, justice, housing and transport. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles.

Our staff are part of the UK Civil Service observing the Civil Service Code and working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland.

We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer.

As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Security checks

Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).

You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website, or read about the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide.

Equality statement

We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation.

Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.

Further information

Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website.

Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.

Apply before: 11/11/2026 (23:59). This role is open to internal candidates and Common Citizenship Organisations only.