Systems & Project Accountant in Milton Keynes

Who are we? 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. The successful candidate will have good system skills and can understand how OneStream or similar financial consolidation systems operate and be skilled in manipulating data and reports. This role should be inquisitive about the design and implementation aspects of the project and be able to manage a busy workload in the UAT programme effectively.

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

• Firstly, to input to the definitions of the UAT Testing and work with the Users/Entities that will be participating in the UAT phase. This will entail the support of the Sprint UAT, E2E UAT and Business Acceptance testing phases.
• Secondly, to conduct UAT testing and contribute to the fixes and validations for the OneStream project on behalf of the Specialty and Reinsurance Divisions. This will include all testing, triaging of queries and conducting re-tests.

There will also be a further role to support the Divisional Finance teams by contributing to the redesigning of improved processes to accelerate the month end close process and budget/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:

• Support the Senior Systems & Project Accountant in all aspects on the Howden Group project to rebuild the OneStream tool, 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 2 years PQE.
• Committed self-starter with good communication skills.
• 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.
• Good competency in Excel.
• Be comfortable multitasking with competing deadlines in a fast-paced environment and prioritise effectively.
• Be skilled in using accounting systems and manipulating data and be able to quickly understand issues and train others on new systems and processes.
• Thrives in a dynamic, entrepreneurial and changeable environment. Able to contribute to pragmatic solutions when faced with time or information constraints.
• Financial Services background is 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.

What do we offer in return? 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. Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.