What We Offer
Our independent, impartial advice is backed by consultants with firsthand SBM and finance experience. We provide trusted, hands-on support to schools and multi-academy trusts, ensuring you find the right person without recruitment agency fees.
01
Advert Guidance
We review your job advert to ensure it's worded to attract the right candidates — not just any candidates. Drawing on sector knowledge of what strong SBMs look for in a role.
02
Application Shortlisting
We collaborate with your interview panel to identify the strongest applicants — applying finance-specific criteria that a generalist recruiter would miss.
03
Interview Preparation
We provide a complete set of SBM-specific interview questions tailored to your school's context, size and finance system.
04
Finance Task Design
We design a realistic finance-based practical task to assess candidate capability — revealing how they actually think about school finance, not just how they interview.
05
Panel Participation
An SMS consultant joins your interview panel as an expert advisor — asking the right questions and providing an informed perspective on each candidate.
06
Candidate Feedback
After interviews we deliver clear, actionable recommendations — helping you make a confident appointment decision backed by sector expertise.
We recruit for all school types.
Whether you're a primary, secondary or multi-academy trust — SMS brings the same depth of expertise to every recruitment.
Interim vs Permanent
Permanent recruitment
Our full end-to-end recruitment service — from advert through to appointment. Best for schools with a planned vacancy or strategic hire.
Need interim cover while you recruit?
SMS can provide interim Finance Manager, Finance Officer or Business Manager cover while your recruitment is underway — so there's no gap in your school's finance function.
View interim cover"
Working with the team at SMS over the last year has made our whole team so much happier and resulted in our internal processes being much better, quicker, clearer and more consistent.
Sarah Ewins
Chief Finance and Operating Officer — Middlesex Learning Trust
Related Services
Interim Cover
Need someone in post while you recruit? SMS provides flexible interim finance cover.
Learn more
SBM Training
Once appointed, get your new SBM up to speed with our 27-hour essentials course.
Learn more
Core Finance SLA
Support your new SBM with ongoing helpdesk access and finance tools from day one.
Learn moreNot sure what you need? Talk to us.
Talk to us about your school's needs. No obligation.