Sofia Mahmood

Head of Finance

Senior Leadership Team

Preferred pronouns
She/Her/Hers

Social media

Professional passions and goals

Sofia is committed to supporting the development of new partnerships and new ways of working. Over her career to date, she has demonstrated her belief in personal development for herself and her team, setting up training and apprenticeship programmes which have led to excellent results in service delivery. This resulted in her work being highly commended for a Public Finance Award within Finance Training and Development Initiative. She has led and embedded transformational change within several organisations, enabling finance to become more integrated with decision-making. Sofia is focused on ensuring the best value in the use of resources to deliver on the Service’s priorities and make a positive difference for the people of the West Midlands.

Skill set and experience

Sofia has led several corporate finance functions at organisations of varying size. During this time, she has driven change programmes, implemented new software systems and enabled channel shift for end users with a focus on improved customer service. In her roles leading finance functions, she has embedded strong governance practices and responded to numerous consultations ranging from technical accounting requirement changes to the impact of the implementation of new funding mechanisms on the organisations that she has been working at.

Professional qualifications or memberships

Sofia is a qualified accountant, with a degree in Accounting & Finance and membership in both the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) accountancy bodies. She has also undertaken significant professional development becoming a practitioner of Lean Six Sigma which has enabled her to ensure processes are as efficient and effective as possible. With climate change becoming a major part of an organisation's considerations she took Carbon Literacy training to better inform her work in this area.

Interests and hobbies

Sofia enjoys exploring all that the West Midlands has to offer, regularly attending the theatre, local festivals including the International Festival of Glass and Birmingham Heritage Week and the many excellent restaurants in the area. She is a keen walker having recently got her National Navigation Award Scheme (NNAS) navigation award.

Work history

Sofia started her career in the NHS, training as an accountant supporting operational departments and the building of a new hospital. Post qualification she moved into local government to enhance her skill set of working in a more central corporate role ranging from year-end accounts to capital and treasury strategy development. In her time in local government, she worked for a range of organisations including an inner London borough, a large Midlands metropolitan and a rural county. This gave her a wide range of experiences dealing with different demographics, organisational needs and funding mechanisms. She was able to participate in a wide range of activities which included strategy development, system changes and business partnering.