View Vacancy - Senior Commercial/Finance Manager (BEL23.504)

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow. The FCDO operates an agile workforce and to facilitate this, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time, as we may reasonably require.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Operations and Corporate Services)
Estates, Finance

Who are we? 

Our daily work relies on the input of dedicated individuals who engage on many different topics and activities. We seek to employ a diverse range of candidates who bring their own talents and perspectives to the role. We have a strong corporate agenda that ensures we create a positive and inclusive working environment where everyone is valued for their contribution.

The Commercial Management Team is responsible for the contract management of the UK, Europe, Berlin PFI and Asia Pacific outsourced Total Facilities Management (TFM) contracts ensuring service benefits and contractual targets are delivered to specification.

Currently we are recruiting a Senior Commercial/Finance Manager to lead, develop, motivate and manage the Commercial Management Team, manage and deliver an operational budget of circa £140 million per annum, act as a senior stakeholder manager and strategic supply chain manager across FCDO, One HMG, PAGs and the private sector supply chain. 

Main purpose of job: 

A major part of this role shall involve developing and maintaining key stakeholder relationships with FCDO head office London, Posts and Suppliers; ensure efficient funding, obtain regular updates to report actual status and financial performance to date including any potential issues and key risks. These updates shall form part of the Estate Operations / ESND monthly accounting process.  The post holder will manage a  team of specialists with responsibility for optimising the efficiency and effectiveness of the service provided, striving for continuous performance improvement, increasing value for money and providing appropriate FM performance data to Regional Posts.

As this is a global role there will be regular travel between Brussels and London, frequent travel to Estate Operations posts globally including visits to the Europe region.

The post holder will act as a member of the senior management team within Estate Operations and participate in senior activities as directed by the Head of Estate Operations & Chief Engineer, specifically in regards to contract compliance and financial governance, ensure that financial probity is maintained. 

Roles and responsibilities:

Commercial Management

  • Oversee formal commercial contract governance of the FCDO Facilities Management Contract for the Region
  • Implement and monitor change control procedures
  • Negotiate  all contract variations within the terms agreed with the FCDO FM Director
  • Track and resolve disputes/issues
  • Develop and manage supplier relationships 
  • Carry out benchmarking exercises and customer satisfaction surveys
  • Responsible for advising and supporting the FM Director on all commercial and financial issues with respect to the FM contracts
  • Monitor and report on operational delivery by contractors and suppliers

Financial Management 

  • Oversee the Estate Operations annual allocated budget and ensure accurate budget delivery in line with FCDO policy
  • Preparation and submission of annual Admin & Capital budgets
  • Monitor and consolidate Estate Operations monthly financial reports with commentary
  • Monitor Global Maintenance project funding allocations and financial performance
  • Financial compliance and assurance; ensure proper financial controls are in place and being followed
  • Oversee the processing of all contract related invoices and purchase orders
  • Prepare and submit Government Property Unit annual and other data requests
  • Analyse information to identify improvement opportunities and to address performance issues and trends, including consistency and conformance with standards, procedures and financial reporting and management

Stakeholder Management

  • Develop and maintain productive and mutually beneficial relationships with FCDO colleagues at Posts and relevant Directorates & Departments, and representatives of the One HMG Platform 
  • Establish and maintain productive and mutually beneficial relationships with private sector partners and supply chain and develop and deliver this relationship through the principles of Strategic Relationship Management 
  • Ensure that all customer/client expectations are properly managed.  Liaise with Suppliers, Local Tax Authorities, FCDO Corporate Departments, Asset management and Security; Corporate Procurement Group, Global Transaction Processing Centre, Central Finance and FCDO Services

Resource Management

  • Lead on the development, maintenance and monitoring of the global Estate Operations budgets
  • Ensure actual spend matches projected spend, analyse variations
  • Act as a senior commercial/financial advisor for Estate Operations RCMs and commercial staff 

Staff Management

  • Undertake and oversee day to day management of the global Commercial Financial and Performance team of 10 
  • Develop, motivate and lead the team to ensure that roles are clearly defined and incumbents receive appropriate training and support, and also performance feedback and development

