Lead the financial future of St Luke's Hospice, helping ensure exceptional palliative care services continue to support local families when they need them most.
St Luke’s Hospice seeks an experienced and values-driven Head of Finance to lead and develop its finance function during an important period of organisational evolution.
As a respected local charity providing specialist palliative and end-of-life care across Harrow and Brent, St Luke’s relies on strong financial leadership to support its mission and long-term sustainability.
The successful candidate will combine technical excellence with commercial awareness and compassionate leadership, ensuring robust financial stewardship while working closely with senior colleagues to help shape the future of the organisation and the services it provides to the community.
Who we are
St Luke’s provides free specialist care to around 2,000 patients annually and incurs care costs of approximately £11 million each year. It is a well-established independent charity dedicated to providing specialist palliative and end-of-life care to people living in Harrow and Brent. Its vision is a world where everyone with an incurable illness can access the care they need to live well, where families and carers receive support and where individuals can die with dignity in the place of their choice.
All services are provided free of charge, made possible through NHS funding, retail operations, fundraising activities, volunteers and the generosity of the local community. For decades, St Luke’s has been making every moment matter for patients and their loved ones throughout some of life’s most challenging circumstances.
About the role
Reporting to the Director of Finance & Commercial, the Head of Finance will play a pivotal role in strengthening the hospice’s financial operations and supporting its long-term sustainability. This is a hands-on leadership role combining technical excellence, strategic business partnering and organisational change delivery.
A particular focus of the role will be modernising finance processes and leading the implementation of a new financial accounting system, helping to improve reporting, efficiency and financial insight across the organisation.
Key responsibilities include:
- Leading the finance team and overseeing all day-to-day financial operations.
- Delivering a finance systems implementation programme and embedding new ways of working.
- Improving financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting capability.
- Developing effective business partnering relationships across the organisation.
- Ensuring strong governance, financial controls and compliance.
- Supporting strategic decision-making and organisational transformation initiatives.
Who we are looking for
We are seeking an ambitious, CCAB-qualified or qualified by experience finance professional who combines strong technical expertise with a collaborative and compassionate leadership style. You will be motivated by purpose and excited by the opportunity to use your skills to support an organisation making a genuine difference in people’s lives.
You will be equally comfortable operating strategically and managing operational detail, bringing the credibility and confidence required to influence stakeholders at all levels. Experience gained within the charity, healthcare, public sector or broader not-for-profit environment would be valuable, although charity reporting experience is essential along with an understanding of mission-led organisations.
Most importantly, you will share St Luke’s values, possess excellent communication skills, and be able to translate complex financial information into clear, practical insight. This role offers the opportunity to be a trusted adviser, influential leader and key contributor to the continued success and sustainability of a highly respected hospice.
We are particularly interested in candidates who have led finance transformation projects, including the implementation of financial reporting systems. You will have the ability to balance project delivery with day-to-day operational leadership, bringing both technical expertise and strong stakeholder management skills to ensure lasting organisational benefit.
Our ideal candidate brings:
- Outstanding financial leadership expertise, ideally with a recognised accountancy qualification or qualified by experience and a strong track record of leading finance functions, delivering robust controls, producing high-quality financial information and supporting strategic organisational decision-making.
- Exceptional business partnering capability, able to build trusted relationships across a diverse organisation, influencing both finance and non-finance stakeholders while providing clear and commercially astute financial advice.
- Strong people leadership skills with experience developing teams, creating accountability, nurturing talent and fostering a positive, collaborative and high-performing culture.
- Strategic thinking combined with operational delivery, capable of balancing long-term planning with effective management of day-to-day finance operations, systems, processes and compliance requirements.
- A genuine commitment to organisational purpose, demonstrating empathy, integrity and a desire to contribute to a charity whose work has a profound impact on patients, families, carers and the wider community.
- Proven ERP and finance systems implementation experience, with a track record of leading the selection, implementation or enhancement of financial accounting systems.
To view the role description and person specification, please go to the ‘How to Apply’ tab above, fill in your details and download the candidate pack.
For further information or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:
Louise Steer | louise@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07903 713862
St Luke’s Hospice is a registered charity in England and Wales (No. 298555).
Welcome from the Director of Finance & Commercial
Thank you for your interest in joining St Luke’s Hospice as our new Head of Finance.
This is an important appointment for St Luke’s and an exciting time to join us. We are an established and much-valued local hospice, providing specialist palliative and end-of-life care to people across Harrow and Brent, but we are also an organisation that is continuing to evolve.
Our finance function has an important role to play in that journey. We need to ensure that St Luke’s remains financially resilient and well governed while continuing to invest in the services, people and infrastructure required to meet the changing needs of our communities.
The Head of Finance will be a key member of our senior leadership team and a trusted deputy to me. This is a broad role, combining strong financial control and technical expertise with leadership, business partnering and the ability to help us deliver change. Alongside ensuring that our core financial operations are robust, the successful candidate will contribute to areas including the development of our finance systems, strengthening management information, supporting our retail and commercial activities, and ensuring that financial insight informs decision-making across the organisation.
Just as importantly, we are looking for someone who understands that strong finance is ultimately about enabling our purpose. Every decision we make must support our ability to provide high-quality, compassionate care and use the resources entrusted to us responsibly.
St Luke’s is a welcoming organisation with committed staff, volunteers and trustees who care deeply about the communities we serve. We are looking for someone who will bring expertise and challenge, but who will also work collaboratively, build strong relationships and share our commitment to making St Luke’s the best organisation it can be.
I hope the information on this site gives you a good sense of the opportunity, and I look forward to meeting you during the recruitment process.
Stewart Sether
Director of Finance & Commercial, St Luke’s Hospice
Accessibility information
We understand that different members of the community have different access needs and have made some modifications to the way we do business to accommodate people from diverse communities and abilities.
We offer the following amenities:
- Step free access to the building, all key meeting rooms and bathrooms, and an accessible workstation
- Accessibility dogs are welcome
- Papers and materials can be presented in different formats
- Working patterns and locations can be adjusted
To arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:
Louise Steer | louise@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07903 713862
Thank you for your interest in this role. Please download the Role Description and Person Specification.
To formally apply, please submit a CV and supporting statement (ideally maximum 2 sides of A4 each) that clearly outlines your suitability for the role against the criteria provided in the person specification, including your interest and motivation in applying for this position.
Please include your home address, contact email and mobile.
Please ensure that your application is emailed to response@peridotpartners.co.uk, inserting “Application: St Luke’s Hospice —Head of Finance” into the subject field. You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt within 2-3 days. If you do not receive an acknowledgement, please contact our admin team.
For further information or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:
Louise Steer | louise@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07903 713862
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Timetable
Closing date: 9 a.m. Wednesday 14th October 2026
Candidates informed of outcome: Friday 16th October 2026
First stage interviews (remote): Thursday 22nd October 2026
Second stage interviews: Wednesday 4th November 2026
Equal Opportunities Monitoring
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