Senior Process Owner – Project Accounting


Company:	Government Recruitment Service
Salary:	£67,730 - £81,535
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	Bristol
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	18 Aug 2026
Closing date:	6 Sept 2026

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Summary

This is a high-impact role for an experienced finance transformation or project accounting leader who can combine technical credibility with strong change leadership. Sitting within the Finance Change & Transformation Team in Defra group Finance, the postholder will lead the design and adoption of a single, standardised Project Accounting model across Defra and its Arms’ Length Bodies, helping to improve financial control, comparability and decision-making as part of the move to the Synergy ERP platform.

The role is central to modernising how project and programme finance is managed across the group. It will suit someone with a track record of leading end-to-end process design, shaping business change in complex environments, and bringing stakeholders together around a common way of working.

The Finance Change & Transformation Team is leading Defra group Finance’s journey to become a modern, efficient and future-ready service, including preparing for the rollout of the Synergy Enterprise Resource Planning solution from 2028.

As the Senior Process Owner for Project Accounting, you will own the end-to-end process across all participating organisations, setting the future design for how project and programme costs, budgets, forecasts, income and reporting are managed. You will ensure the model is standardised, practical and fit for a multi-organisation environment, with clear controls, strong data foundations and better insight for decision-makers.

This is an opportunity to shape a critical part of Defra’s finance transformation at scale. You will work across Core Defra and its Arms’ Length Bodies, influencing senior leaders, finance professionals project and delivery teams to move toward a common way of working ahead of ERP implementation. The role combines strategic design, practical problem-solving and visible leadership in a complex and high-profile change programme.

You will lead a small team of around 5–6 subject matter experts and change specialists, working in a collaborative, matrixed way across policy, finance, digital and programme teams. The role is expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy, balancing strategic leadership with hands-on engagement to drive readiness, resolve design issues and maintain delivery momentum.

Lead the design and implementation of the future Project Accounting model and ERP project ledger, aligning business requirements with system capability.
Set standards for process, policy, controls, data and coding structures to support consistent financial management and reporting.
Lead cross-functional design decisions and integration with related processes such as procurement, assets, grants and the general ledger.
Build and lead strong networks across Defra group to co-design, test and embed the target operating model.
Drive business readiness, stakeholder engagement and adoption so that the new model is understood, accepted and used consistently.
Provide senior leadership and clear decision-making on scope, priorities, risks and trade-offs across the process area.
Oversee risks and dependencies relating to data quality, migration, controls and organisational readiness for ERP go-live.

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