Finance Business Partner

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 cover letter describing why you are applying for this role. Please quote reference number LMS 2411.

Please note that 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.

Closing date: 28 June