Director of Finance & Facilities

Location: Southport, Sefton, Merseyside

Contract: Permanent, full-time, 37 hours per week

Start: As soon as possible, but fully negotiable

Starting Salary: £65,000 - £70,000, depending upon the applicant’s skills and experience

Relocation: A relocation allowance may be available where the employee’s new home is reasonably close to the workplace and the former home is not.

Southport College was formed through the merger of Southport College with King George V Sixth Form College in January 2018. Our 280 staff (FTE) provide a dedicated post-16 Further Education learning environment to more than 3200 learners, from Southport and beyond, giving excellent support to our students and apprentices, in the setting of modern and industry-standard facilities. 

Finding the right staff to work with our students is incredibly important to us. We are proud to be a highly inclusive Ofsted Grade 2 ‘Good’ College and we are recognised as a Disability Confident employer as well as being the first College to achieve the Rainbow Flag Award for our commitment to equality and the celebration of diversity in our College community.

This is a vital appointment for our award-winning College. Reporting to the Principal, the Director of Finance and Facilities has the primary responsibility for the financial management of the College and for delivering the College’s post-merger financial strategy. The postholder will enjoy ample opportunity both to incrementally improve and to creatively transform our systems. We are looking for someone with dynamic ideas and working practices, who can further strengthen our College and safeguard us for the future. Through a strategic and innovative approach to our finances, the use of ICT and estates management, we believe we can ensure that we continue and thrive. This combination of responsibilities allows a coherent approach to the efficiency and development of a modern high-quality estate, embracing green technologies. We are driven by our mission ‘to provide excellent, sustainable, education and training’, aiming to be outstanding for our students, apprentices and staff, and would be delighted to welcome members to our senior team that share the same vision and are keen to use their professional skills and experience to enthuse others.

The College is easily commutable from the towns and conurbations of Lancashire, Merseyside, North Cheshire, West and South Yorkshire, and Greater Manchester.

 The role will suit:

• A qualified accountant (with a recognised accountancy qualification such as ACA, ACCA CIPFA or CIMA) who has a thorough understanding of financial policies and procedures
• Someone with a good track record of working at a senior level in Finance, ideally (but not essentially) in education
• Someone with excellent communication skills

 In return, we offer:

• Full membership of the College’s Senior Leadership Team
• An exciting post in a successful and award-winning organisation serving local communities
• The opportunity to shape and develop a College that makes a real difference to the lives of young people
• The challenge and stimulation of working alongside both dedicated educationalists, capable support service managers, and professionally highly-qualified colleagues
• Generous annual leave entitlements and pension scheme (details available on request)

We would like the successful applicant to take up post as soon as possible, but we understand that we will need to be flexible, to meet your notice requirements.

There is, of course, no requirement that you be a teacher.

For an application pack and to read more about the vacancy, please visit www.southportfinance.co.uk or telephone our advisers A SDTi on 07736 775776 or e-mail them at pp@asdti.com.   

They are available during the working day, in the evening or at weekends to answer any questions you have and to help you make your application.

Please note that we do not accept CVs.

The closing date for applications is Friday 5th February at 9am.  

Interviews will probably be held the following week – please do let us know if those dates would cause problems for you.

Southport College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is subject to an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service check.