Chief Finance & Operations Officer (CFOO) – Forward Education Trust
WMJobs Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
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Chief Finance & Operations Officer (CFOO) – Forward Education Trust
WMJobs Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
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Join to apply for the Chief Finance & Operations Officer (CFOO) – Forward Education Trust role at WMJobs
Forward Education Trust,
Chief Finance & Operations Officer (CFOO) – Forward Education Trust
Salary:Grade J Points 74 to 81 £73,820 to £84,491 (as at 31st March 2025)
Pay award pending as at 1st April 2025
Start date – as soon as possible – or September 2025
You will have the expertise to be a force for improvement, the personal attributes to secure buy-in from others and a deep-rooted belief that collaboration is the cornerstone of a strong trust.
Forward Education Trust (FET) is an established and developing MAT of 7 special schools in Birmingham, Solihull and Sandwell. We are seeking to appoint our new Chief Finance & Operations Officer (CFOO) and are looking for a highly credible trust leader, with deep knowledge and experience of finance & operations, who wants the challenge of helping to take our Trust forward, by ensuring that our children and young people receive the very best education & care, so that they achieve everything they possibly can as they move through their education into independent adult lives. We believe our Trust is at an exciting inflection point. We have all the ingredients to be an exceptional Trust.
Our CFOO will work as part of the Trust Executive Team, led by the Chief Executive Officer, Simon Dilkes. Recently appointed Director of Education, Leanne Mahony drives education and school improvement, alongside Emma Arnott, Director of Governance & Development, who within her portfolio delivers improvements around quality assurance, risk management, staff development and governance.
Being one of four Executive Leaders places a significant importance on the role of CFOO. Executive Leaders work with a Trust Central team, providing support and advice to Headteachers who lead their school teams.
The Trust believes that its staff and leaders are its most important asset and that valuing them and utilising their many talents will deliver the best experiences for pupils. Alongside this, maintaining a long-term financial stable footing, coupled with strategic delivery of operational capacity and capability, will enable this Trust deliver on its ambitions for children and its staff.
The strategic role of CFOO involves drawing out and developing all that is best within our very different schools, as we build a shared culture of excellence. Our Trust’s educational priorities are rooted in commitment to inclusive, accessible education, but they can only be delivered through highly effective collaboration.
The CFOO will work with Headteachers and leaders in our schools and across our Trust, with external business partners, and other stakeholders to drive financial efficiency and operational excellence, to support of our educational practices, in pursuit of our mission and strategic aims.
You will be empowered to make decisions and to be creative, within the framework of regulation and compliance. You will lead supportive and well-established collaborative networks in our Trust, where colleagues work together, and we learn from each other. The Trust will have a real interest in your future and will be keen to explore ways that you can develop personally and professionally. Our Trust Board is very supportive, it has many passionate and committed trustees, from a variety of backgrounds, who support Executive and school leaders to achieve their very best.
The successful candidate will be an exemplary finance professional and operational leader, a role model with broad leadership experience, which may include working in special education. We are looking for a candidate with a proven track record of implementing sustained finance & operational improvement across several settings. You must have the ability to initiate and lead change in a positive way which makes a real difference to learning and, share each of our school’s commitment to ensuring the students are safe and happy and achieve their full potential. Working in a supportive Trust environment must be central to your thinking, helping school leaders to receive and give capacity to the wider network of schools.
The Trust currently has an off-payroll CFO, so the appointee will participate in a transitional change process. The Trust currently outsources its finance operations to SAAF Education, we expect this arrangement to be in place for at least the next 12 months. So the appointee must be confident working with remote employees, as well as offering change management skills should the future dictate that we have our own on-site finance team.
We encourage you to take an opportunity for a confidential discussion with our CEO. We would welcome a visit to any of our schools, as this will give you a good impression of our Trust. If you would like to contact the Trust, our Trust Senior administrator Bally Supra will be delighted to help, call her on 0121 809 1510 or email b.supra@fet.ac Applications are to be completed only via the Forward Education Trust Applicant’s website.
Closing date: 19th June 2025 @ 23:59PM
Interviews: 1st July 2025
Start date – as soon as possible or September 2025
Forward Education Trust value equality and diversity and are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Applicants will be subject to safer recruitment practises including satisfactory references and the successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.
The Trust may review applications upon receipt and may call applicants for interview prior to the advert closing date.
Therefore, you are encouraged to make an early application for this role and we reserve the right to close the vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date.
Please note that only fully completed Forward Education Trust Application forms will be accepted; we will not read accompanying Curriculum Vitae (CV) or accept them in place of an application form.
If you do not hear from the school within 14 days of the closing date, please assume that your application has not been shortlisted. The successful applicants will require an enhanced DBS check and will be subject to relevant pre-employment checks.
This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020.
This post is covered by Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) and therefore the ability to speak fluent spoken English is an essential requirement for this role.
Forward Education Trust is committed to the safeguarding and welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate must promote this ethos.
Seniority level
* Seniority level
Executive
Employment type
* Employment type
Full-time
Job function
* Job function
Finance, Accounting/Auditing, and General Business
* Industries
Human Resources Services
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