I’m a Chartered Accountant and have been in my current role at LPS since December 2017. I’ve also worked with Central Procurement Directorate and Enterprise Shared Services, including the NI Direct programme.

After I qualified, I worked in private practice. I decided to join the NICS because I was interested in the amazing variety of projects that would be open to me. When the opportunity to apply for a Staff Officer Accountant role came up, I knew I had to go for it.

The kind of things you need for a job like this include organisational and time management skills – and of course, to be comfortable around numbers and ICT, especially spreadsheets.

Communication and interpersonal skills are essential too because a key part of what I do is explain financial information and data to non-specialists who may be working on a complex project that requires all sorts of expert input and insights. It’s very diverse, challenging work but also very rewarding. I very much enjoy the collaborative nature of the work across different teams and departments.

If I had to pick a career highlight, I’d probably say when I was Finance Business Partner for the NI Direct programme to improve online access to government services. I worked with colleagues from ICT, contact centre operations, business transformation, digital inclusion and open data. By bringing together experts in their respective fields and aiming for a common goal, we were enriching the lives of everyone in our society. In the end we are working for people, not profit.

Within the NICS you get continuous professional development training, and everyone is valued and supported. That’s a great feeling.