Deputy Chief Finance Officer

We are looking for an exceptional finance leader who believes that finance and procurement are not back‑office functions. They are enablers of safer, more effective and more sustainable care. This is a role for someone who combines professional grip with humanity, curiosity and the courage to challenge.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust is moving forward with ambition and honesty. We are proud of the progress we are making and equally clear that there is more to do.

As Deputy Chief Finance Officer, you will help turn that ambition into consistently excellent delivery. You will lead a talented finance function, bring insight to difficult choices, and ensure every pound supports the best possible outcomes for the people and communities we serve.

Main duties of the job

About the role

You will provide senior leadership across the full finance and procurement portfolio, including financial planning and strategy, financial management, financial services and technical accounts, costing, value improvement, procurement, capital and cash management, financial systems and innovation, audit, governance, productivity and finance workforce development.

You will deputise for the Chief Finance Officer as required and support the Trust to make clear, evidence-based decisions in a demanding and changing environment.

We are on the up, but not complacent

We are making progress, but we are not complacent. Our next challenge is to turn those stronger foundations into consistently excellent delivery across the Trust. We want a leader who can recognise progress without overlooking risk, and who will help us sustain improvement rather than simply describe it.

Working for our organisation

Why this role? Why now?

We are one of the largest specialist mental health providers in the country, with approximately 7,500 colleagues, annual income of around £550m, services delivered across a large and diverse Greater Manchester geography spanning the five boroughs of Bolton, Manchester, Trafford, Salford and Wigan.

We have four operational Care Groups and strong partnerships across the Greater Manchester Integrated Care System. That scale gives this role real breadth, visibility and influence.

This is a pivotal time to join GMMH. We have stronger foundations, a clearer five-year direction and real ambition for the next phase of our improvement. Our strategy connects three priorities: delivering care that matters, working together and being fit for the future. Finance sits across all three. The Deputy Chief Finance Officer will make that connection real, every day.

For an experienced Deputy CFO, or an ambitious senior finance leader ready to take the next step, this is a genuine development opportunity towards a future Chief Finance Officer role.

You will work closely with the Chief Finance Officer, Executive Directors, Non-Executive Directors, operational leaders and clinical teams, gaining exposure across the full strategic, operational and system-facing finance agenda.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Why this opportunity matters

• You will work at the heart of an organisation whose purpose is to improve lives and whose ambition is to provide great places for care and great places to work.
• You will help translate clinical, operational and financial information into choices that improve outcomes, reduce unwarranted variation and protect long-term sustainability.
• You will shape how we use automation, AI and better data to reduce repetitive work, improve insight and release finance capacity to spend more time alongside services.
• You will influence beyond the Trust, working with NHS Greater Manchester, NHS England and partner organisations to support integrated funding, transformation and sustainable mental health pathways.

  You will help strengthen a culture of openness, constructive challenge and evidence-based assurance at Executive, Board and committee level.

The kind of leader we want

You will care about the work we do, not only the numbers we report. You will listen carefully, seek to understand the reality facing services and service users, and build trust through consistency and follow-through. You will also be confident enough to challenge assumptions, explain financial consequences plainly and say when something is not sufficiently evidenced.

We do not expect you to know everything. We do expect you to be curious, to admit when you are unsure, to ask the right people and to come back with a considered answer. That combination of humility and professional courage matters to us.

We are looking for someone who

• Is professionally qualified (CCAB / CIMA), with significant post‑qualification experience and a strong track record in NHS finance leadership.
• Can operate confidently with Executive Directors, Non‑Executive Directors, clinical leaders, operational teams and system partners.
• Combines strategic grip with analytical curiosity, commercial awareness and the ability to turn complex information into clear choices.
• Builds trusted relationships, supports constructive challenge and creates the conditions for high‑performing teams to thrive.
• Brings energy, resilience, professional courage and a genuine commitment to improving lives through better use of NHS resources.

If you want to lead a finance function with purpose, help shape the future of mental health care across Greater Manchester and turn better financial insight into better care, this is an opportunity to make a lasting difference.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Education to degree level or equivalent
• Hold a professional accounting qualification and be a current member of a CCAB/ CIMA organisation.
• Undertake demonstrable and relevant continuing professional development.

Experience

• Significant senior finance leadership experience within a large, complex organisation.
• Extensive financial management experience, including substantial experience operating at sub‑director or equivalent senior leadership level within a large organisation.
• Experience of working effectively across organisational boundaries with commissioners, system partners, regulators or other external stakeholders.
• Extensive experience of negotiating, establishing and managing SLAs and contracts for healthcare or other services.
• Extensive experience of managing large and highly complex financial services.
• Experience of leading financial improvement, productivity, efficiency or value programmes in a complex organisation.
• Experience of working with, or providing senior oversight of, procurement systems and processes.
• Experience of leading large and diverse teams.
• Experience of financial risk management within a large and complex organisation.
• Experience of leading change projects / programmes within a large organisation.
• Experience of preparing and presenting complex financial advice and reports to Board, Committees and senior management meetings.
• Significant senior finance experience within the NHS, wider health sector or similarly complex public sector organisation.
• Knowledge of national cross functional strategies / policies relevant to healthcare.
• Experience of developing wider business proposals and pulling together commercial packages.
• Experience of managing capital programmes.

Important Information about working for GMMH: All positions within the Trust are subject to satisfactory pre‑employment checks, for further information on the checks required please visit the NHS Employers website www.nhsemployers.org

The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.

We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under‑represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications

A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application.The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.

We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.

Sponsorship

We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – clickhere .

If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.

The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it here .

Do you have experience outside the NHS?

We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.

We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment. Please contact our Recruitment Team for more information.

Please note, this vacancy may be closed at any time if sufficient applications have been received

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.

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