Head of Finance

Head of Finance

Location: Norton, Stockton-on-Tees

Salary: £50,000 - £55,000 per annum

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Contract: Permanent

Daisy Chain is a values-led charity supporting autistic and neurodivergent people and their families. We are a growing and increasingly complex organisation, operating across a range of services alongside substantial retail activity and multiple income streams.

Our resources ultimately exist to support the people we serve. That means we need to make sure they are managed carefully, sustainably and in a way that delivers the greatest possible impact.

We are now looking for a Head of Finance to lead our Finance function and play a key role in helping Daisy Chain understand not only where we are financially, but where we could go next.

This is an exciting time to join Daisy Chain. We are continuing to grow and evolve, and this role offers a genuine opportunity to be part of that journey and help shape how Finance supports our future. You will have the opportunity to improve how we work, strengthen the Finance function and influence the decisions that will help shape the next stage of Daisy Chain's development.

You will work closely with the CEO, Senior Leadership Team, Directors and Trustees, providing the financial insight and challenge needed to support effective decision-making. You will lead budgeting, forecasting and a rolling three-year financial forecast, while ensuring strong financial controls, governance and reporting remain at the heart of the Finance function.

But this role is about much more than reporting financial performance.

We want someone who can look behind the numbers to understand what is driving performance, what is changing and what that means for the organisation. Where there is a financial pressure or opportunity, you will be expected to analyse the underlying drivers, model different scenarios, assess the options and risks, and provide clear financial advice and recommendations.

A key part of the role will be working with Directors to understand service performance and resource utilisation, including the relationship between staffing, participant demand, service capacity and cost. You will help the organisation understand whether resources are being used effectively and where there may be opportunities to improve performance or make better use of the resources invested.

Daisy Chain is continuing to develop, and this provides an exciting opportunity for the successful candidate to shape how Finance operates in the future.

You will lead the ongoing improvement of finance processes and workflows, making better use of existing technology and identifying opportunities for further system development and automation. This will include finding ways to make the Finance function faster, more efficient and more insightful without compromising financial control or robustness.

You will also lead and develop the Finance team, creating a supportive and accountable environment where people can build their skills, confidence and ownership.

We are looking for an experienced senior finance professional who combines strong technical finance capability with curiosity, commercial thinking and excellent business partnering skills.

You will be someone who:

• Has strong experience across financial management, reporting, budgeting, forecasting, controls and governance.
• Can analyse financial and operational information and identify the drivers behind performance.
• Is confident modelling scenarios, evaluating options and explaining financial implications, risks and recommendations clearly to senior leaders and Trustees.
• Can build strong relationships with Directors and budget holders, providing constructive challenge and helping them understand the financial implications of their decisions.
• Is comfortable operating at both a strategic and operational level, including maintaining oversight of core transactional finance processes and controls.
• Has experience of leading, managing and developing a Finance team.
• Enjoys improving processes and systems and is curious about how technology can help Finance work more effectively.
• Can…