Chief Finance & Operations Officer (CFOO) – Chester Diocesan Learning Trust
Salary: £70,00 to £75,000
Start date – October 2025
You will have the expertise to be a force for improvement, the personal attributes to secure buy-in from others and a deep-rooted belief that collaboration is the cornerstone of a strong Trust.
Chester Diocesan Learning Trust (CDLT) is to be newly established from 1st October 2025 and will be a MAT consisting of 7 Church of England primary schools in Wirral and Cheshire West.
This will be the second Multi Academy Trust established by Chester Diocesan Board of Education (CDBE)
CDLT will fit into the CDBE family of schools and Trusts as a new Multi-Academy Trust on ‘majority’ Articles of Association, that will offer an additional choice to the Diocesan schools and community schools predominantly in the Wirral and Cheshire West and Chester area.
We are seeking to appoint our new Chief Finance & Operations Officer (CFOO) and are looking for a highly credible Trust leader, with deep knowledge and experience of finance & operations, who wants the challenge of helping to take our Trust forward. This will be achieved by ensuring that our children and young people receive the very best education & care, so that they achieve everything they possibly can as they move through their education into independent adult lives. We believe our Trust is at an exciting development point and has all the ingredients to be an exceptional Trust.
Our CFOO will work as part of the Trust Central Team, led by the Chief Executive Officer, providing support and advice to Headteachers who lead their school teams. At the outset the central team will be small and the CFOO will play a pivotal role in its development as the Trust grows.
The Trust believes that its staff and leaders are its most important asset and that valuing them and utilising their many talents will deliver the best experiences for pupils. Alongside this, maintaining a long-term financial stable footing, coupled with strategic delivery of operational capacity and capability, will enable this Trust to deliver on its ambitions for children and its staff. The strategic role of CFOO involves drawing out and developing all that is best within our very different schools, as we build a shared culture of excellence. Our Trust’s educational priorities are rooted in commitment to inclusive, accessible education, but they can only be delivered through highly effective collaboration.
The CFOO will work with Headteachers and leaders in our schools and across our Trust, with external business partners, and other stakeholders to drive financial efficiency and operational excellence, to support of our educational practices, in pursuit of our mission and strategic aims.
You will be empowered to make decisions and to be creative, within the framework of regulation and compliance. You will lead supportive and well-established collaborative networks in our Trust, where colleagues work together, and we learn from each other. The Trust will have a real interest in your future and will be keen to explore ways that you can develop personally and professionally.
Our Trust Board, although new in its formation is very supportive, it has many passionate and committed Trustees, from a variety of backgrounds, who support Executive and school leaders to achieve their very best.
The successful candidate will be an exemplary finance professional and operational leader, a role model with broad leadership experience, which may include working in education.
We are looking for a candidate with a proven track record of implementing sustained finance & operational improvement across several settings. You must have the ability to initiate and lead change in a positive way which makes a real difference to learning and, share each of our school’s commitment to ensuring the pupils are safe and happy and achieve their full potential. Working in a supportive Trust environment must be central to your thinking, helping school leaders to receive and give capacity to the wider network of schools.
In this establishment stage, the Trust currently has an interim CFO, so the appointee will participate in a transitional change process but will be able to shape the operational and management activities of the Trust with the CEO.
We encourage you to take an opportunity for a confidential discussion with our CEO.
Information and applications are available from sue.noakes@chester.anglican.org
Closing date: 24th June 2025
Interviews Week beginning 30th June 2025
Start date – October 2025
CDLT value equality and diversity and are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Applicants will be subject to safer recruitment practises including satisfactory references and the successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check