Deputy Director, Strategic Finance

Posting date:	29 December 2025
Salary:	£81,000 to £117,800 per year
Additional salary information:	Non civil servants will be expected to start at the salary minimum if successful. Standard pay rules apply for existing civil servants.
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	13 January 2026
Location:	London
Company:	Government Recruitment Service
Job type:	Permanent
Job reference:	442786/2

Summary

Firstly, a huge thanks for your interest in this role. I have been the Cabinet Office Chief Finance Officer since March 2025 and this is a fantastic time to join the Cabinet Office as we are deep into delivering our 'Cabinet Office Future' plans and about to start implementation and delivery of our Spending Review plans. The Cabinet Office is essentially the HQ for the whole of Government, supporting the Cabinet and Ministers whilst providing a range of functional services to other government departments where it makes sense to do that, alongside areas of core frontline delivery e.g. independent arms-length public bodies such as the Infected Blood Compensation Authority.

It is a fantastic opportunity for someone who is an experienced finance professional to really make a difference and support decision making at the very heart of Government. You will lead the strategic finance team, be a key member of the Chief Finance Officer Directorate's Senior Leadership Team and will have a significant opportunity to influence decisions and plans across the whole organisation and make a real difference to ensuring we deliver at pace.

It will require someone who is both a strategic thinker but also willing to face issues head on and work across Cabinet Office and across Government to find solutions. You will own the Cabinet Office business and medium-term financial planning processes and will be someone adept at building relationships and influencing a wide range of stakeholders.

Thanks,

Caroline Patterson

Chief Financial Officer

This role is an exciting and unique opportunity to shape financial strategy at the heart of Government. The postholder will work closely with the Permanent Secretary, Ministers, HMT and other senior stakeholders to negotiate and agree funding settlements, lead on fiscal event planning, agree business plans and support some of the biggest decisions the Cabinet Office makes. The postholder will be an experienced leader with a strong track record of delivery in public sector finance roles - someone who can see the bigger picture and use their communicating and influencing skills to drive decisions. This is a fast paced and rewarding role with a significant opportunity to make a difference to Cabinet Office and to Government more widely.

As Deputy Director (DD) of Strategic Finance in the Cabinet Office, you will lead the strategic finance team and will sit on the CFO Directorate SLT providing leadership to your team and to the CFO Directorate more widely. This includes working with leaders across Finance to set the vision and transformation ambitions for the Cabinet Office Finance function.

You will spend a significant amount of time informing, influencing, and advising senior officials, the Executive Committee, Board, Permanent Secretary and Ministers on key strategic departmental decisions and processes.

You will lead on fiscal events including Spending Reviews, agreeing the Cabinet Office medium term financial plan and agreeing annual business plans and budgets working more widely with Cabinet Office strategy teams, finance business partner teams and budgetholders.

You will support Permanent Secretary and Ministerial Private Offices to ensure finance is taken into account for key decisions providing expert accounting officer advice where required.

You will own the Departmental relationship with HMT and build strong relationships with both HMT and a network of finance leaders more widely to facilitate cross departmental working and prompt resolution of issues.

You will develop and deliver and own the Cabinet Office functional service catalogue to improve engagement with Government Departments and ensure services are focused where needed and payment mechanisms are appropriate and efficient.

You will own the Cabinet Office efficiency strategy ensuring compliance with the Government Efficiency Framework.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

About Disability Confident

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.