Senior Finance Manager

Do you want to work on one or the most exciting transformation projects in the public sector?

The Defence Housing Service (DHS) is being created through the Armed Forces Bill to deliver a step-change in housing for the UK’s Armed Forces and their families following the publication of the Defence Housing Strategy on 3 November 2025, which marked the most significant change to Armed Forces housing in over 50 years. DHS will bring a dedicated focus to improving the homes, communities and lived experience of Service personnel, placing families firmly at the heart of everything it does.

This is one of the most ambitious housing transformation programmes in the UK today. Backed by a £9.2 billion investment, DHS will modernise tens of thousands of homes, introduce a more proactive and customer-focused approach to maintenance, and unlock new opportunities to develop housing on Defence land. DHS will have the focus and agility to deliver change at pace, combining public service values with greater flexibility to build the skills, systems and partnerships needed for the future.

This is a rare opportunity to be part of shaping its culture, influencing how it works, and helping deliver lasting improvements for Service families across the UK.

The Defence Housing team is currently part of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), who respond to the evolving needs of our military personnel, and the ways in which they live, work, train and deploy. We are proud to be the expert partner Defence needs for all their infrastructure requirements. From large scale infrastructure projects such as runways for the F35 fighter jets to net carbon-zero accommodation for our Service families, our activities focus relentlessly on our customers, and our outputs are unique in the UK and across the globe!

DIO , What we deliver every day.

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.

As Senior Finance Manager, you’ll be responsible for communicating financial data and other information clearly to internal and external stakeholders, providing valuable financial advice, challenge and support. You’ll ensure that financial reporting is accurately completed, both within corporate reporting systems and for input of accounting entries, to support decision making.

You’ll build strong relationships and an understanding of your business area, providing support at appropriate levels.

Key Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Provide clear and robust strategic financial advice to all relevant stakeholders.
• Reviewing, analysing and interpreting financial data, providing insight for senior managers and decision makers.
• Line management responsibility, undertaking mentoring, performance management, recruitment and countersigning tasks as required.
• Leading the input of financial information and provision of support to the 10-year Strategic Planning Cycle (SPC) process.
• Responsible for applying In-Year Management (IYM) activities, including monitoring spend against budget and analysis of actuals.
• Providing support to governance meetings and report production; including ad-hoc analysis for senior managers / customers.
• Oversee the team’s contribution to the production of Financial Statements, in accordance with timetables and instructions and respond promptly to queries.
• Manage the timely capitalisation or disposal of assets, to ensure assets are correctly recorded within the accounts.
• Provide leadership to, and management of, your Business Area’s finance team, to deliver DIO outputs and departmental goals.
• Promote strong working relationships, both within the team and with other teams across DIO and MOD.

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)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

At application, candidates will be required to provide:

• A CV detailing your job history and previous skills and experience. Review the essential criteria above and evidence how you meet them with clear and relevant examples.
• A personal statement (no more than 500 words). Applicants should use their personal statement to demonstrate how their skills, knowledge and experience align with essential criteria 1 & 2, as detailed in the Person Specification.

The sift will be conducted on your CV and personal statement.

Interviews

We’ll assess you against these behaviours, technical skills & experience during the interview process:

Behaviours:

• Leadership
• Communicating & Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Technical Skills:

• Finance Functional Framework: In Year Financial Management
• Finance Functional Framework: Finance Governance

The professional framework used in this vacancy can be found at: Finance Competence Framework

In the event of a tied score at interview, the order of merit will be distinguished based on the ranking of the assessed Behaviours in the order listed above.

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