Business Manager

Reference:0470 

Salary:£52,058 - £57,506 per annum 

Working pattern:Permanent, Fully flexible - all options will be considered 

Location:Across Scotland 

Closing date:02 April 2023 at midnight 

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Business Manager

Location : Our offices are based in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness

Type : Permanent role

Salary : £52,058 to £57,506 per annum, plus competitive benefits

Hours : 36.25 hours

We are Audit Scotland. We're Scotland’s public sector auditor, independent of government. We employ more than 340 talented professionals who know that their work helps ensure the efficient delivery of public services in Scotland. We believe that public money (around £57 billion a year) should be spent wisely. 

There's plenty of change ahead, and the need for robust public audit that provides assurance about public spending and helps public services improve is more important than ever. We want to make sure Scotland makes the very best of the opportunities and that change is delivered well – transparent financial reporting and delivering value for money are key to this.

There has never been a more interesting or important time to join us. We offer a rewarding place to work, a supportive and open culture and a wide range of professional development opportunities. Benefits include 42 days of annual leave including public holidays, an attractive local government pension scheme with 19.4% employer contributions, personal development allowances and flexible working hours. We’ve also been named one of the top 40 workplaces in Scotland and the UK’s eighth best accountancy workplace in the 2022 Best Companies awards.

Overall purpose of the role

Audit Scotland delivers a programme of audits on behalf of the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission. We provide independent assurance to the people of Scotland by reviewing and commenting on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public services; reporting our findings and conclusions in public; making recommendations for improvement; and supporting Parliamentary scrutiny.

The Business Manager has a critical role in helping Audit Scotland deliver excellent audit work that makes a difference to public services in Scotland. This role directly supports the Leadership Team in ensuring the efficient and effective management of the Audit Scotland business groups.

Key responsibilities of the role include:

• ensuring that effective systems are in place for business planning, performance management, risk management, information management and resourcing


• ensuring compliance with key corporate policies, procedures, and standards.


• coordinating and supporting decision making on the programme of work that Audit Scotland delivers on behalf of the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission


• managing a small support team in the delivery of these responsibilities.

The post holder will be expected to identify opportunities for improvement across these areas and develop and deliver improvement projects.

The Business Manager regularly collaborates with a range of colleagues across Audit Scotland business groups including Performance Audit & Best Value, Audit Services Group, Business Support Services, Corporate Governance, Digital Services, Finance, and HR&OD to contribute to corporate information requirements and ensure appropriate support arrangements are in place.

How you can help us

The main aspect of the role is providing key support to the Leadership Team (and individual Audit Directors) in their professional lead responsibilities to deliver the key functions of budgeting, strategic and business planning, people (recruitment, management and development), programme management, data and information management, risk management, performance management and reporting, and resourcing.

Specifics include:

• Develop and maintain efficient and effective reporting systems to support reporting on a range of areas, including: the dynamic work programme, the Audit Scotland business plan, business group finances and performance indicators.


• Identify and deliver on opportunities to continuously improve business group and corporate performance reporting.


• Lead the annual assurance and governance compliance activity


• Manage business group risk registers


• Prepare and monitor implementation of the business plan


• Identify and deliver on opportunities to develop and continuously improve our approach to the work programme.


• Support the LT and senior managers to ensure the work programme is appropriately resourced,


• Develop and maintain systems for resource planning and audit budgeting and cost monitoring.


• Liaise with Audit Scotland’s Communications team over publication scheduling


• Liaise with the Accounts Commission Secretary over Commission agenda planning


• Collaborate with colleagues in business groups to ensure the effective use of resources across Audit Scotland


• Contribute to corporate improvement projects as required


• Contribute to Corporate Governance and Digital Services Group over information and records management issues


• Ensure operation of an effective records management system


• Oversee the management and development of SharePoint sites and other information assets


• Manage the business management team, which includes PABV’s Data Manager and Policy & Information Officer and coordinate support from Audit Scotland’s Business Support Services team

Specific knowledge and experience

Essential

• You are educated to degree level or have demonstrable, relevant experience of working in a complex environment in a corporate strategy or business management role.


• You have business management experience


• You have strong communication and interpersonal skills, and are confident in building and maintaining effective relationships with senior stakeholders


• You have excellent programme and project management skills, including experience of planning and delivering work to time, within cost and to quality standards


• You can analyse complex data and problems and use your judgement to present pragmatic and realistic findings and solutions.


• You bring out the best in a team, overseeing the work of others and coaching and supporting colleagues to help them develop in their roles


• You are comfortable leading discussions with senior staff and you can deal with difficult situations in a calm, professional and effective manner

Desirable

• You have sound knowledge and understanding of the Scottish public sector, how it works and the issues it is facing


• You have a postgraduate management or professional qualification

Interested? Next steps 

Click the apply button to complete an application form. If you wish, you can also share your CV. We offer a range of benefits, please visit our careers page for more information. 

Our application deadline is Sunday 2^nd April 2023 at midnight.

Diversity and Inclusion 

We value the unique perspective a diverse workforce brings to what we do. Therefore, we’re keen to increase representation in our workforce and support progression of minority ethnic groups. We are also a proud disability confident employer. 

How we work 

We employ around 340 staff in a wide variety of roles. They work flexibly at home and in the office as well as from audit sites across Scotland. This isn’t your typical work from home or work from office type job. We’re flexible about working patterns and we’ve transformed how we deliver high-quality public audit. We support you to work in the ways that achieve the best results for you, your team and the business, including your physical location and how you manage your hours. Put simply, we trust you to do your job, and want you to have the ability to have a rewarding work-life balance and best support your individual circumstances, be that childcare, adult carer responsibilities or managing disabilities.  

We welcome applications from across the UK. Some travel to our offices or client sites will be necessary at times, but you don’t need to live in Scotland to work for us. 

Application Options

Additional Information

1. Job description/personal Specification