Finance Systems Team Lead

Role Purpose

A vacancy has arisen as Team Leader within the Global Finance Systems department.

The successful candidate will manage and lead a team of Finance Support Analysts.

The Finance Systems team leader will assess performance, manage workloads, manage training requirements, to motivate and assist. The individuals will act as subject matter expert and champion knowledge sharing of that throughout the Global Finance Systems department and beyond.

The team’s primary focus is the firm’s practice management system (PMS) Elite 3e, time recording system Intapp Time Cloud, expense recording system Emburse (formerly Chrome River Expense), and reporting systems (including Workday Adaptive Planning) for which it operates a helpdesk supporting back office operational users through to fee earners on a worldwide basis, offering advice, support and solutions to queries.

The team also support on analysing and delivering technical changes to the business, ranging from minor application changes to more substantial projects such as core application upgrades or implementations. They may also be required to act as Finance Systems SMEs contributing to the Firm’s other strategic initiatives.

The Finance Systems team leader will manage the day to day running of this helpdesk, organising the team and escalating concerns and issues to the Finance Systems Manager.

Key Responsibilities and Deliverables

• Manage a team of analysts providing support to a variety of user issues via email, ServiceNow, visit or phone call, providing solutions and escalating where required to provide an effective and intelligent helpdesk facility, delivering high service levels at all times.

• Provide encouragement and leadership to a junior team, including communication of team goals and identifying areas for new training or skill checks.

• Administer the call logging and change control system and ensure that knowledge is documented and spread amongst the team.

• Manage the flow of day-to-day workload and operations and ensure that the team and the helpdesk adhere to the consistently high standards expected at Freshfields.

• Assist management with recruitment and new team member training.

• Communication of deadlines and KPIs to team members.

• Help to develop processes to ensure firm policies and governance are adhered to, critique existing processes with a view to continuously improve these.

• Conduct team meetings to ensure the team is kept up to date on the wider picture and performs as a cohesive unit.

• Generate and share comprehensive and detailed reports about team performance, objectives, deadlines and ticket handling statistics.

• Provide quality customer service, including interacting with customers, answering customer queries and effectively handling customer complaints.

• Provide ad-hoc business, technical and analytical help to users of the finance systems.

• Act as intermediary between the finance support and IT technical support, providing technical and process advice with regards to all the global and UK-based finance support IT systems.

• Liaise directly with the PMS third party suppliers documenting and implementing fixes as appropriate.

• Aid in the implementation of new upgrades, functionality, and system wide changes, from a finance support perspective.

• Work closely with the development teams and third-party providers, feeding back issues and defects discovered through testing and coordinating their resolution.

• Contributing to, and participating in, the build and release management process with development teams.

• Providing immediate solutions to user issues and escalating complex queries to the rest of the team.

• Aiding in the design, testing and rollout of new reports, systems and interfaces.

• Involvement in other related projects that the wider team are undertaking.

Key Requirements

Essential

Financial skills including:

• Experience of financial systems administration of a Legal Practice Management System,  preferably Elite 3e.

• Understanding of the finance functions processes and revenue recording systems

• Proven ability to comprehend financial terminology

• Previous experience of management information systems

• Ability to investigate and explain the causality of figures reported.

Systems skills including

• Knowledge of SQL and the ability to combine results with other sources.

• Advanced level Excel (pivot tables, vlookups, complex formulae).

• Intimate knowledge of technical aspects of a practice management system

• Be able to communicate confidently with internal IT and external suppliers on technical issues.

• Experience of Elite 3e Practice Management Systems.

People Management Skills

• Ability to inspire and guide team members towards achieving strategic goals and fostering a culture of excellence.

• Experience in setting performance standards, providing constructive feedback, and conducting performance reviews to drive continuous improvement.

• Commitment to mentoring and developing team members’ skills through training, coaching, and career development opportunities.

Task Management & Presentation Skills 

• Good listening skills, empathy, and a structured, open minded approach to solving problems.

• Self-motivated with the ability, and resilience, to drive projects to their completion. 

• Ability to operate autonomously throughout the project life cycle through to delivery. 

• Enthusiastic and focused. 

• Ability to prioritise and work to tight deadlines. 

• Ability to multitask and manage multiple projects. 

• Confident, able to lead meetings and projects. 

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with confidence and ability to deal with partners, senior lawyers and staff at all levels. 

• The ability to simplify explanations and inspire confidence. 

• Proven organisational skills and attention to detail. 

• A flexible attitude to tasks and to clients. 

• Experience of working in a legal or professional services firm. 

• Team player – reliable, flexible and willing to help. 

• Strong analytical capability able to rapidly understand the root cause of issues to resolve. 

Desirable

• Project management skills,

• Business Analysis skills,

• Knowledge of servers and database structures.

• Previous use of an OLAP analysis tool along the lines of Power BI.

• Accounting training or qualification is advantageous. 

Freshfields Overview

Freshfields is a major international law firm, providing business law advice of the highest quality. We want to be the law firm that clients turn to for legal advice where it most matters, wherever in the world that may be. The Firm has over 2,400 lawyers in 28 offices around the world, providing a comprehensive service to national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments.

Our people make our firm - we are a people business and want to create a welcoming and supportive environment where all can flourish. We see diversity as a strength which creates fresh perspectives and generates new ideas. We enjoy our work and are determined to do an outstanding job. We deliver best when working in teams. Our culture is a product of the combined mindsets and behaviours of our people which is through the Being Freshfields principles, outlined below:

• we show respect to everyone

• we are there for one another

• we are open with each other

• we are positive role models

We think and work globally - we don’t just say we are one firm; we act like one firm right across the world. We work wherever our clients need us. This is how we define ourselves, not by reference to where we have offices. Cross-border work isn’t just what we do, it is what we excel at. We understand what it really takes to work across different legal systems and commercial environments and to bridge language and cultural gaps.

We aim to add value in everything we do - we are passionate about helping our clients succeed. We use our experience and creativity to help clients make judgements and achieve their goals. In everything we do, we seek to make a real difference to the communities in which we operate.

Freshfields is committed to promoting equality and diversity and to developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds make important and positive contributions to our business and how we service our clients.

Inclusion

Freshfields is an equal opportunities employer and all applications received by the firm will be considered by the firm on the basis of their merit alone and we welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals regardless of background. All offers of employment will be conditional on the candidate having/securing the right to work in the UK and providing the firm with evidence of that right (as required by the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006) prior to employment commencing.

Freshfields is a Ban the Box employer. We ask applicants to disclose criminal convictions only when a conditional job offer is made. A conviction does not automatically lead to withdrawal of the offer: we make decisions on a case by case basis and take a number of factors into account (eg the role you are applying for and the circumstances of the offence). You would have the opportunity to discuss the matter with us before we make a decision.