Financial Advisor in Canberra

Defence is seeking outstanding advisors to undertake Finance Business Partnering roles to deliver and support financial outcomes across Defence. Defence Finance Group (DFG) leads financial operations, management and performance, delivering financial support to projects and capability, management and business partnering services.

Your role is to undertake financial analysis in support of finance business partnering for Air, Joint and Land Branch and Maritime and Munitions Branch, which sit within the Financial Performance and Management (FP&M) Division in DFG. As an APS 6 Financial Advisor you will combine your passion for finance with your stakeholder engagement skills. You will have an ability to analyse and interpret financial information, and be able to explain your findings to those with a non-financial background. You will undertake budget and management reporting, as well as assisting stakeholders to undertake financial tasks. You will work with others across the Group to understand issues, analyse financial results and communicate your findings to support enterprise wide decision making.

The role of DFG is to provide the full range of financial advice, services and systems to the Defence Portfolio. DFG consists of two Divisions, FP&M Division and Budgets and Financial Services (B&FS) Division. FP&M Division provides client facing finance partners across the country working closely with Defence Groups and Services to deliver management accounting, advice and support. B&FS Division delivers the full range of central financial functions including Commonwealth and internal budgeting, statutory financial requirements, financial systems, operations and policies.

With a growing team of over 700 people spread across Australia, with significant offices in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney, DFG is the largest finance function in the Commonwealth. We can offer a significant depth of career opportunities for finance professionals, accountants, financial systems experts and financial policy specialists. DFG manages over $50 Billion in funding, which equates to a budget of over $100 million per day, with a huge variety of large complex projects running in parallel. The breadth of technical challenges and opportunities to develop and grow your experience and leadership capabilities are second to none. Career development and movement is actively encouraged with a huge variety of subject matter areas to choose from. DFG encourages you to “choose your own career adventure”, progressively building your capabilities by moving through an enormously diverse organisation, under the stability of the one employer.

DFG has been undertaking an expansive reform journey to ensure we are a trusted and professional business partner, delivering financial insight to inform decision-making across Defence. DFG works as one cohesive unit with a structure now harmonised with most other Commonwealth agencies. We are a large team that is actively sharing ideas and collaborating across an enormously diverse business. As we enter the next exciting phase of our reform including major investment in systems and automation, as well as process and policy reform, we are looking for new talent from the private and public sector with fresh ways of thinking to join our rejuvenated culture.

Our ideal candidate will have commenced a career in accounting/finance in the private or public sectors with a range of skills transferable to Defence, including the ability to undertake complex work under limited direction, set priorities and manage workflows. You will have strong communication skills and stakeholder engagement capabilities, and are naturally suited to explaining financial information to a broad range of stakeholders. You enjoy learning about the people and business areas you support, and like to help your clients solve problems. You possess a positive “can-do” attitude along with great attention to detail and organisation. You take initiative. You have a willingness to learn, an excellent work ethic and strong resolution skills. You cope well with change and are excited to drive ongoing process improvement.

Other competencies we are targeting include:

• Effective leadership with a focus on team cohesion, ensuring quality outputs and implementing work plans.
• Improvement focus, strong results orientation, and seeks to add value through improving processes and systems.
• Ability to exercise initiative and judgement whilst providing accurate and specialised advice.
• Strong problem-solving skills and an analytical approach with conceptual capabilities and flexible approach.
• Ability to influence with strong written and verbal communication across a broad variety of stakeholders.

Defence specific training will be provided to the successful candidate to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to undertake the role effectively.