The Department of Health and Social Care is advertising for a finance director general who will manage what it called “one of the highest spending portfolios in government”.
The departmental group’s resource departmental expenditure limit is more than £160bn a year and it also has a capital budget of nearly £6bn.
The SCS3-grade job, which has a salary of £145,000, includes overseeing the government’s manifesto commitment to build 40 new hospitals as well as financial management, reporting, planning and fraud prevention. In August, the department told NHS trusts to define major new buildings, wings and refurbishments as "new hospitals".
The successul candidate, who can be based in London or Leeds with some remote working possible at present, will play a leadership role in the Government Finance Function of more than 10,000 finance professionals.
“Great candidates for this role might have some experience of health and social care, but that’s not essential,” Shona Dunn, DHSC’s second permanent secretary, wrote in the candidate pack.
They also need“a proven track record of successful financial management in high profile arenas”, she said. The new director general will report day-to-day to Dunn and be accountable to the department’s permanent secretary Sir Chris Wormald.
Candidates must have “deep financial and commercial acumen” through having been accountable for multi-billion pound budgets, the job ad said, as well as “the delivery of major cost reduction and efficiency programmes”.
Applications close on 5 December with interviews planned to take place by the end of January.