Finance Business Partner in Liverpool

Business Area: Finance

Place of Work: Liverpool

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract

When you join USS, the size and scale of our pension scheme means you will have numerous opportunities to learn and develop your career. Given our size you'll have real autonomy and influence as you collaborate closely with a wide-ranging team of experts. Our office is a vibrant place to work, and we offer flexibility of office/homeworking due to our hybrid model.

About the role

In your role as Finance Business Partner, you will make a meaningful and valued contribution from the outset. This role will provide a great opportunity to develop and maintain relationships with stakeholders throughout the business in order to provide the required range of commercial finance challenge and support to a number of Pensions and Group functions. They will be responsible for Business Partnering agreed functions to provide reporting and analysis whilst monitoring their financial performance. The role includes contribution to the annual 3-year business planning cycle, including the annual budget. This will be supported by ongoing reforecasting, highlighting risks and opportunities to plan.

• Collaborate and build relationships with key stakeholders in order to influence decision making and gain insight into ways of working, using this insight to challenge business areas to consider Value for Money when delivering their objectives.
• Prepare and oversee the production of accruals, prepayments and other accounting journals into the accounting system, reviewing when complete to ensure the accurate representation of the management accounts for month, quarter and year end reporting.
• Prepare meaningful, accurate analysis investigating variances to budget and forecast to identify any risks or opportunities that may arise, reporting significant variances to senior finance stakeholders and suggesting potential next steps.
• Coordinate the collation of non-financial management information including headcount and KPIs to provide a comprehensive view of performance against targets.
• Provide guidance and support to assist with annual budget setting encouraging alignment with the wider business plan through ongoing communication with budget holders and other FBPs. Take ownership of end-to-end financial planning for relevant business areas including data collection/analysis, review (challenge where necessary) proposals, uploading final numbers into the Vena planning system and presentation to senior management.
• Produce the 3-year plan pensions pack agreeing the layout and design to illustrate costs associated with objectives. Coordinating inputs from other FP&A team members ensuring alignment to the group pack. Regularly review the pensions pack to confirm that it is reflecting the latest version of the plan and support the Senior Finance Business Partner to determine appropriate content for presentation to senior stakeholders. Provide detailed breakdown of main cost drivers explaining variances to previous plan and reasons for incremental expenditure/headcount.
• Prepare the CEM Benchmarking finance report submission reallocating elements of the cost base to present the most accurate view of USS' spend vs benchmark and provide detailed variance analysis where necessary.
• Take ownership of the ongoing carbon works including the collection of USS operational emissions data and submission to the 3rd party support provider.
• Support Projects FBP reviewing business cases and attending meetings with relevance to connected business areas providing challenge of the cost/benefit analysis and communicating to stakeholders.

We know that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job if they don't tick every box, if you're excited about working for us and have most of the skills or experience we're looking for, then please apply, regardless of whether you meet all the requirements outlined in this profile.

To be successful in the role you will have:

• Qualified accountant
• Technical knowledge of accounting policies
• Experience in analysing and presenting data to support decision making
• In depth knowledge of business areas

At USS, every individual contributes to building a secure financial future for our members and their families. We strive to create a work environment where everyone can thrive professionally while making a meaningful impact on the lives of others. We're also committed to helping you build your career by providing opportunities for development. We put a focus on recognising and supporting each individual's unique career path, driving this forward with the support of an engaged and proactive management team.

Here at USS, we want you to thrive in and out of work with a friendly team, flexible culture and excellent range of benefits!

How we will reward you

• Great starting salary
• Generous annual leave package
• Access to a high quality pension scheme provided through Universities Superannuation Scheme
• Supportive people policies (including enhanced occupational sickness pay and family friendly pay)
• Financial contributions towards your personal development to help you maintain your physical and mental wellbeing
• Access to a range of health and wellbeing services i.e., private healthcare, discounted gym membership
• Learning and development opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and talent
• Employee Volunteer Days to support the communities where you work and live
• Cycle to Work Scheme

Our culture and values

Our people are what makes us different. We work together to create a diverse and inclusive culture that embraces individuality, where people are welcomed and feel comfortable in the knowledge that they can be themselves. Our purpose firmly states the importance of members, putting them 'front and centre' of what we do. This is embedded through our values:

• Integrity
• Collaboration
• Excellence

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) was established in 1974 as the principal pension scheme for universities and other higher education institutions in the UK. We work with around 330 employers to help build a secure financial future for almost 577,000 members and their families. We are one of the largest private defined benefit pension schemes in the UK, with total assets of around £76.8bn (at 31 March 2025).

USS is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We strive to ensure our recruitment process is as flexible and inclusive as possible so we can attract diverse candidates and recruit the best talent. We want all candidates to perform at their best during the recruitment process, so if you need any reasonable adjustments or if there is anything we can do to help support you through your recruitment journey please let us know by contacting resourcing@uss.co.uk.