Chief Financial Officer - Director of Finance, Commercial, Audit and Systems

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.

The ONS plays a hugely important national role through mobilising the power of data to help Britain make better decisions. They are responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population and society at national, regional and local levels.

ONS also conducts the census in England and Wales every 10 years. Their main responsibilities are collecting, analysing and disseminating statistics about the UK's economy, society and population. ONS employs around six thousand people based in seven locations across the UK.

The Director of Finance, Commercial, Audit and Systems reports to the Permanent Secretary who is the Accounting Officer for the UK Statistics Authority. You will lead a multi-disciplinary team of approximately 80 staff, with two direct management reports, covering finance, commercial and internal audit. You will provide leadership to the organisation’s finance professionals, and play an active part in the wider Government Finance Function.

The role will be responsible for providing high quality financial services to the UK Statistics Authority and ONS.

The postholder will be responsible for leading the UKSA’s financial planning, promoting effective financial management, supporting strategic business planning and providing sound advice to the Permanent Secretary in their role as Accounting Officer.

As a member of the Executive Committee, you will play an integral role in the organisation’s recovery and will provide significant corporate leadership to drive implementation of the ONS’s priorities. Across the wider organisation, the postholder will exercise financial, project management, commercial and risk leadership to influence business decisions and improve practice at an operational and strategic level.

As Chief Financial Officer (CFO), you will attend the UK Statistics Authority Board, and build credible and productive relationships with Non-Executive Members to provide assurance and clarity on all financial matters pertaining to the organisation.

Role Responsibilities:

• Lead financial management, financial planning and financial reporting for the UKSA/ONS, reporting to the UKSA Board and feeding into regular reporting cycles, including through the publication of the Annual Report and Accounts and providing papers to Authority Board and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.
• Management of the relationship with HM Treasury from a funding, business case, reporting and controls perspective, providing expert advice to the Permanent Secretary and the rest of the Executive Committee, with overall responsibility for leading regular Spending Reviews.
• Drive transformation of the organisation’s commercial function, including commercial strategy, the relationship with the Cabinet Office and the Government Commercial Function and professional leadership for commercial.
• Lead the digital and technological transformation of UKSA/ONS’ financial environment, working closely with the Director-General for ONS Digital to drive implementation of AI and advances in technology to improve forecasting and financial reporting.
• Leadership of the internal audit team (delivery responsibilities flow through the Permanent Secretary), ensuring the internal audit function is provided with appropriate oversight and delivers a quality service to the organisation.
• As a member of the Executive Committee, play a key role in driving forward the organisation’s ongoing improvement and cultural transformation, allowing ONS to fulfil its mission.
• Professional leadership for the finance profession, with responsibility for the skills and capabilities of the organisation’s financial professionals.

Further information on the role can be found in the attached candidate pack.

Member of a recognised body of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB) or Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). ​

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

ONS may be able to provide visa sponsorship where the role meets ONS sponsorship criteria and all relevant Home Office requirements. Applicants must hold, or be eligible to obtain, the right to work in the UK before employment commences.

If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link, or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

Selection Process

Applications should consist of your CV and Personal Statement combined as one document and uploaded as a single attachment through Civil Service Jobs.​

A Curriculum Vitae of no more than 2 pages of A4 consisting of:​

• Details of your education and/or professional qualifications.​
• Full employment history, giving details (where applicable) of budgets and numbers of people managed, relevant key achievements in recent posts.​
• Details of your latest remuneration.​

A personal statement of no more than 1250 words setting out how your skills, knowledge and experience demonstrate your suitability for the role of Chief Financial Officer: Director of Finance, Commercial, Audit and Systems.​

Your statement should be clearly aligned to the essential criteria set out in the person specification. We recommend that you use specific examples to demonstrate the scale and complexity of your experience, your personal contribution, the actions you took and the outcomes or impact you achieved.​

Applications will be acknowledged shortly after receipt. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within one week of applying for the post, please contact our SCS Recruitment Team at: SCS.Recruitment@ons.gov.uk

To give your application the best chance of success, please ensure all required sections are completed and submitted by the closing date. Applications that do not contain the information requested may not be able to progress through the assessment process.​

Further information on the assessment and interview for this role can be found in the attached candidate pack.

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours and essential skills.

Expected Recruitment Timetable

Closing date - Monday 30th November 2026

Shortlisting meeting - w/c 7th December 2026

Employee Engagement Exercise - w/c 14th December 2026

Interviews - w/c 11th January 2027

Interviews will be held in Person at our Newport Office - Cardiff Rd, Duffryn, Newport NP10 8XG.

Please be aware that we are unable to reimburse travel expenses associated with attending an interview.

Dates are subject to change.

Informal conversations to discuss suitability with the recruiting manager are welcomed in advance of the application closing date and can be arranged via email.

If you meet the required standard but the recruiting department is unable to offer you the job, you may be given the option of being added to a reserve list. Reserve lists may be shared with other Civil Service departments and professions who are recruiting for similar roles.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

Full terms and conditions are attached at the bottom of this advert.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.