Finance Business Partner - Professional Services & Cross Cutting in Sheffield

About the Role

The University of Sheffield is seeking a Finance Business Partner for its Professional Services & Cross Cutting Finance team. You will collaborate closely with research and innovation colleagues and senior academic leadership to manage, monitor and forecast a portfolio of internal and external funds. Your work will support the deployment of Knowledge Exchange funding and ensure that processes are streamlined, light‑touch, and strategically aligned with funder expectations.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Work with RPI leadership to monitor, manage and forecast a portfolio of internal and external funds.
• Prepare accurate income and expenditure forecasts on a monthly and quarterly basis and, where necessary, explain variances against budget/forecast with recommendations for action or mitigation.
• Collaborate with the Internal KE Funding Manager in Research, Partnerships and Innovation and academic leadership to ensure oversight, governance and operational delivery of the available funding (including Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF), Impact Acceleration Accounts and other grant elements).
• Develop a strong understanding of the terms of available funding and its optimal deployment to achieve strategic goals of the University.
• Lead on financial reporting and dissemination to academic awardees, schools, RPI and other finance colleagues.
• Attend and contribute to relevant committees, panels and meetings, taking the lead on finance reporting and recommendations for future action or change.
• Attend funding panels to understand academic aims and advise on financial risks and opportunities.
• Ensure a streamlined and efficient system is in place to set up and monitor approved projects, notify recipients of awards and respond to queries or issues.
• Work with Internal KE Funding Manager to ensure awardees have clear information about expected timelines, outputs and deliverables.
• Proactively refine processes and operations to maintain a lightest‑possible touch approach while enabling the University and RPI colleagues to evaluate the impact of the awarded funds.
• Maintain professional working relationships with recipients of funding so that individual project progress and spend are monitored, problems are identified early and remedies recommended.
• Regularly forecast available funds and report via RPI to academic leadership.
• Prepare reports for funders (annually and at end of cycle) and ensure policy/operational changes align with funder expectations.
• Prepare monthly and year‑end reconciliations, including reserves and provisions, and coordinate year‑end procedures, ensuring effective communication across departments.
• Line‑manage at least one staff member and support the Finance Manager with oversight of workload allocations across the team, ensuring objectives and deadlines are met and productivity is optimised.
• Carry out other duties commensurate with the grade and remit of the post.

Person Specification

• Demonstrate sound working knowledge of key principles of financial management, with skills and experience in financial forecasting, budget monitoring and control and month‑end routines.
• Qualified or part‑qualified accountant (CIMA, ACCA or equivalent; e.g. part‑qualified CIMA – operational level completed).
• Evidence of working collaboratively as part of a team, considering the impact of your working style on others.
• Evidence of strategic thinking to optimise available funding.
• Evidence of commitment to continuous improvement of processes.
• Proactive, able to meet multiple deadlines, organise team resources and prioritise workloads.
• Ability to build and maintain good professional relationships and facilitate collaborative practices across functional areas, with curiosity and consideration for others' needs and views.
• Proven ability to communicate complex financial information to a non‑financial audience, including production of high‑quality financial reports.
• Excellent IT skills, particularly with Microsoft Excel and experience of finance systems and reporting solutions in an operational environment.
• Awareness and interest in the issues facing the Higher Education sector and experience in managing funding from external bodies (desired).

Benefits

• Minimum of 41 days annual leave (including bank holiday and closure days), prorated, with the ability to purchase additional days.
• Flexible working opportunities, including hybrid working for some roles.
• Generous pension scheme.
• Wide range of discounts and rewards on shopping, eating out and travel.
• Staff networks (Race Equality, LGBT+, Women’s and Parent’s networks).
• Recognition awards for staff who go above and beyond in their role.
• Commitment to development through learning and mentoring schemes, integrated with the Professional Services Shared Skills Framework.
• Family‑friendly policies, including paid time off for parenting and caring emergencies, menopause and fertility support and more.

Equal Opportunity

We are a Disability Confident Leader. If you have a disability and meet the essential criteria for this job you will be invited to take part in the next stage of the selection process.