The Royal Pavilion & Museums, currently a service within Brighton & Hove City Council, will become an Independent Charitable Trust on 1 April 2020. The Finance Director will work closely with the Executive team to take the lead in financial performance management for the charity and ensure a model of long-term financial sustainability is implemented.

About the role

The Royal Pavilion & Museums (RPM) comprises the Royal Pavilion and Garden along with Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, the Booth Museum of Natural History, Hove Museum & Art Gallery and Preston Manor and its significant and wide-ranging collections. The RPM museums and collections are of international and national reputation and importance, and are treasured by visitors to the region as well as local communities.

This is an exciting opportunity to be involved in shaping the future for this new independent Trust and to be associated with one of the UK’s most iconic heritage sites as well as Brighton’s extraordinary portfolio of museums and their collections.

This is an ideal position for someone with a significant amount of experience in a senior  finance role in a charity who is looking for the opportunity to use their skills and experience to help shape the strategic direction of a newly formed organisation and innovate to build a exceptional financial management system to support the RPM's Charitable objectives.

The Finance Director is a new post and will be a member of the Executive team. The purpose of the role is to

• lead on setting the financial strategy for the charity to enable it to achieve it’s mission
• provide timely and user-friendly management information
• increase financial awareness across the organisation
• ensure a comprehensive control environment through managing and monitoring the integrity of the Royal Pavilion & Museum’s Trust budgetary and accounting framework.

The ideal candidate will have

• a professional finance qualification and working up-to-date knowledge of the statutory framework of accounting requirements and other legislation, guidance and initiatives that impact on the financial integrity of the charity
• experience of successfully developing and implementing corporate accounting standards and new initiatives to improve financial management and control
• experience of providing Company Secretary responsibilities ensuring all statutory returns and regular reporting are completed accurately and on time, and compliance with financial laws, regulations and obligations
• experience of working in an Arts/ Museums/Heritage Charity where development income (donation, sponsorship etc.) forms an important income stream
• sound communication and influencing skills, including the ability to explain financial information to staff at all levels internally and externally including senior managers, non-financial specialists

This role is based on the Royal Pavilion Estate in the centre of Brighton but will occasionally require travel throughout the Brighton and Hove geographical area.

For an informal discussion, please contact Abigail Thomas - Head of Enterprise & Business Systems on 01273 292828.

For more information and how to apply please visit https://new.brighton-hove.gov.uk/jobs/job-details?job_id=5638