Project Accountant - West Sussex County Council : Job Details

Do you have experience supporting large projects working within the building and property sector?

The Finance Directorate plays a leading role in shaping the future of the Council, by being responsive to customer and stakeholder needs through an empowered, flexible and commercially focused team and by aligning resources to provide a professional service appropriate to future organisational needs. This is in addition to helping ensure WSCC's financial sustainability through sound financial management and control.

If so, then keep reading to find out more about this fantastic opportunity the council has to offer.

The Opportunity

Salary: £56,713 to £59,946 per annum

Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week, flexible working options available

Location: Hybrid - County Hall, Chichester and working from home

Interview date: w/c 29 July 2024

The Council have entered into a long-term Joint Venture partnership with Lovells Partnerships to develop surplus Council land for high quality housing, to both deliver on the Council priorities as well as generating a financial return for the Council. This is a new exciting initiative for the Council and we are looking for someone with strong financial acumen along with a robust understanding of strong governance to ensure we maximise on the opportunities available to the Council in a compliant way.

As our Project Accountant supporting the Joint Venture, your role will focus on the following:

• Leading on high level planning, monitoring, and reporting of overall investment and finances
• Having responsibility for the effective management and development of the accounting and budgeting processes and the financial control environment
• Supporting the delivery of robust financial arrangements
• Reporting on large projects to senior managers and Members as well as being responsible for co-ordinating work with internal and external parties to provide advice to senior managers and Members

What are we looking for?

• You will be able to demonstrate great communication and inter-personal skills to make the most of your talent.
• You will be proactive with a can-do attitude, with a focus on personal and professional development.
• You will be a good team player, keen and able to work collaboratively with stakeholders, partners and third-party suppliers to achieve outcomes within a complex operating environment.
• You will have a strong focus on continuous improvement and a commitment to delivering and ensuring value for money.

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.

Working for us

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this we want to help support your development and provide an great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of 30 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• volunteering opportunities
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further information

The reference number for this role is CRS00847.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact John Edwards (Group Manager - Commercial Finance) at . For issues or queries regarding your application please contact .

Internal candidates wishing to apply for this role will be considered for a secondment position. Please can you therefore discuss and agree this with your manager before applying for this position.

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter. In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to 3 years referencing and a health check.