Director of Finance & Operations - London or Manchester
Message from the CEO
Dear candidate,
Thank you very much for your interest in the role. We are at an exciting inflection point as an organisation. Currently, we are a £6m T/O organisation with ~75 staff educating ~650 students and apprentices across our two campuses alongside a variety of short course activity. In recent years we have focused on putting the systems, processes and improved physical and digital infrastructure in place to allow us to scale our business model, and therefore our impact, rapidly.
Core to these solid foundations has been a significant improvement in our financial health in the past year following the successful completion of our capital projects and the residual impact of the covid-era falling away. With no debt, growing reserves and strengthened philanthropy relationships, we can be confident in investing in the right strategies for further growth.
To ensure we are pursuing the right strategies, we are embarking on the formulation of our new strategy for the next 5 years in Spring 2025. We will be bringing together the college's internal and external stakeholders, alongside pro bono support from Bain&Co., to set bold new goals for the next decade and a detailed roadmap for how we will meet them, specifically how we will dramatically increase the number of learners we educate and empower to become the next generation of diverse digital talent.
The Director of Finance and Operations is a pivotal role in the realisation of our renewed and heightened ambitions. Growth is only sustainable and successful when built on solid foundations and scalable infrastructure. Your role will be to ensure this is in place and continues to grow to meet our current and future needs . You will articulate the College’s financial and infrastructure development strategies in conjunction with our expert Governors and your senior leadership peers. You will then be responsible for the effective implementation of these strategies and the management of a high-performing team to execute on them in line with the College's 5 values: Collaboration, Creativity, Curiosity, Resilience and Rigour.
I hope this sounds like an exciting challenge. If it does, please read on and I very much look forward to reading your application.
Mark
Welcome to Ada!
We are searching for a dynamic, new Director of Finance and Operations as the College enters an exciting new period of growth across our Greater London and Greater Manchester regions and beyond. Ada is a high-performing specialist technical College, the first brand new Further Education College in England since 1993. We use our deep relationships with our learners and industry partners to deliver a transformative education experience and train the next generation of diverse digital talent. We achieve top tier results and outcomes for our learners with a particular focus on recruiting learners from less privileged circumstances, ethnically diverse backgrounds and young women who are particularly under represented in the tech sector. >90% of our alumni are in employment or further education. For those in employment, 67% earn greater than the median graduate salary and 97% earn greater than the local living wage.
All our sixth form students and apprentices are passionate about tech and we are committed to supporting them to progress onto highly skilled roles in the digital sector. In London, our specialist sixth form students consistently achieve the best BTEC Computing results in England while completing award winning work experience and live brief projects with industry partners like King Games, Deloitte and Bank of America.
In London and Manchester, we train almost 500 Higher Level and Degree Apprentices digital apprentices for 30+ companies ranging from Just Eat and Salesforce through to Deloitte and PwC as junior developers, data analysts and tech consultants. We use innovative Foundation and BSc. programmes that are developed with our employer partners and validated by the Open University with 98% of our apprentices passing and graduating successfully and progressing into permanent employment in tech.
At present, we operate from our new campuses in London in Pimlico and Manchester in Ancoats, opened in August 2023 and February 2024 respectively.
Role information
Nature of the Role: 0.8 or1.0 FTE. Hybrid working
Reporting to: Chief Executive Officer
Responsible for: Finance and Operations (inc. Premises, IT, Data and Impact)
Annual Salary: £competitive
Pension: Workplace pension, employer contribution @ 10%*
Holidays: 30 days per annum
Location: London (Pimlico) or Manchester (Ancoats)
Closing Date: 25 March 2025. (Candidates' applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Early applications are advised.)
* Other options may become available in the near future
About You
Ada is looking for a talented Education Finance professional with experience of managing wider operational functions such as Data & Information, IT and premises. Leading a committed and growing team, you will be a key member of the College’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and work closely with Board Members. You will be laser focused on effectively managing Ada’s financial performance alongside the delivery of our digital transformation strategy and oversight of our MIS systems and data returns, ensuring our premises and IT deliver staff and students the resources they need. You will ensure our systems, processes and premises remain fit for purpose and focused on staff usability as the College grows and scales its learner volumes and impact. Our board is clear that with our fantastic new campuses delivered and improved financial health, we need to urgently grow our learner volumes and impact to realise our ambition of being a truly National College.
Experience and Ambition
A successful candidate will be able to evidence:
- An excitement for being part of the Ada’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and the opportunity to be a senior leader in a small, fast-growing College with ambitious plans, enviable industry links and a high performance, can-do culture.
