Essential Criteria
The successful candidate will bring:
- Substantial executive leadership experience in a large, complex organisation, with experience of leading a broad, multidisciplinary portfolio incorporating several of the following:
- Strategy and impact.
- Finance, legal, procurement and properties.
- Organisational design and development.
- Equity, diversity and inclusion.
- People / human resources.
We expect successful candidates to have deeper expertise in some of these areas than others. What matters is the ability to lead strong specialists, connect their work and exercise sound judgement across the whole portfolio.
- Experience of acting as a senior strategic partner to a CEO, Board and wider Executive team, bringing sound judgement, organisational grip and the ability to lead across a broad enterprise agenda.
- Strong strategic financial capability at organisational level, including an understanding of business models, financial sustainability, strategic resource allocation, investment choices, risk management, governance, controls and value for money. A professional accountancy qualification is not required.
- A strong strategic thinker with a practical systems approach and the ability to lead across a complex, federated, networked or multi-stakeholder environment where progress depends on influence, alignment and shared ownership.
- A track record of translating strategic ambition into clear choices, realistic priorities and effective delivery, including making well-judged decisions where evidence or information is incomplete.
- Experience of leading significant organisational change and, importantly, embedding that change into everyday behaviours, processes, accountabilities and ways of working.
- Credibility in senior people, culture and organisational leadership, with an understanding of the leadership, workforce, culture, change and learning capabilities required for a major organisation to deliver its strategy.
- Demonstrable commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice at a system level, with the ability to understand and work within Citizens’ Advice’s approach to EDI and to embed equity into organisational decision-making, leadership, culture, practice and outcomes for the people and communities we serve.
- Strong organisational judgement, with the ability to connect strategy, finance, people, culture, risk, governance and delivery and make sensible trade-offs across competing priorities.
- Exceptional emotional intelligence and relational leadership skills. The successful candidate will be able to read people and situations well, build trust, influence senior stakeholders and work constructively with people whose expertise and perspectives differ from their own.
- The judgement to know when to challenge, when to listen, when to build consensus, when to compromise and when a decision needs to be made.
- The confidence and humility to lead experienced Directors and professional specialists without becoming unnecessarily drawn into operational or functional detail.
- The ability to bring clarity, confidence, pace and discipline to complexity without creating further complexity in the process.
- Excellent strategic communication skills, with the ability to articulate a clear organisational narrative, explain difficult choices and build shared commitment across a large and diverse service.
- A track record of building and leading high-performing, diverse teams and creating an inclusive culture in which people understand both their contribution and their accountability.
Desirable Criteria
We are deliberately open-minded about sector background. Experience of working in a charity, public service, membership, federated, social impact or other purpose-led environment may be useful, but is not a requirement.
Of greater importance is the ability to understand quickly how a different organisational system works, adapt leadership style accordingly and make progress through influence as well as formal authority.
Citizens Advice is committed to providing equitable opportunities for everyone. They acknowledge that people from certain backgrounds are under-represented within the third sector and are committed to doing what they can to correct this. They especially welcome applications from people whose perspective strengthens their services and keeps their work authentic, informed, and impactful.