Deputy Director, Financial Planning & Policy

Ivy Rock Partners is proud to be partnering with King’s College London in recruiting a new Deputy Director, Financial Planning & Policy.

King’s College London is at the forefront of education, research, and societal impact. As we continue to grow and expand, our Finance team is undergoing an exciting transformation to support the university’s strategic ambitions. With a turnover approaching £1.5 billion, we are modernising our financial operations, enhancing our capabilities, supporting King’s to grow sustainably and fostering a culture of excellence to meet the demands of a rapidly changing landscape.

This is an exciting time to be part of King’s Finance. Our finance development programme focuses on delivering innovative solutions, improving processes, and enhancing a high performing, forward-thinking finance function. We are expanding Financial Strategy, Planning & Performance with dynamic, talented individuals in new areas of work who will contribute to this journey, helping us ensure the university’s financial sustainability while driving value for money.

The Deputy Director, Financial Planning & Policy, will play a critical role in leading King’s College London’s financial planning and analysis team, driving financial alignment with the university’s strategic objectives. Reporting to the Director of Financial Planning & Analysis, this role will refresh and manage the financial planning process within King’s medium-term integrated planning framework, develop and roll out key financial policies underpinning financial accountability and financial management, and embed strong governance frameworks relating to financial strategy and planning.

The post holder will act as a strategic link between financial planning, business partnering teams, and senior leadership, ensuring transparency, accountability, and consistency. They will be part of the leadership team for a newly created FP&A function that will be driving finance development across King’s. This will include implementing a systems-based FP&A tool to streamline processes, enhance data-driven decision-making and efficiency, and ensure the generation of meaningful financial data to inform long-term financial sustainability. This leadership position will have a significant impact on shaping King’s financial direction, embedding continuous improvement, and fostering a high-performing, customer-focused finance team. Key responsibilities Strategic Leadership in Financial Planning.

Key responsibilities

Strategic Leadership in Financial Planning

• Lead the review and delivery of a refreshed financial planning process to ensure alignment with the medium-term financial planning framework (as part of King’s ‘integrated planning process’) and King’s strategic priorities.
• Develop and implement long-term financial targets, rebasing assumptions and incorporating key adjustments for growth, efficiency, and risk mitigation.
• Devise and adopt a consistent methodology of setting financial targets across King’s, including how growth, inflation, known pressures and opportunities, changes and other factors are reflected in the planning process.
• Coordinate the consolidation and analysis of financial planning returns, driving strategic quality assurance, challenge, and scrutiny. Develop narrative and reporting, highlighting trends, outcomes, and recommendations for decision making.
• Horizon scanning for sector developments to inform financial planning issues, identifying key opportunities, risks and mitigations.
• Collaborate with business partnering teams, Strategy and Analytics to share knowledge about emerging issues and opportunities relevant to King’s financial performance and sustainability.
• Implement control processes for budget adjustments, ensuring alignment with financial objectives, and with the integrated planning process, working with management accounts reporting as appropriate.

Policy Development and Governance

• Lead the development and rollout of the review or creation of relevant financial policies, including a revised Scheme of Financial Delegation and updating financial regulations and procedures.
• Establish frameworks to standardise budgetary controls, financial management and governance, and reporting processes across faculties and directorates.
• Ensure financial policies and procedures are scalable, fit-for-purpose, and continue to support King’s growing size and complexity.
• Act as a strategic advisor on financial policy compliance, working with management accounts, embedding best practices and ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements. Implementation of FP&A Capability
• Lead on embedding the financial planning and analysis function, ensuring its integration with existing or new systems and processes to support effective financial and strategic decision making. • Oversee the development and implementation of a systems-based FP&A tool to enable efficient budget setting, data consolidation, scenario planning, and improved decision support.
• Drive other process automation and continuous improvement initiatives to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of medium-term financial reporting and analysis.

Team Leadership and Development

• Line manage a team covering Research FP&A, Partnership & Commercial finance, and a wide range of project work, ensuring effective delivery of objectives and professional development within the team.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, and stakeholder-focused service delivery. Support the recruitment, onboarding, and development of roles to enhance the department’s capacity and capability. Stakeholder Engagement and Communication
• Act as a liaison between finance, faculties, and directorates, ensuring alignment of financial plans and priorities.
• Communicate financial insights, risks, and recommendations effectively to senior leadership, enabling informed decision-making.
• Lead training and development initiatives on key policies and financial planning considerations, to improve financial acumen and understanding across the university community.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

For more information about the role, please contact Phil Southern at Ivy Rock Partners for a confidential discussion.