Interim Head of Financial Operations

About the Department

The Finance Department has responsibility for budget preparation and monitoring, financial accounting, treasury management and control over all income received and payments made by Goldsmiths.

The Head of Financial Operations is a key post to ensure the provision of efficient, controlled and customer focused financial transaction and treasury management services. The post has line management responsibility for thirteen staff through four direct reports. The Head of Financial Operations will line manage the Accounts Payable, Credit Control, Treasury and Finance and HR Systems Teams.

The role has a focus on customer service, ensuring that transactional services are aligned to user department needs, including working with senior staff in academic and professional departments. It will involve close collaboration with linked professional services outside the Finance department, in particular Student and Academic Services, IT, Estates and POD (HR).

The role also has a focus on internal financial control, including ensuring appropriate check, balances and segregation of duties. The post holder will assist the Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Director of Finance with the regular reporting to the College’s Audit and Risk Committee and Finance and Resources Committee.

You will be a qualified accountant with extensive experience relevant to the role. You will have excellent leadership skills, with the ability to manage change and deliver service improvements through process and systems improvement, focusing on efficiency and excellent services to students, other customers and staff. This includes the development of the ERP system used by the wider Finance and HR community.

We have generous benefits – an agile working environment, 28 days’ annual leave plus 6 paid closure days (4 at Christmas and 2 at Easter) plus all Bank Holidays, great transport links, a defined benefit pension scheme, support for professional development and a broad range of wellbeing initiatives such as staff choir, running club, staff networks and creative writing classes.

At Goldsmiths, University of London, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion shape how we lead, learn, and work. We are committed to building an inclusive and respectful environment, removing barriers and addressing inequalities so that everyone in our community can belong and thrive.