The ideal candidate will be experienced in Financial, Commercial and Performance Management, be stakeholder smart, innovative, energetic and a self-starter. The post holder will thrive on challenge, have the drive and resilience to see a job through and deliver exceptional standards in customer service. This is a specialist role that requires professional training and qualifications and registration with a recognised professional organisation in the field of accounting, contract management, procurement  or other similar bodies


  • Full professional proficiency in English, including excellent writing skills (written and spoken, minimum of C1 level for CEFR framework*)
  • Degree in accounting and finance or equivalent
  • min. 10 years’ experience of financial, commercial/contract and performance management
  • Understanding Finance Management products / service range
  • Strong IT, analytical and financial modelling skills – complete familiarity with MS Excel
  • Strong team management and development skills
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with a strong customer focus
  • Strong organisational, analytical, project and time management skills, combining attention to detail with an ability to see the wider perspective
  • Decisive, resilient under pressure and flexible with a proven track record of delivering results to a high standard within tight deadlines
  • Ability to work with contacts and colleagues at all levels

Nice to have:     

  • Able to demonstrate a career showing continuous personal development with previous experience of managing diverse teams in multi-site, multinational environments
  • Contract management/procurement accreditation 
  • Knowledge of Hera, Planon, Pyramid and Hyperion
  • Skilled working with multiple currency accounting
  • International FM experience
  • EU procurement rules knowledge
  • VAT recovery processes
  • Knowledge of Key Property Management processes (Business Administration, HR, Finance, Quality and Health and Safety Systems)
Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Leadership, Making Effective Decisions, Seeing the Big Picture, Working Together
10 December 2023
Grade 6 (G6)
Full-time, Permanent
36.25
Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia
Belgium
Brussels
British Embassy
1
EUR
12,313.55
monthly
1 February 2024

This is a permanent full-time contract for 5 working days (36.25 hours net) per week. The monthly gross salary for this position is €  12,313.55 G6 level. In addition, we offer an extensive salary package, which includes a 13th month, luncheon vouchers, pension scheme, optional hospitalisation insurance (subject to monthly employee contribution), reimbursement of public transport and a lot more. We offer more days of annual leave than the Belgian requirements. UKMis Brussels does have the advantage of offering Time off in Lieu (TOIL) for extra time worked. UKMis Brussels also offers flexible working where possible.

Please note that Belgian nationals will be paid their salary gross and are expected to comply with their tax obligations through completion of a tax return to the Belgian authorities. Non-Belgian nationals will receive their salary net, minus the deduction of an equivalent level of Belgian tax retained at source. Further information on this will be given to candidates during the recruitment process.

Staff recruited locally by the British Diplomatic Missions in Belgium are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Belgian employment law.

The successful candidates will be subject to professional background checks and security clearance.

Passport: officers are expected to be in possession of a passport due to the possibility that they may be asked to undertake business travel.

Visa/work permit requirements: Candidates must currently hold the independent right to live and work in Belgium and be prepared to ensure that right remains throughout the scope of the contract.

Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure you meet the legal requirements to live and work in this country.

Learning & Development: 

The FCDO Learning & Development (L&D) Committee coordinates an extensive L&D programme for all staff. Its members maintain a regular drumbeat of knowledge-building activity through an annual core curriculum, and lead on organising optional in-house French classes. Our current UKMis L&D priorities are: Impactful Diplomacy and Professional Skills, and Building our Expertise on the EU and UK-EU relations. FCDO has a strong L&D culture and is committed to creating opportunities to stretch or develop particular skills for individuals, including language learning, attending conferences for professional development, and training for upskilling. Our internal L&D Committee and team leaders have an annual budget to which all colleagues can bid for funding to support their L&D activity.

Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.

We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application, since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered.

Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.

Please be advised that the British Embassy will not be able to meet the travel costs incurred when travelling to the interview, nor the costs connected with relocation if offered a position. 

*Please note for more information on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment  levels  please click on the following link CEFR.

Please bear in mind in case you are invited for an interview your language skill is going to be assessed.

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

This opportunity is closed to applications.