Director of Finance - B9 Closing date: 04 March 2026
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Director of Finance to join the ICB, supporting the Executive Director of Finance and Commercial in leading all aspects of the finance function. The role spans costing and productivity, business partnering, financial management and statutory accounts, requiring a skilled expert able to deliver confidently and deputise when needed.
A strong business partner, the post holder will work flexibly to develop innovative approaches that support new ways of working and enable new care models. They will oversee Planning and Productivity, Business Partnering, Financial Management and Financial Services teams, and work closely with the Directors of Commercial and Capital and Estates as part of the wider leadership team.
The role requires providing strategic and operational financial leadership across organisational and system priorities, offering expert accounting and business insight, and presenting complex financial information clearly to clinical and nonclinical colleagues.
Working autonomously, the Director of Finance will help negotiate, agree and deliver the ICB strategy, bringing partners together across multiple programmes and overseeing resource contributions. As the finance function evolves, the post holder will support the shift to Neighbourhood Health, develop new payment models, focus on outcomes based commissioning and drive value based improvements.
Main duties of the job The post holder will hold a CCAB qualification and work closely with the Deputy Directors across the Finance and Commercial function to support multidisciplinary teams. As a result, you will demonstrate exemplary management skills, capable of bringing cohesion to a team with common aims and objectives.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Develop and implement policy and / or service developments related to Finance.
- Translate high level policy commitments from NHS strategies, including the ICB strategy and the 10 Year Health Plan, into programmes that will deliver improved outcomes and sustainable services for the local population.
- Accountability for the financial control environment of the organisation, working with the Associate Directors and Heads of Finance to ensure that appropriate Standing Financial Instructions, Standing orders, financial policies and procedures are in place.
- Drive change within the finance team, championing the move to focusing on trends, forecasting and run rates and ensuring processes are in place to deliver the shift to earlier reporting cycles.
- Provision of expert financial advice and analysis as required to support the Executive Committee and Board in decision making.
- Lead the development of Financial Strategy for the ICB.
Please refer to attached Job Description and Person Specification for more details regarding the role.
Interviews will be held on 12 March 2026
About us Mid and South Essex ICB is a statutory organisation responsible for planning and delivering local health and care services across Mid and South Essex. As part of changes to the NHS commissioning landscape, the ICB will transition to the new Essex ICB on 1 April 2026. This role will be appointed within the Essex ICB structure, working across the county to improve the health of local people. The organisations headquarters is Seax House, Chelmsford, and we operate a hybrid working model that includes working across Essex and from home. Essex ICB currently has offices in Brentwood, Harlow and Colchester, in addition to the Chelmsford HQ.
We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that values diversity. We know that different experiences, ideas and perspectives help create a stronger and more innovative organisation that delivers better outcomes for patients. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, including people of all ages, disabilities, sex, gender identity or expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or personal circumstances. Our policies ensure all applicants are treated fairly and consistently throughout the recruitment process, including consideration of reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants.
Please note that the organisation does not hold a sponsorship licence.
Job responsibilities ROLE PURPOSE / SUMMARY
The proposed Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) will be a new organisation formed through the consolidation of three ICB areas in response to the NHSs ambition to deliver a more streamlined, strategic and cost effective model of health commissioning. The ICB will oversee the commissioning of care for the approximately 2 million people who live in Essex. Operating within a reduced running cost envelope and aligned to the new requirements of ICBs in England, the proposed Essex ICB will focus on improving population health outcomes, health equity and smarter resource allocation.
By establishing clear and transparent funding arrangements, triangulated with activity and workforce within our system we aim to support our collective understanding of how resources are allocated across the system for both revenue and capital.
Our Director of Finance will lead the Finance function with the Executive Director of Finance and Commercial. The team plays a key part in delivering the organisations strategic and this role will be expected to operate as part of the organisations wider leadership team.
Leading across the whole span of finance, from costing and productivity, business partnering and statutory accounts delivery the Director of Finance will be a subject matter expert with the credibility to deliver and deputise for the Executive Director of Finance and Commercial when required. A business partner in themselves, they will be expected to work flexibly to deliver innovative approaches to new ways of working and enabling new models of care for the system.
The Director of Finance, Director of Commercial and Director of Estates will work closely together supporting each others objectives to ensure the Directorate delivers together.
As the ICB transitions to become a leaner, more focused strategic commissioning organisation the post holder will be expected to support the Executive Director of Finance and Commercial and the CEO in delivering on the three fundamental shifts set out in the NHS 10-year plan:
- From Treatment to Prevention: Embedding preventative, personalised and population based approaches to commissioning.
- From Hospital to Community: Championing care model redesign that supports community and neighbourhood health.
- From Analogue to Digital: Enabling clinically driven transformation through digital innovation, data analytics and evidence based improvement.
The post holder will be required to work autonomously and will ultimately be responsible for helping deliver the negotiation, agreement and delivery of ICB strategy. The post holder will be responsible for bringing partners together to agree multiple programmes of work and also for agreeing contribution of resources to these programmes.
KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
To deliver on the job description set out above, the job holder will be expected to deliver on the requirements set out below:
Policy and service development
- Develop and implement policy and / or service developments related to Finance.
- Translate high level policy commitments from NHS strategies, including the ICB strategy and the 10 Year Health Plan, into programmes that will deliver improved outcomes and sustainable services for the local population.
- Development and oversight of relevant ICB policies.
- Use research and innovation to inform service improvements or performance management.
- Accountability for the financial control environment of the organization, working with the Heads of Finance to ensure that appropriate Standing Financial Instructions, Standing orders, financial policies and procedures are in place.
- Drive change within the finance team, championing the move to focusing on trends, forecasting and run rates and ensuring processes are in place to deliver the shift to earlier reporting cycles.
- Strategy and analysis - use of complex health data sets, including those relating to performance across activity, finance and quality to inform decision making.
- Analysis of large volumes of complex qualitative and quantitative data relating to finance.
- Turning analysis into useful insights that can inform decision making.
- Present highly complex data, information and insights, including qualitative and quantitative data, through clear and simple written and verbal briefings.
- Use of Population Health Management methodologies and tools to inform projects and programmes that will improve outcomes for patients and sustainability of health services.
- Provision of expert financial advice and analysis as required to support the Executive Committee and Board in decision making.
- Lead the development of the Financial Strategy for the ICB.
- Provide leadership and responsibility for the delivery of critical strategic programmes as prioritised by the ICB/ICS and defined by the Executive.
- Analyse the risks associated with the work of the Directorate and support the Executive Director to report on and mitigate.
Planning and organisation
- Develop project and / or programme plans to drive delivery of complex programmes relating to finance. . click apply for full job details