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Director of Finance and Operations

The school is seeking to appoint a Director of Finance and Operations to lead the school’s non-teaching functions, including being responsible for the school’s administrative, premises and financial procedures and systems, ensuring that all legal and safety requirements relating to people and property are met. This will include administrating the resources budget, maintaining financial systems, supporting bids for additional funding, and oversight of human resource and facility management issues. The Director of Finance and Operations, along with the Head Teacher will be responsible for ensuring that the schools is both solvent and operating in line with the highest standards of financial probity. The school has a flexible approach to recruitment and would welcome applicants from: Candidates wanting a 4 or 5 day a week role who are able to balance strategic work with routine tasks; Candidates wanting a 2 or 3 day/week role which focuses on the strategic aspects of the role while training and supporting an additional, yet-to-be-appointed team member (to whom some aspects of the role can be delegated).

  • Closing date: 18 Mar 2024
  • Salary: £51,450 - £60,090
  • Hours: Full or part time

The Director of Finance and Operations will work as part of the extended Senior Leadership Team to ensure that the school’s operations are conducted both efficiently and at an outstanding level of quality. The Business Manager will also have reporting responsibilities to the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the Governing Body, and will directly line manage three staff: the Finance Officer, the External Relations Officer and the Administration Manager and Exams Officer, who is in turn supported by two Administrative Officers.

King’s College London Mathematics School is a single academy trust, and the Director of Finance and Operations will hold the duties of the Principal Finance Officer as set out in the Academies Trust Handbook. The nature of the post is influenced by the size of the school, with a small team and few tiers of responsibility, meaning it requires someone who is willing to be hands on as well as to think strategically.

The school recognises the need to develop its Health and Safety Compliance and has recently invested in software to assist with tracking and monitoring this. The new Director of Finance and Operations will be responsible for embedding this and for increasing staff awareness around Health & Safety. Previous experience in Health and Safety management, and a professional qualification, are both desirable in the successful candidate.

The school has secured funding from the DfE to expand the school into a part of the building which is currently sublet. This will allow us to offer our outstanding education to 50% more students, with Y12 admissions increasing from 70 to 105 from September 2024. The capital project is being run by the DfE, and the Director of Finance and Operations will be their first point of contact, provide the contractors with the information they need and keep the Operational Leadership Team and the Expansion Committee informed of progress. They will also assist with ensuring broader factors are considered, such as the timing of staff recruitment for the expanded school, health and safety factors when contractors are on site, and scheduling of works to minimise disruption to students at key times such as public exams (the school has no alternative accommodation to move to during works).

The Director of Finance and Operations will work with the Head Teacher to refine forecasts for the revenue income and expenses and highlight any funding gaps to the Fundraising Committee.This post would be ideal for candidates already in the sector, who are looking to take on increased responsibility as the Director of Finance and Operations of a school and may be of interest to candidates who have a background in financial and operations management looking to move into the education sector.

The school is committed to the continued professional development of the Director of Finance and Operations. We will support a successful candidate towards gaining professional qualifications such as the ILM Diplomas in school business leadership (level 4 or level 5), an IOSH qualification or similar.The post will commence as soon as possible after satisfactory safeguarding and reference checks are complete.

Full information

The job pack below provides full information regarding the post.
(Note that Job Pack DFO is for the 4-5 day/week role and the Job Pack DFO pt file is for the 2-3 day/week option.)

  • Job Pack DFO
  • Job Pack DFO pt

    • King’s College London Mathematics School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of students and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful applicant will be required to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure through the DBS.

    Application Procedure

    Should you wish to apply for this position please send us a completed application form and equality & diversity form in Word or PDF format by email to KCLMSvacancies@kcl.ac.uk.

    The forms can be found below:

  • kclms-standard-application-form-DFO
  • KCLMS equality diversity form

    • Enquiries may be made to the Head Teacher, Timothy Bateup, by emailing KCLMSvacancies@kcl.ac.uk.