About Us

‘HES’ – Havering Education Services is the London Borough of Havering’s commercial brand of support services to education establishments. Our brand is a federation of distinct and integrated service units spread across the Council’s directorates. Our portfolio of services includes but is not limited to the following:

Consultancy on leadership and governance
School improvement and curriculum
Finance and Management Information Systems support and consultancy
HR and Payroll Services
Catering Services
Pupil and Staff Wellbeing Services
Brokering and procurement of externally sourced services

‘HES’ is one of the most dynamic local authority education trading entity in the UK and is undergoing significant transformational change to further expand its customer base, grow revenue streams and enhance customer focus, service and delivery. Our vision is to become the provider of choice for services and training in London and South East England and to achieve strong financial outcomes.

About Havering

Havering is London’s most easterly Borough, Havering is rich in heritage, with the highest proportion of older people in London as well as a fast-growing younger population.
Romford is a major sub-regional centre with a large retail and nightlife economy. It is one of the oldest market towns in South East England. Other significant centres in Havering include Hornchurch, Upminster and Rainham.
As well as many towns and villages Havering has a wealth of open space, from the riverside marshes and wildlife habitats in Rainham, to over a hundred parks and open spaces.
Havering is well connected into the Capital by rail and by the District Line and abuts the M25. From 2018, Havering will be served by 3 Crossrail stations at Romford, Gidea Park and Harold Wood.
Transport links, vibrant shopping centres, open green spaces and good schools makes us a very attractive place to live, with a growing population.

About the Job

As part of our renewed commercial strategy for growing revenue streams and strengthening the business, we are looking to appoint a commercially minded, qualified finance professional to further strengthen the technical and specialist expertise within our central Commercial Business Unit. This service unit includes the Catering Service, Brokerage & Partnerships, Marketing & Communications and Relationship Management.

Reporting into the Head of Education Traded Services, this is a key role within the education services Senior Management Team. The successful candidate will play an important role in the commercial development of traded services by providing financial insight and analytical support for business planning, business case development and building the financial models that will underpin our bids for new business.

A substantial part of the role will focus on supporting financial management of our Catering Service which currently provides daily school meals in 60 schools. This will involve taking ownership of the P&L accounts for Catering Service contracts, supply chain financial management and active participation in monthly reporting and reconciliation processes.

About You

We are looking for a commercially savvy, qualified finance professional to work with our Senior Management Team and Service Managers as a key member of the Commercial Business Unit as we continue to drive business performance forward.

The ideal candidate should have substantial experience in a finance role within a large commercial income generating organisation. Experience of managing finance within a catering and/or hospitality business will be highly advantageous for this role.

Alongside managing the day to day Finance function you will possess the ability, expertise and experience to use data and analytics to identify commercial levers for success and assess opportunities and challenges which will help shape our strategic approach.

You should possess excellent interpersonal, communication and stakeholder management skills. The ability to establish strong rapport with colleagues, senior corporate finance figures and stakeholders is a key prerequisite for this position.

Experience and understanding of the national education traded services for schools landscape will be advantageous for the successful candidate.

You should be a fully qualified Accountant possessing CIMA/ACCA/ACA certifications. However, a part qualified candidate with a minimum AAT Level 4 qualification who possesses relevant experience relating to the job profile will be considered.

Apply here Should you require any help or advice with your online application, please contact the Recruitment Help Desk on: 01708 432770

The closing date for the receipt of applications is Monday 9th August 2021. We anticipate that interest in this job will be high and we therefore reserve the right to close the vacancy early.

Shortlisted candidates will be notified during the week commencing 19th August 2021.

Interviews are provisionally scheduled to take place on Friday 27th August 2021

Additional Information

The London Borough of Havering is a Disability Confident employer. Candidates who declare that they have a disability in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and meet the essential criteria as specified in

Desired Skills and Experience
Expert Microsoft Office 2007 & 2010 and Keynote skills
Good Lotus Notes skills
Good knowledge of Macs
Excellent communication skills
Well organised
Able to create a visible team spirit
Proactive & resilient
Comfortable with change
Able to work on own initiative
Takes ownership and responsibility for their work
Understanding of agency operation and business priorities
Educated to degree level an advantage