- A track record of successful financial management and leadership in the FE sector, or significant compensatory experience, which is easily translatable to the role
- A track record for leading, building and managing high-performing teams
- High ethical standards and influencing skills with the ability to engage effectively with all staff across the College, the governing body, EFSA, DfE and Employer/Philanthropy partners
- Good knowledge and instincts for the basics of effective information and data management, compliance and impact measurement
- The ability to lead college-wide projects to improve our IT and digital capabilities
- A focus on being able to deliver the key resources – physical and digital – to enable our learners and staff to excel
- Strong attention to detail and a willingness to roll up their sleeves and be involved in resolving operational issues where needed.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities
- Provide strategic leadership and operational oversight of a robust financial, physical and digital management infrastructure for the College
- Be a collaborative, enthusiastic member of the College’s ELT, working closely with staff and Governors to help deliver our ambitious strategy
- Lead the Finance, Data, Impact, IT and Premises teams, driving high performance and effectiveness.
- Work with your team, providing timely finance and data analysis to the Board of Governors, CEO and ELT to aid strategic decision making
- Lead on effective risk management and mitigation at the College working with the Director of Operations and other relevant team members
- Working with auditors on the production of statutory accounts and oversee and effective internal audit cycle (currently outsourced). With the Audit Committee Chair and Board Clerk, lead the organisation of the Audit Committee.
- Lead on iteratively updating and effectively implement the organisation’s digital transformation strategy
- Support the college’s emerging impact function in the delivery of cutting-edge analysis and information on our performance and how we impact the lives of our students
- Lead on strategic risk management, working with other senior leaders to maintain accurate registers and reporting regularly to the Board of Governors.
- Lead the finance team to ensure effective treasury management, including annual budgeting, effective cash flow management and short and long term forecasting
- Maintaining and developing key relationships with all relevant external bodies
- Providing leadership to our new Impact function, ensuring that we accurately identify how we change the lives of our students and feed this back into the improvement of our offer.
- Undertaking other duties commensurate with the role as directed by the Chief Executive Officer or as delegated by the Chair of the Board.
Legislation and Compliance
• To provide leadership on ensuring that all statutory returns are accurately prepared and submitted in a timely fashion. These include the FE sector annual ESFA and ILR returns.
• Ensure the College has adequate insurance cover at all times including employer’s liability, buildings and equipment cover, personal accident, travel insurance and other relevant cover.
• Acting as Chief Data Officer in response to GDPR requirements.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential Qualifications and Experience:
• A demonstrable track record of successful financial management in an Education and Skills context
• Demonstrable experience of board-level interactions, external stakeholder management and leading and managing high-performing teams in line with Ada’s five values.
• Good working knowledge of effective: data management systems and practices, financial and management information systems, GDPR and compliance matters in a regulated organisation
• The ability to provide leadership and drive improvement across a broad range of organisational services
• Demonstrable evidence of embedding and promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.
Desirable Experience:
• Accountancy Qualification, e.g. ACA, ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA.
• An understanding of the funding, regulatory and legislative environment of Colleges.
• Delivery of, or strong involvement in, organisational digital transformation.
Note: The job description is designed to provide an overview of the main duties related to the role. It is not an exhaustive list and can be varied in consultation with the post holder.
Safeguarding
The successful candidate will be required to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check when appointed to the post. References for shortlisted candidates will be requested prior to the interview day. Further information about the DBS be can found at www.gov.uk
Equal Opportunities
Ada, the National College for Digital Skills recognises that equality of opportunity and the recognition and promotion of diversity are integral to its strengths. The following principles apply in respect of the College’s commitment to equality and diversity:
• To provide and promote equality of opportunity in all areas of its work and activity;
•To recognise and develop the diversity of skills and talent within its current and potential community;
• To ensure that all employees and prospective employees of the College are treated solely on the basis of their merits, abilities and potential without receiving any unjustified discrimination or unfavourable treatment on grounds such as age, disability, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender reassignment, trans status, socio-economic status or any other irrelevant distinction;
• To provide and promote a positive working, learning, and social environment which is free from prejudice, discrimination and any forms of harassment, bullying or victimisation.
Applicants with disabilities
Ada, the National College for Digital Skills is keen to increase the number of disabled people it employs. We therefore encourage applications from individuals with a disability who are able to carry out the duties of the post. If there is anything in this regard that you would like to discuss in relation to your application please contact HR@ada.ac.uk.
Sponsorship
Sadly, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role, so can only accept applications from candidates who have the legal right to work and remain in the United Kingdom.
How to Apply
Please complete send a CV and brief Cover Letter outlining your interest and suitability for the role to Jobs@ada.ac.uk. If you have any queries in advance of applying then please also direct them to this email address.