Finance Business Partner

Overview

Salary £46,164 – £53,418 plus London Allowance (£5,560). 1 Year fixed-term (Sabbatical Cover) | Full Time | Location: Hammersmith London. Closing Date: 28 June.

Purpose of the Post

Provide dedicated finance expertise, insight and business partnering to UKRI-MRC, working closely with stakeholders to add financial awareness to decision making, and deliver outcomes that are in line with Council and UKRI priorities.

Key Skills

• Leadership/teamwork / collaboration
• Build & maintain strong working relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Provide insight and advice to promote and support the effective financial management of programmes.
• Support effective longer-term decision-making and deliver outcomes in line with Council/UKRI priorities.
• Understand the dependencies, challenges and opportunities across the different funding streams available to LMS.
• Identify and realise opportunities for improvement, change and efficiency within Finance, strengthening internal controls & financial analysis and streamlining processes.
• Promote a culture of teamwork, supporting Finance colleagues to deliver effectively for stakeholders.
• Work with colleagues to ensure the Finance team provides relevant and accurate financial information, advice and constructive challenge.
• Deputise for Head of Finance as required.

Delivery / programmes / projects / process

• Support the Finance team to deliver effective financial support and partnering.
• Work with direct reports to focus on ‘value-add’ activity.
• Understand the regulations, opportunities and limits of all relevant funding streams and ensure income and expenditure is accounted for & reported accurately and appropriately.
• Ensure compliance with UKRI, BEIS and HMG financial controls.
• Be responsible for internal & external reporting, from monthly management accounts to UKRI corporate returns.
• Have oversight of grant applications and reporting, working collaboratively with Imperial College London colleagues.
• Review and approve/sign-off monthly reporting activities/processes, including journals, expenses, requisitions and recharge calculations.
• Lead on asset verification, capitalisation and reporting.
• Work with senior stakeholders to prepare and maintain business plans and business cases.

This job description is intended to provide a broad outline of the main duties and responsibilities only. The postholder will need to be flexible in developing the role in conjunction with their line manager. The postholder may be asked to carry out other delegated duties or tasks in line with the post.

Person requirements

Education / Qualifications / Training required

• Essential: Qualified Accountant (ACA/CIMA/ACCA/CIPFA)
• Desirable: Degree-level education

Knowledge and experience

• Essential: Strong understanding of accounting and finance and demonstrable experience of delivering effective financial management & reporting.
• Extensive experience of financial modelling & controls.
• Demonstrable experience of month- and year-end financial processes.
• Demonstrable experience of working as a valued business partner, enabling the delivery of organisational objectives through supporting others.
• Experience in providing high-quality written/oral advice, appropriate to senior level decision-makers.
• Proven experience in the preparation of complex budgets, forecasts and financial plans.
• Familiarity with the role of governance, risk management and assurance in project delivery.
• Desirable: Knowledge of UK Government / Research Council / University sector financial management, including grant management.
• Experience with Oracle IT system.
• Experience of processes involved in IT system implementations.
• An understanding of FEC or TRAC costing methodology.

Personal skills / behaviours / qualities

• Essential: Ability to quickly build relationships with senior stakeholders and influence them with impact.
• Ability to become a credible partner, with confidence to challenge any level of decision-maker.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Good IT skills, including excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Excel.
• Personal resilience and a confident approach, able to proactively engage with stakeholders to resolve issues.
• Ability to respond calmly under pressure and make impartial, well-considered judgements in complex situations.
• Good organisational skills: able to manage and prioritise own and others’ workloads.
• Able to meet deadlines, but also respond to ad hoc queries in a timely manner.

Desirable: Ability to lead with authenticity and support a team effectively, whilst driving & embedding change.

Additional Information

Please provide your CV, names and contacts of two references along with a cover letter describing why you are applying for this role. Please quote reference number LMS 2411.

We offer hybrid working, currently with 2 days per week working from home. For the initial 4-6 weeks, you would be expected to be in the office full-time for an effective face-to-face handover. The final appointment will be subject to pre-employment screening.

Please note that applications may be reviewed by both LMS and Imperial staff.

UKRI - UK Research and Innovation

UKRI is an organisation that brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Together, we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision ensuring the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. More information can be found at www.ukri.org.

How we support EDI in the workforce

At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations and the wider community.

Disability Confident Employer

As users of the disability confident scheme, any candidate who opts into the scheme and best meets the essential criteria, will be shortlisted for interview. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

How to apply

Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application.

UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion – a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us.

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be rejected and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Pre-employment checks – There is a requirement to undergo Baseline Personnel Security Screening. BPSS is a pre-condition of employment and failure to achieve it may mean that the employment offer is rescinded. UKRI reserves the right to run, or re-run, security clearance as required during the course of employment.