Chief Finance and Investment Officer (S73) - Greater Essex Combined County Authority

Salary Information: Temporary up to £1000 per day (Umbrella, Inside IR35) or FTC/Secondment £108,029 to £127,079 per annum, pro rata to 0.4FTE

Greater Essex is entering a transformative period through devolution, aimed at simplifying governance, improving service delivery, and empowering communities. Under the proposed changes, powers and funding will be transferred from central government to a new Mayoral Combined County Authority, enabling more local control over key areas such as transport, housing, and economic development.

Role Overview:

As Chief Financial Officer you will provide whole-organisational financial leadership, working collaboratively with leaders from within the mayoral authority, with government, and across the Greater Essex system to ensure the organisation’s strategic ambitions are underpinned by robust financial planning and sustainable resource management.

You will play a key role in raising the profile of Greater Essex and the East region at national and international levels, working across the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors to drive inward investment, secure funding from government, and ensure value for money in all financial commitments.

Operating in a dynamic environment, you will lead on financial policy development and oversee the financial dimensions of a diverse portfolio of services including Economic Growth, Employability and Skills, Transport, Housing, Climate, and Public Safety. Alongside these, you will establish strong financial foundations, ensuring effective organisational set up, sound governance, and the capacity to accelerate delivery against organisational priorities and mayoral manifestos.

The post holder will work directly with the Interim Chief Executive and very closely with the Mayor, Local Authority Leaders, and Chief Officers to provide financial insight, foster innovation, and build strong, collaborative working relationships. You will ensure that short-term opportunities are maximised while safeguarding long-term financial sustainability and resilience for the benefit of residents, businesses, and visitors to Greater Essex now and for generations to come.

As a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, you will enabling the mayoral authority to develop the cultural behaviours for agility which drives the realisation of opportunities to scale at pace and help shape a dynamic, agile, and forward-thinking organisation that is responsive to local needs, proactive in financial and policy development, and high-performing in the delivery of its devolved functions and commitments—always underpinned by strong financial stewardship, accountability, and transparency

Role Accountabilities:

Investment Strategy

• Develop the investment strategy and frameworks for the organisation, so that the organisation takes an investment approach that is informed by policy to ensure the most impactful application of available funds and resources.
• In collaboration with the Strategic Development Directors and other members of the senior leadership team, lead work to generate income and investment to fund the Combined Authority’s programmes.
• Drive decisions regarding investments and the proposed spending within the various portfolios and areas of activity, to make sure they are in line with the corporate strategy, financial plans, and investment frameworks.

Commercial Strategy

• Develop the commercial strategy and manage the commercial relationships and stakeholders across the region, developing and managing the commercial portfolio to deliver best value and help achieve the financial and investment generation aims for GECCA.
• Provide commercial leadership across the organisation, leading on the development of best practice procurement, commissioning and contract management standards and policies for the organisation to ensure the Combined Authority maximises value for money. This includes optimising procurement and supply chain management activities, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations, and ensuring contracts and commercial relationships are effectively evaluated and performance managed.

Organisational Capabilities

• Lead the organisation and the region -Provide leadership at a regional, local and organisational level communicating with residents and businesses to ensure the local voice is reflected.
• Advocate –Advocate for the organisation, Greater Essex and the wider East region, influencing national and local policy. Role model the values and behaviours of the organisation.
• Convene and partner -Convene and influence partners towards consensus and ensure momentum towards strategic outcomes.
• Strategise -Design, develop and deliver organisational policies and strategies that foster innovation, demonstrate agility and can be scaled at pace.
• Enable and Deliver –Enable and deliver corporate functions which are self designing, and manage resources within budgetary constraints, delivering quality outcomes to time quality and value tracking and reporting progress to demonstrate impact.
• Govern –Effectively assess, manage and mitigate risk, owning organisational governance and providing assurance.
• Invest –Provide investment advice and demonstrate commercial acumen, developing business cases to drive strategic investment.

Financial Planning

• Lead on financial planning and budgeting, preparing the budgets and Medium-Term Financial Plan for the Combined Authority, so that there is an effective and sustainable plan for the use of financial resources across the organisation.

Financial Advisory

• Provide expert financial advice and guidance to stakeholders including the Mayor, political leaders, and executive team, to help shape stakeholders’ thinking and their understanding of financial risks and impact and enable effective and appropriate financial decisions to be taken.
• Lead the delivery of good financial management, ensuring financial policies meet statutory requirements and are shaped to fit the organisation, and are implemented appropriately.

Relationship Management

• Develop constructive and collaborative relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders (especially those related to funding and investment) to generate consensus around the Combined Authority’s financial and investment plans and influence accordingly.

Financial Management and Governance

• Evaluate financial risks and opportunities, including scanning the external environment and anticipating the impact of external forces and future issues, and make changes to established financial plans in light of these in order to positively challenge current thinking and respond appropriately to challenges, opportunities or threats.
• Manage the organisation’s considerable asset portfolio, undertaking a strategic life cycle planning approach and directing and delivering the commercial development of the assets, to ensure value for money and return on investment for the Combined Authority.

Statutory Duties

• Ensure the proper administration of the authority’s financial affairs This includes maintaining sound financial systems, internal controls, and ensuring compliance with accounting standards and regulations.
• Report unlawful financial activity or risk of overspending If the authority is about to commit unlawful expenditure or is at risk of breaching its budget, the S73 Officer must issue a formal report under Section 114 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988.
• Advise on the financial implications of decisions, ensure financial viability, and support strategic planning with accurate financial forecasting.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Educated to Master’s degree level or equivalent by experience. Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
• Comprehensive knowledge of legislative and statutory frameworks and requirements, and of the local government finance rules and regulations.
• Substantial and thorough knowledge of public and private funding sources and the complex public/private investment landscape.
• Deep and thorough knowledge of the MCA's agenda, operating environment, and wider activity.
• Extensive experience of providing professional advice regarding investment, funding, and financial risks.
• Substantial experience of complex funding landscapes and financing vehicles or initiatives.
• Substantial experience of financial leadership within a public sector organisation, including complex financial planning and management.
• Innovative, expansive, and creative thinker able to develop fresh and new approaches to deliver transformation across a range of policy disciplines; seeks out new approaches that are created by changes in the environment.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to exercise sound judgment and make decisions based on accurate and timely analyses.
• Ability to establish relationships with a wide range of partners and stakeholders.
• Highly flexible, adaptable, and resilient to meet and embrace changing circumstances and demands and in personal style.
• Excellent communicator with strong interpersonal skills, able to persuade, influence and advocate.
• Collaborative, encouraging and seeking out diversity in options, seeking to achieve consensus, and supportive of others in developing plans and strategies.
• Highly developed decision-making skills, with the ability to make decisions on a very wide range of issues across diverse areas of responsibility.
• Highly developed networking, partnership, advocacy, influencing, negotiating and presentation skills.
• Strong commercial acumen.