Head of Finance

The Head of Finance is a senior leadership role within the Defence Housing Service (DHS) (which is currently operating as a team within DIO), responsible for overseeing the organisation’s finances, governance, and risk management. The postholder leads finance-related change, compliance, assurance activities, and works closely with senior leaders to translate complex financial data into clear insights, enabling informed decisions on risks and investment consequences.

As the principal expert supporting the DHS Accounting Officer, the role ensures robust financial management, transparency, and security governance in a fast-paced environment. The postholder oversees the financial management of the Defence Housing Service (DHS) and plays a key role in strengthening governance and financial discipline. Through influence across teams and stakeholders, they shape strategy, planning, and investment decisions, while setting standards and guiding the future finance operating model and transformation.

​The future delivery model for this team is currently under review and may change as part of potential organisational developments. This could include the team or function transferring to a different employer or organisational structure in the future. Should activities transfer out of the Ministry of Defence existing employees transferring with those activities will maintain the same or substantially the same terms and conditions of employment.​

Responsibilities

• Leads and line manages the Finance Team, Financial Accounting; Decision Support, Scrutiny and Assurance Team (DSSAT); Finance Business Improvement and Change team; Security; and Governance, Risk and Assurance teams.
• Oversees audit and corporate assurance activities, including management of statutory and internal audit processes.
• Manages the organisational risk management and assurance framework.
• Acts as lead for Corporate Governance, delegations, and investment approvals, providing financial scrutiny and cost-modelling expertise.
• Leads Financial and Capital Accounting, Balance Sheet management, VAT, counter-fraud, and related compliance activities.
• Provides decision-making support and advice to the DHS Executive and the wider organisation.
• Builds strong functional capability, embedding finance and good governance at the heart of decision-making.
• Ensures the adequacy and optimisation of the control framework, balancing risk management with the pursuit of faster, improved infrastructure delivery.
• Leads adoption and compliance with relevant policies within DHS, offering advice and guidance across the organisation.
• Directly leads and line manages the Accommodation finance team, working closely with Delivery as Finance Business Partners to deliver robustly in-year.
• Ensures Finance Team supports the production of ABC budget submissions alongside delivery colleagues, actively contributing to programming, risk management, and investment decision-making.
• Oversees the development and delivery of a change and finance improvement programme, collaborating with other parts of the organisation and the wider MOD.
• Support DIO’s Senior Security Risk Coordinator, overseeing the DHS physical security and security vetting programmes.
• Accountable for DHS security performance, ensuring business outputs are delivered while maintaining robust and effective security governance.
• Accountable for business continuity arrangements across DHS and Industry Partners.

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)

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the Civil Service Jobs portal. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on Sunday 20 September 2026 and will involve providing the two documents which are weighted equally:

• A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.​
• A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) providing tangible examples that clearly evidence how you meet the essential criteria for the role.​

External candidates who join the MOD and are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.​

For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.

Candidate Drop-In Session

David Brewer will be holding a online Q&A session on Friday 4 September 2026 from 15:00-16:00 to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.

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