Finance Manager

Ready to combine your financial expertise with your passion for leading people? 

The Scottish Public Pensions Agency is an Agency of the Scottish Government.  Our principal role is to administer the pensions for employees in the National Health Service, Teachers’, Police and Fire-fighters’ pension schemes in Scotland. The Agency administers these public service pension schemes on behalf of Scottish Ministers to over 640,000 members with annual payments of over £3.7 billion, together with the related agency administration expenditure of c. £31 million.

As Assistant Finance Manager, you will play a key role in supporting Financial Operations, having management responsibility for financial reporting, treasury management, and ongoing engagement with key stakeholders.

The role involves applying financial expertise, management skills, and a strong understanding of departmental objectives to ensure efficient processes, alignment with organisational standards, and delivery of value-for-money outcomes.

Responsibilities:

• Manage service delivery and monitor continuation of service.
• Becoming an expert in their own work area, providing advice to business units on financial processes and in specific end to end processes.
• Responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of data in the finance system, ensuring that financial procedures are fully documented and up to date.
• Overseeing audit requests and providing prompt responses to PQs and FOIs.
• Supporting the ongoing provision of transaction processing services, including Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Cash Management.
• Identify potential improvements to finance processes with a particular focus on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of financial operations.
• Review non-compliance and monitoring performance.

Success Profile

Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience, and behaviours candidates will be assessed on.

Qualifications

You should hold or be working towards a Level 4 qualification (AAT, CCAB, CIMA or equivalent) OR have relevant financial experience.

Professional/Technical Skills:

1. Business process improvement - Practitioner

This involves analysing and modifying existing and new processes to make them more efficient identifying how technology can be used. 

2. Interrogation of finance systems – Practitioner

Connecting finance information together from one or more systems/sources in a logical way in preparation for analysis and interpretation. Working with stakeholders to ensure relevancy of data to support insight driven finance decisions. 

Practitioner - Strong understanding of the topic with regular use in role/moderate prior experience.

Behaviours:

• Lead Criteria: Delivering at Pace (Level 3)
• Leadership (Level 3)
• Making Effective Decisions (Level 3)

You can find out more about Success Profiles, here: Success profiles: candidate guide - gov.scot

How To Apply

Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement of no more than 1500 words which provides evidence of how you meet the skills, experience and behaviours listed in the Success Profile above.

Candidates will have their applications assessed against all criteria. If a large number of applications are received an initial sift will be conducted on the Lead Criteria highlighted above. Candidates who pass the initial sift will have their applications fully assessed against all remaining criteria.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.  

Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.

If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation.

Assessments are scheduled for January/February 2026 however this may be subject to change.

About Us

The Scottish Public Pensions Agency is an Agency of the Scottish Government. Our principal role is to administer the pensions for employees in the National Health Service, Teachers’, Police and Fire-fighters’ pension schemes in Scotland for over 500,000 key workers. The Agency administers these public service pension schemes on behalf of Scottish Ministers with an annual pension spend to over 200,000 pensioners to the value of more than £2.5 billion. 

SPPA Careers | SPPA (pensions.gov.scot) 

Civil Service Nationality Rules 

Working Pattern

Our standard hours are 35 hours per week.  We offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options, with two days minimum working on site at SPPA. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us.

Security Checks

Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).

You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website, or read about the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide. 

Equality Statement

We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation. 

Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.

Further Information

Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website.

Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.

We will hold a reserve list for 12 months.

Apply Before: 12th January 2026 at 23:59.