Our vision is of a world better led, a world better served and a world better governed. We are a global school committed to improving the quality of government and public policymaking worldwide, through three routes: teaching current and future leaders; generating research with impact; and engaging with governments and practitioners.

 

 

The School is a collaborative, friendly, and dynamic department based in an award-winning building in Oxford. We host regular events and talks with well-known guest speakers – all of which are open to staff. On the social side, we have regular coffee/cake mornings for staff, a family-friendly Halloween event, and Christmas and summer parties.

 

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ wellbeing and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including:

More information about working at the School can be found on our jobs page

 

 

The Director of Finance and Administration is a senior professional leader who combines a superb attention to operational detail and ability to hold and manage risk; with a strategic mindset, creative, problem-solving approach; and a strong motivation to work with others to continuously improve the ways things are done. They are collaborative leader who brings people together across organisational boundaries to maximise effective, joined-up delivery and a confident and empowering line manager who knows how to get the best out of their team.

 

The Director will lead the development and delivery of the School’s overall financial and operational strategy as it looks to build on its successful growth to date. You will provide strategic leadership of financial planning activities, and lead on the School’s commercial negotiations for all major research programmes and the commercial aspects of all new initiatives.

 

The Director will provide assurance to the Dean, the Chief Operating Officer, the School’s Management Board, and the Division that the School’s financial projections are robust and well-grounded. You will also lead on the School’s commercial negotiations for all major research programmes and the commercial aspects of all new initiatives.

 

The Director will unite their peers to ensure a collaborative, customer service and improvement-focused mindset. You will oversee the development and implementation of a new performance and business improvement function, deploying data, good practice and established frameworks and methods to maximise the impact, effectiveness and efficiency of the School. You will drive forward innovation, and this will include identifying and executing continuous improvement projects.

 

 

The post will suit a highly motivated individual with proven flexibility, creative problem-solving approach and initiative.

 

You should have substantial experience of working in a finance and administrative leadership role, ideally in a fast-moving environment. Experience of the use of financial and performance data to drive strategic decision-making in a proactive way will be particularly helpful.

 

You should be able to demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to communicate complex financial and operational issues to a lay audience. You should be an excellent line manager and collaborative organisational leader, highly motivated to spot opportunities for improvement and bring people together across team boundaries to deliver outcomes.

 

An ability to create a team culture of meeting priorities and deadlines while maintaining high levels of customer service with the highest standards of accuracy and clarity is vital.

 

 

You will be required to upload a supporting statement, your CV, and the details of two referees as part of your online application.

 

The closing date for applications is 12 noon (UK time) on Monday 16 December 2024.

 

Interviews will take place in early January 2025.