Chief Operations Officer / Chief Finance Officer

Coombe Academy Trust, New Malden, KT3 6NU

29 days remaining to apply

• Start date details

  ASAP

• Closing date

  10 April 2026 at 10am

• Date listed

  12 March 2026

Job details

• Job role:
  • Administration, HR, data and finance
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full-time equivalent salary: Competitive
• Additional allowances:

  Competitive

Chief Operations Officer / Chief Finance Officer job summary

About this role - A message from the CEO, Esther Brooks

The creation of Helix Learning Trust marks a transformative milestone as we merge the expertise of Auriga Academy Trust and Coombe Academy Trust across the boroughs of Kingston, and Richmond. We are building a unified organisation responsible for 3,800 pupils across eight schools, blending mainstream excellence with specialist SEND provision.

Our vision for Helix is to drive exceptional educational outcomes and provide sector-leading professional development, while pioneering greater SEND inclusion across all our schools. By integrating specialist expertise with mainstream excellence, we are directly answering the DfE’s call for inclusive Trust growth. Helix is ideally positioned to lead the sector, turning the evolving social and financial challenges of modern education into opportunities for innovation.

To achieve this, we are seeking a Chief Operations and Finance Officer who will serve as a strategic partner to myself and the Board. Beyond oversight; we are looking for a leader to drive a comprehensive 24-month integration programme, embedding best practices across Finance, HR, Estates, and IT.

This is a pivotal appointment for Helix Learning Trust, requiring a leader who will serve as a high-level executive partner and 'co-pilot' throughout this transformative period. Beyond functional oversight, the successful candidate will be a senior architect of our future, leading the intricate sequencing and optimisation of our combined enabling functions. We are seeking a strategic operator with proven experience in organisational design and large-scale integration-someone capable of managing the complexities of a live merger to create the operational headroom necessary for our schools to thrive. This role demands a senior executive perspective to ensure that as we grow, our central systems are not just consolidated, but are fundamentally designed to be resilient, innovative, and best-in-class.

Safeguarding Statement

The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

The successful applicant will be required to undertake an Enhanced DBS Disclosure. We are fully committed to protecting our pupils and staff and therefore have a rigorous and robust recruitment process that gathers evidence about a candidate’s suitability to work with children and have proactive safeguarding procedures in place.

Further information about the job

The candidate will be required to undergo a full enhanced DBS check and must be eligible to work in the UK.

Visas cannot be sponsored.

If you're interested in teaching or training to teach in England as an international citizen, we can help you understand your next steps.

Commitment to safeguarding

Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff, volunteers and trustees to share this commitment.

Our recruitment process follows the keeping children safe in education guidance.

Offers of employment may be subject to the following checks (where relevant):
childcare disqualification
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
medical
online and social media
prohibition from teaching
right to work
satisfactory references
suitability to work with children

You must tell us about any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.

Applying for the job

This school accepts applications through their own website, where you may also find more information about this job.

CVs will not be accepted for this application.

About Coombe Academy Trust

• Type: Multi-academy trust
• Website: Coombe Academy Trust website
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/coombe-academy-trust

Coombe Academy Trust is a well-established, respected multi academy trust (MAT) which comprises three Nursery and Primary Schools, two Secondary Schools and a joint Sixth Form, with over 3450 children and young people. In addition, within our schools we have five Specialist Resource Provisions from nursery through to Key Stage Four for pupils with Autism, severe learning difficulties, moderate learning difficulties, hearing loss and speech and language and communication needs.

Coombe Trust has a balance of academies at different starting points in their journey of improvement, therefore creating effective capacity for sponsorship. We ensure that we have high performing academies in primary and secondary phases as part of our family and that all schools are on the journey to high performance. We work as one entity to improve and maintain a high standard across the Trust. As a Trust we are seeking to expand the areas that we support. We are well placed to support any phase of education from Nursery through to Sixth Form, including settings providing SEND support. Full details can be seen within our Growth Strategy.

Head office location

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