Temporary Finance Manager - May to July

Leukaemia UK is a small but mighty charity with one big ambition: to stop leukaemia devastating lives. Despite decades of incredible progress, only half of leukaemia patients live longer than five years after their diagnosis. We won't stop until we change this.

We accelerate progress through life-changing research, awareness and advocacy that matter most to people affected by leukaemia, doing everything we can to make sure that the next person with leukaemia has the best possible experience of diagnosis, treatment and care.

We are looking for a Temporary Finance Manager to join our Finance & Resources team in the short term, to provide immediate capability and capacity whilst we recruit for a permanent Finance Manager. The context is that we are transitioning from a historically outsourced finance model to a strengthened, in-house finance function as we prepare to deliver our new five-year strategy. The role holder will support the Director of Finance and Resources with the immediate finance needs regarding management accounting, business partnering, financial analysis and working with outsourced finance partners to ensure the organisation's core financial delivery.

We are a close-knit team, who are all passionate about Leukaemia UK and putting those affected by the disease at the heart of everything we do. We are all focused on keeping it real with pragmatic, practical solutions, as well as ensuring that our charity gets the funding it needs to continue to help those diagnosed with leukaemia and other blood cancers.

As a small organisation with just over 30 employees, every role counts. We have ambitious plans and we rely on individuals being self-starters, resilient and working at pace to maximise our collective impact. We may not be about the corporate life here, but we are all about delivering exceptional expertise and making a real change to people’s lives.

We are a growing charity with an annual income of £3.5m with a diversified funding portfolio including grants, donations and trading income with a mix of restricted and unrestricted funds. This is a new interim part-time role within Leukaemia UK’s Finance & Resources team and forms part of a planned transition from an outsourced finance model to a fully in-house finance function. The role has been created to provide support to the Director of Finance and Resources, whilst the role is recruited for permanently. The role holder would be welcome to also apply via Charity Jobs to our permanent vacancy.

You will play a leading, hands-on role in running the organisation’s core finance operations, ensuring robust financial control, accurate reporting and effective support to teams across the organisation. Working closely with the Director of Finance & Resources, you will support the core finance processes providing operational leadership, internal business partnering and process discipline.

As part of a small central team, you will work alongside the Director of Finance & Resources and our outsourced provider to partner closely with colleagues across the organisation. You will provide practical financial guidance, help teams understand and manage their budgets, and act as a trusted internal finance partner, as well as ensuring the smooth running of day-to-day finance processes. This role is particularly suited to someone who enjoys being hands-on, combining operational delivery with continuous improvement.

Skills and Experience

• Essential:
• Significant experience and confidence in managing a full range of finance operations in a small or medium-sized charitable organisation.
• Qualified or part-qualified accountant, holding one of the UK mainstream accountancy qualifications with strong operational finance experience.
• Excellent knowledge of UK charity SORP and regulatory reporting requirements.
• Strong understanding of financial controls and month and year-end processes.
• Strong experience in preparing management accounts, forecasts, budgets and statutory accounts.
• Highly experienced in all aspects of Xero cloud-based accounting system, especially reporting.
• Strong IT skills, including Office 365 and SharePoint.
• Experienced in charity fund accounting and restricted funds tracking and monitoring.
• Ability to balance hands-on delivery with improvement and change.
• Experience in improving finance processes and introducing automation or system improvements.
• Strong communication skills, ability to work collaboratively with colleagues and strong stakeholder management skills.
• Comfortable working in a part-time role with clear priorities and boundaries.
• Resilient and comfortable with navigating through change.
• Uphold the charities culture and values of being bold, collaborative and curious.
• Desirable:
• Experience of line managing staff and supporting their development.
• Management of outsourced service providers.
• Independent learner, keen to find and apply best-practice solutions.
• Willingness to identify, test and apply appropriate technology and AI tools to streamline processes.
• Discrete and trustworthy with high levels of integrity.

Role Specifics

• 22.5 hours per week (0.6 FTE) worked over 3 days or more, Monday to Friday.
• Location: We are very flexible! Our offices are based in Central London, and we operate hybrid working. In this role you are required to work from the office at least 1 day per week.
• £40,000 - £45,000 FTE dependent on experience. Pro-rata for part-time hours.

Benefits

• 36 days holiday per year, including bank holidays - pro rata for part-time employees.
• Pension default is 4% employee and 4% employer and we match up to 6%.
• Life Assurance x 4 cover.
• Critical Illness Cover.
• Cash back healthcare scheme & Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
• Hybrid Working - 1 day in the office per week.
• Company sick pay.