Senior Systems & Project Accountant in Milton Keynes

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 23,000 employees spanning over 56 countries.

People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

The Role

We are looking for a motivated and enthusiastic individual, who is interested in working for a fast growing and dynamic organisation. This role will be a 12 month FTC.

The successful candidate will have strong system skills, understand how OneStream or similar financial consolidation systems operate and be skilled in manipulating data and reports. A key challenge of the role is an ability to contribute to the design and implementation of the project and to manage the UAT programme effectively.

This position within our Divisional Finance team will have two main areas of focus:

• To define the UAT Testing and the Users/Entities that will participate in the UAT phase. This will entail the support and management of the Sprint UAT, E2E UAT and Business Acceptance testing.
• To arrange testing coordination, bug coordination and fix validation for the OneStream rebuild project on behalf of the Specialty and Reinsurance Divisions. This will include test, triage of queries and the facilitation of fixes and re-tests.

There will also be a further role to support the Divisional Finance teams by designing better processes to smooth and accelerate the month end close and forecasting cycles across Specialty and Reinsurance. The successful candidate will work collaboratively with the subsidiary Division Accounting and FP&A Finance teams (both UK and overseas), the Howden Group finance team and the Howden Group Shared Service Centre.

What you’ll do

• Act as the Specialty/Reinsurance Divisions lead on the Howden Group project to rebuild OneStream, working closely with the heads of Specialty/Reinsurance Finance and FP&A teams.
• Undertake reconciliation processes for the Specialty/Reinsurance Divisions as data moves between ‘cubes’ in OneStream and ultimately into a new application.
• Support the Specialty/Reinsurance Division’s subsidiary finance teams with reporting queries in OneStream. Demands for support are expected to be significant when moving to the new cube and then ultimately to a new application.
• Improve and streamline month end close procedures to reduce the time it takes to close month end.
• Collaborate with the FP&A teams to improve budgeting and reporting processes within the Specialty/Reinsurance Divisions, such as recording and reporting of headcount data.

Who we’re looking for

• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA) with at least 5 years PQE.
• Committed self-starter with good communication skills.
• Comfortable reporting progress into Senior Leadership (CFO/FD level).
• Experience of OneStream or a similar financial consolidation system (desirable).
• An understanding of how data from other systems such as Workday can be integrated into OneStream.
• Strong Excel skills.
• Be comfortable multitasking with competing deadlines in a fast-paced environment and prioritise effectively.
• Highly numerate and technically skilled in using accounting systems and manipulating data. Able to quickly comprehend and train others on systems and processes.
• Thrives in a dynamic, entrepreneurial and changeable environment. Able to find pragmatic solutions when faced with time or information constraints.
• Mid to Large Group experience background (Fin. Services experience desirable but not essential).
• Flexible on place of work, however, the successful candidate will be expected to travel to the Milton Keynes office two/three times a week with occasional travel to the London Office in the City.

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new.
• We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges.
• We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond.

Reasonable adjustments

We’re committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours or hybrid working.

If you’re excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.