Head of Finance & Operations
Employer: National Biodiversity Network Trust
Location: Working from home - anywhere in the UK. The ability to travel occasionally is required, including to team meetings and Board or Committee meetings
Salary: £ 50,000
Closing date: 19/08/2026
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The National Biodiversity Network Trust is the UK charity dedicated to making biodiversity data accessible and useful. We co-ordinate the National Biodiversity Network, develop the NBN Atlas, support iNaturalistUK and are developing the NBN Record Manager. Our work connects biological recording, digital infrastructure and better decisions for nature across the UK.
Our vision is Nature thriving everywhere, in all its diversity.
Our mission is Making data work for nature.
This is a senior and pivotal role. The Head of Finance & Operations is the Chief Executive Officer’s trusted strategic and operational partner on finance, governance, people systems, risk and organisational operations. They provide calm judgement, clear information, early warning and reliable follow-through. The role will turn strategy into affordable and deliverable plans, protect the Trust’s financial resilience, and ensure that its core systems and controls enable colleagues to do their best work. They will combine strategic leadership with a willingness to engage in the practical detail when needed.
Strong charity finance leadership is the technical core of the job. The role will lead through a capable specialist team and external advisers. They are not expected to be the technical specialist in every operational discipline, but must ask the right questions, exercise sound judgement and ensure that advice is acted upon.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic leadership and partnership with the CEO
Serve as a core member of the Senior Leadership Team, sharing collective responsibility for organisational strategy, performance, culture and risk.
Act as a trusted sounding board for the CEO, offering candid, evidence-based advice, constructive challenge, and practical options across strategic and operational matters.
Translate strategy, funding assumptions, and Board decisions into an integrated annual business plan, budget, workforce plan and operating priorities.
Lead organisational improvement across the Trust and take delegated responsibility for agreed corporate matters, ensuring decisions and actions are owned and followed through.
Promote a culture of accountability, inclusion, learning and continuous improvement.
Finance & Financial Sustainability
Lead and continuously strengthen the finance function, ensuring accurate records, effective systems, clear management information and proportionate controls.
Develop a longer-term financial strategy and lead annual budgeting, management accounts, cashflow forecasting and scenario modelling.
Provide the CEO, Senior Leadership Team, Finance and Audit Committee, and Board with concise, decision-ready financial reporting, advice, and early escalation of material issues.
Safeguard liquidity and reserves, oversee banking, and maintain clear advice on going concern, financial risk, and decision points.
Oversee the financial management and costing of grants, contracts and projects, ensuring full cost recovery, funder compliance and accurate reporting.
Oversee day-to-day finance operations and ensure budget holders understand their responsibilities and receive clear information and advice.
Lead the annual audit, statutory accounts process and contribute to the Trustees’ Annual Report.
Governance, Risk & Compliance
Oversee the annual governance and company secretarial cycle, working with the CEO, Chair, Committee Chairs, and Governance and Executive Support Officer to ensure effective meetings, clear and timely papers, tracked actions, maintained registers, and accurate statutory filings.
Maintain the Trust’s risk and assurance framework, ensuring clear ownership, effective controls, appropriate escalation, and proportionate reporting to Committees and the Board.
Oversee compliance with relevant legal, regulatory, and policy requirements, including charity and company law, Charity SORP, the Articles of Association, Rules and Standing Orders, Policy Framework, and delegated authorities, obtaining specialist advice where required.
Ensure that material contracts, grants, memoranda of agreement, procurement decisions, and other commitments are appropriately reviewed, approved, recorded and monitored.
Operations, systems and organisational resilience
Ensure core services, policies, systems, and processes are proportionate, consistently used, and continually improved through appropriate technology and automation.
Oversee corporate information and records management, data protection, business software, licences, asset records, procurement, suppliers, and contract management.
Maintain assurance over corporate IT and cybersecurity, working closely with the Trust’s technology leadership and external providers.
Oversee remote-working arrangements, health and safety, insurance, business continuity, and corporate incident response.
Team and organisational leadership
Lead, line manage, and develop the Finance and Operations team (currently four members of staff), setting clear objectives, standards, and priorities.
Handle confidential information with discretion and model the Trust’s values in decisions, relationships, and conduct.
Contribute actively to team meetings, learning, cross-Trust work, and the annual NBN Conference and Strategy Workshops.
Undertake other duties reasonably consistent with the seniority and purpose of the role.
General Responsibilities
Attend any required learning and development opportunities.
Collaborate effectively with other departments.
Contribute to a respectful and inclusive working environment.
Ensure commitment to continuous professional development.
Follow organisational policies including Health & Safety, Cybersecurity, IT, Finance, and EDI.
The ability to travel occasionally is required, including to team meetings and Board or Committee meetings.
These are the criteria we will be looking for in your application. If you don’t meet all of them in full, but can offer something else that would help you excel in the role, we’d still encourage you to apply.
Essential criteria
Qualified accountant and member of a recognised professional accountancy body, such as ICAEW, ICAS, ACCA, CIMA or CIPFA, or an equivalent body.
Senior responsibility for the finance function of a charity or a comparable organisation with multiple income streams, including restricted funding.
Strong practical experience of budgets, management accounts, cashflow forecasting, scenario modelling, year-end accounts, audit, and statutory reporting.
Sound knowledge of charity accounting, Charity SORP, financial controls, reserves, and the responsibilities of trustees and senior leaders.
Experience of grant, contract, or project finance, funder conditions and reporting, cost allocation, and full cost recovery.
Experience preparing and presenting clear financial and operational information to Boards and senior colleagues, explaining complex issues in plain language and offering constructive challenge.
Experience leading and developing a small team, including setting priorities, managing performance, and building resilience.
Experience overseeing core operational disciplines such as governance, HR, risk, compliance, information management, IT or data protection, with the judgement to use specialist advice appropriately.
Strong digital skills and a record of improving finance and business systems, controls and processes without unnecessary complexity.
Strong analytical ability, attention to detail, and the capacity to prioritise strategically important matters while remaining willing to work hands-on.
High integrity, discretion and emotional judgement when handling sensitive, confidential, or high-pressure matters.
Confidence working independently and collaboratively in a fully remote organisation.
A clear commitment to the NBN Trust’s purpose, values, equality, inclusion, and staff wellbeing.
Desirable criteria
Experience as the most senior finance professional in a small or medium sized charity, with organisation wide responsibility for financial leadership, management, and assurance.
Experience of a charity trading subsidiary, commercial income, VAT, tax, or investment management.
Experience of company secretarial work, governance cycles, Board development, or organisational risk management.
Experience overseeing HR and people systems or complex employee relations.
Experience leading through organisational growth, change, or financial uncertainty.
An interest in biodiversity, environmental data, digital infrastructure, or the work of the National Biodiversity Network.
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