Finance Director

Finance Director 

Leeds

c.£70,000

Opera North creates produces and champions world class, innovative and progressive opera, music and arts education programmes, and aspires to provide transformative experiences for audiences, for the communities of which it is part, for the children it educates, and for the next generation of artistic talent.

They are an award winning national company based in Leeds, rooted in the North but international in outlook, bringing significant social and economic capital to the city and region. Next year they will celebrate their 40th Anniversary, and continued success in building diverse audiences and widening participation in opera, music and the arts.

With turnover of circa £17m, the company's business model relies on striking a balance between significant public sector funding (currently 65%) and the remainder, coming from box office and contributed income, making Opera North the largest funded organisation in England permanently based outside London.

Due to the upcoming departure of Opera North's longstanding finance director, there is now an opportunity for a talented and charismatic finance professional to join this hugely respected and successful Opera company.

The Role

• To lead a high quality financial service to the general director, board of trustees and senior management team, providing strategic leadership on all matters relating to financial management and control, statutory reporting and internal and external audit.
• To work with colleagues to devise sustainable and viable financial strategies to deliver the aims and priorities of Opera North and affiliated organisations.
• To ensure the efficient, complain and effective administration and control of all aspects of the company's accounts and financial affairs.

The Candidate

• A confident qualified accountant with significant experience in progressive financial roles as a senior manager or director with strong leadership skills and a proven track record of motivating and developing high performing teams.
• A strong relationship builder with the ability to influence and deal with people at all levels of an organisation, communicating complex financial concepts in simple and understandable terms.
• Financially savvy and diplomatic, with experience of preparing and presenting papers at board level.
• Experience of working in a creative or cultural environment would be highly desirable as would an interest and empathy in Opera and the performing Arts.

Closing date for applications: Tuesday 13^th March