Skip to main content

This site is independent of the NHS and the Department of Health.

Please wait, loading

Job summary

Main area
Directors
Grade
Executives / VSM: Executives / VSM
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
327-26-100
Employer
Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Edward Jenner Court
Town
Gloucester
Salary
£111,655 - £167,498 in line with NHS VSM Framework
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
08/03/2026 23:59
Interview date
23/03/2026

Employer heading

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust logo

Director of Finance

Executives / VSM: Executives / VSM

We love what we do and we think you will, too!

At Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (GHC), we provide joined-up mental health, physical health and learning disability services to people of all ages across Gloucestershire. We run community hospitals and provide care and support in people’s own homes and in a range of other locations across the county. 

We are on a mission to enable people to live the best life they can and we have a vision to work together to provide outstanding careWe put people at the heart of our services, focusing on personalised care by asking ‘what matters to you’.

We’re passionate about making sure that everyone can contribute to achieving our mission and we are continually working to support healthy and happy high-quality teams in all areas of the Trust.

Our application process aims to understand each candidates knowledge, skills and experience.  We have found that candidates that use AI to generate their answers can lack specificity and fail to address key criteria outlined in the job description.

It is really important to personalise your application to convey your individual skills, knowledge, and experiences effectively and for us to understand why you are applying for this role with GHC.  We discourage over reliance on AI-generated applications as it will lessen your chances of success in securing an interview with us .

 

Job overview

We are seeking an exceptional Director of Finance to join our Executive Team, following a planned retirement.

Our Trust has much to be proud of: a strong and consistent financial track record, embedded values, an overall “Good” Care Quality Commission rating, and Staff Survey results that consistently rank among the best in the South West. Yet we are also clear-eyed about the challenges ahead — sustaining quality and performance while responding to increasing service demands, evolving community needs, commissioning and wider NHS structural changes, alongside a challenging financial environment.

You will be joining us at an exciting time, following the launch our new strategic plan (2026–2031). This strategy builds on strong foundations and brings renewed focus to specific priorities and ways of working, ensuring we continue to deliver outstanding care and leadership across the system.

We’re looking for a skilled CCAB qualified accountant and leader who combines energy, curiosity, and ambition with an authentic and strong alignment to our values. If you share our passion for making a measurable difference in people’s lives, we’d love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

As part of a talented and collaborative team of Executive Directors, you will work alongside colleagues who bring both deep local knowledge and fresh perspectives. Together with Board colleagues, you’ll lead a high-performing organisation delivering community, mental health, learning disability and autism services across Gloucestershire.

This role includes core responsibility for finance, planning, and the estates and facilities functions. It is likely that additional portfolios will be added to these core responsibilities, depending on your skills and experience.

It is a key role within the Trust’s Executive team and the Board.  You will be responsible for the Trust’s strategic financial planning, maintaining its financial systems and ensuring strong financial control to enable the Trust to meet its statutory responsibilities, financial targets and maintain our reputation for solid financial management and delivery with key stakeholders.  In doing so, you will support the whole organisation in delivering services which meet the needs of the Gloucestershire population in a way that is always improving and achieving value for money.

As the principal advisor to the Board on financial matters, you will be responsible for ensuring that any potential financial risks or concerns are brought to their attention and for providing assurance on the management of financial matters.

Working for our organisation

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people’s homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us.  In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views.  It was great to hear that:

  • 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
  • 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
  • 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust’s priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement.  However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Providing executive leadership for:

•    Financial strategy and management:  overseeing the approach to the use of resources to support the Trust’s strategic aims and maintaining a strong financial management culture and controls.
•    Estates and facilities:  strategic leadership for the Estates Strategy and delivery of estates and facilities functions. 
•    Contracting and procurement: Leading agreement and management of contracts, including leading tendering processes and ensuring best value through procurement.
•    Business Planning: ensuring coherent and cohesive business plans, linking local and national priorities together, aligned to workforce, financial, operational and quality priorities.

Full details of the role can be found in the attached Job Description and Personal Specification documents.  A Candidate Information pack is available using the link below 

GHC - Director of Finance - Candidate Pack Final 09.02.26.pdf

If you are interested, you can arrange an informal conversation with the Chief Executive, Douglas Blair, by contacting Jane Russell at [email protected] Candidates are strongly encouraged to arrange an informal discussion prior to application. 

Please note that applications for this role are via CV, applications via Trac cannot be accepted.   CVs and covering letter should be sent to [email protected], together with completed NHS Fit and Proper person attestation and Equality Monitoring forms (copies of which are attached to this advert).

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Master’s Degree level education or equivalent experience in financial management or related professional qualification
  • CCAB qualified accountant
  • Evidence of recent and continuing professional and personal development

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Proven track record of achievements at or near Board level, in a complex organisation
  • Record of successfully managing complex organisation wide transformational change
Desirable criteria
  • Previous similar role

Professional/Managerial/Specialist Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • In depth knowledge of NHS financial and accounting regimes
  • A highly effective communicator, whose engagement and communication capability enables effective partnerships with internal and external stakeholders
  • Ability to work collaboratively internally and externally and in partnership with others including across organisational boundaries
  • Knowledge and understanding of national NHS policy and strategy
  • Good knowledge of procurement issues and processes.
Desirable criteria
  • Managing and leading Estates and Facilities
  • Leadership of capital investment and disposal programmes
  • Leadership of capital investment and disposal programmes
  • Ability to articulate a clear understanding of legal frameworks and processes for a range of different partnership arrangements including joint ventures

Personal skills, abilities and attributes

Essential criteria
  • High achievement rate and results driven
  • Strong personal resilience and emotional intelligence
  • A passionate and compassionate values-driven leader
  • Self-belief, awareness and management
  • Well-honed political skills and astuteness
  • Strong interpersonal, negotiating, influencing and communication skills
  • Commitment to providing top quality services, including a clear focus on vulnerable groups and removing health inequalities
  • Ability to embrace and champion change internally and across the wider system
  • Ability to lead, motivate and direct senior colleagues from different professions
  • Broad set of skills and experience suitable to leading broader portfolio responsibilities

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Veteran AwareApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveDisability confident leaderImproving working livesCare quality commission - GoodArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.NHS Pastoral CareStep into healthNational Preceptorship for Nursing Quality Mark

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Jane Russell
Job title
Senior Executive PA
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
0300 421 8187
Additional information

If you are interested, you can arrange an informal conversation with the Chief Executive, Douglas Blair, by contacting Jane Russell at [email protected] Candidates are strongly encouraged to arrange an informal discussion prior to application. 

Please note the interview date is provisional.

Apply online nowAlert me to similar vacancies