Director of Strategic Finance & Performance

Director of Strategic Finance and Performance

Reports to: Chief Financial Officer
Directorate: Finance, Governance & Assurance
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time, 35 hours per week
Location: Stratford, London. Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office)
Closing date: 27 October 2026

Visa sponsorship: Cancer Research UK can consider visa sponsorship for this vacancy. If this applies to you, please ensure that this is clearly marked on your application.

Recruitment Process: 2 stage interview process with additional assessment/testing.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

This is a rare opportunity to join one of the UK's largest charities in a critical strategic leadership role. As our Director of Strategic Finance and Performance, you'll help shape the long-term future of Cancer Research UK, partnering with the Chief Financial Officer, Executive Board and Trustees to ensure we remain financially sustainable while maximising our impact for people affected by cancer.

Leading strategic finance, financial planning and analysis, and business partnering teams, you'll provide the insight, challenge and foresight needed to support major organisational decisions. From large-scale transformation programmes and investment decisions to long-term financial planning and resource allocation, you'll play a central role in helping Cancer Research UK achieve its ambitions over the next decade and beyond.

What will I be doing?

·       Leading the organisation's long-term, medium-term and annual financial planning, forecasting and budgeting processes.

·       Providing strategic financial insight, challenge and decision support to the Executive Board, Trustees and senior leaders.

·       Driving organisation-wide resource allocation and investment prioritisation to ensure funding is aligned to strategic objectives and long-term impact.

·       Leading high-performing Strategic Finance, Finance Business Partnering and FP&A teams, developing capability and organisational financial acumen.

·       Supporting major transformation programmes through investment appraisal, scenario modelling and financial leadership.

·       Championing the use of data, analytics, technology and continuous improvement to strengthen forecasting, planning and organisational performance.

What are we looking for?

·       A qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent) with significant senior finance leadership experience.

·       Proven success operating within a large, complex organisation with income or turnover in excess of £500m and influencing strategic decisions at executive and board level.

·       Experience presenting to Boards, Committees, Trustees or equivalent senior stakeholder groups, providing credible challenge and advice.

·       A strong track record of leading large-scale organisational transformation programmes and enabling change through finance leadership.

·       Significant experience across strategic finance, FP&A, business partnering and organisational performance management.

·       Ideally, experience within the charity, healthcare, research or wider not-for-profit sectors, although we welcome applications from candidates with transferable experience from similarly complex organisations.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We’re looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we’d still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact recruitment@cancer.org.uk or 020 3469 8400 as soon as possible. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.