Senior Finance Officer in Bristol

Location: Office based – most of your time will be spent behind the scenes in our offices on Bristol Harbourside, though there will be lots of opportunities to spend time in the venue. We’re happy to support flexible working – both through hybrid working and your working pattern. You just need to be able to attend key meetings, have some cross-over with the rest of the Finance team and deliver the responsibilities of the role.

Department: Finance

Report to: Finance Manager

Salary: £34,000 - £36,000 per year

Contract: Permanent

Working hours: Full time, 37.5 hours a week.

About We The Curious: We The Curious is an educational charity and one of the UK's leading science centres. We produce experiences that bring people together to play, get creative with science and explore different ideas. We work with partners, locally and nationally, supporting people to be inquisitive, develop new skills and improve their wellbeing.

About the role: Working within a small forward-thinking finance department, you will be responsible for making sure that all the day-to-day financial transactions are recorded correctly on the ledger. This includes management of the sales and purchase ledgers, month end postings, fixed asset register and supporting the payroll process. This is a varied role with lots of scope for development of existing knowledge and skills as well as tackling new projects.

The Finance team is a small but friendly team of four staff, who work with the wider organisation to make sure that all financial operations run smoothly.

What will you do in this role?

• Maintain the sales ledger including raising sales invoices for school visits, venue hire clients and car park season tickets. Carry out the credit control function and liaise with internal staff as needed.
• Carry out a pre-approver check of the weekly payment run.
• Ensure booking system revenues are imported to the finance system and are reconciled on a weekly basis. Post car park revenue on a weekly basis and reconcile with car park system and control accounts.
• Support the month end process by producing aged debtor and creditor reports and reconciliation of key balance sheet accounts.
• Assist the Finance Manager with monthly accounts reviews with internal staff as well as the organisational budget and forecasting processes.
• Support the monthly payroll process, working closely with our People Team.
• Review periodic BACS direct debit runs.
• Keep the fixed asset register up to date - recording the cost of newly-acquired assets, tracking existing assets, recording depreciation and any disposals.
• Assist with preparing the organisational cashflow.
• Work with the Development team to aid grant reporting, including setting up and monitoring of grant budgets on the finance system.
• Prepare the quarterly VAT return ready to be reviewed by the Finance Manager.
• Prepare necessary work for external auditors as part of the year end process.
• Help with any internal queries regarding invoice and purchase order approvals, as well as dealing with any ad hoc queries in the shared finance mailbox.
• Assist with the administration of the finance system workflows and chart of accounts setup.
• Provide holiday cover for the Finance Administrator as required – purchase ledger processing, bank reconciliations & payment runs.

General responsibilities:

• Safeguarding – Responsible for carefully following safeguarding policies and procedures and raising any concerns to manager/Designated Safeguarding Officer.
• Fundraising - Support the Development team on any funding bids and reports which require financial input.
• General responsibility for own compliance with GDPR.
• Support the rest of the Finance team with projects when required.

What we're looking for from you:

• You will be AAT qualified or currently studying, with a desire for further studying (e.g. ACCA/CIMA).
• You will have previous experience working in a finance department, and therefore have a good understanding of the balance sheet and profit and loss account.
• You will have experience with accounting software and Microsoft Office applications.
• You will have Intermediate excel skills such as the ability to perform vlookups, pivot tables and sumifs.
• You will have a good standard of numeracy and literacy, along with an attention to detail.
• You will be approachable and able to communicate with staff at all levels.
• You will have the ability to time manage and have previous experience of juggling various tasks at the same time.

Application process:

• Deadline for applications: 11:59pm on Sunday 30th August
• Interview dates and location: Week of 14th September
• Start date: From 5th October 2026
• If you would like to apply, please complete the two application questions and upload your CV.

We appreciate interviews can be stressful, so we try to make them more of a conversation and a chance for you to tell us about how your skills and interests make you the right person for the role. If you are invited for an interview, we'll send you the questions that you'll be asked beforehand so that you have time to prepare. If you have any particular needs or requirements, please do let us know so that we can make the required adjustments.

Support during the process: We The Curious is a Disability Confident Employer and we welcome applications from candidates who self-assess themselves as having a disability. We will guarantee an interview to applicants who advise that they have a disability and who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy.

We want to work with you to ensure the recruitment process is accessible for you. If you are disabled, neurodivergent, or if you have a long-term health condition, we’ll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to our processes for you.

Examples of adjustments could include:

• providing alternative formats at every stage
• options to apply
• extra time for tasks
• providing some extra information about what to expect
• office orientation before an in-person interview.

Including everyone: We value the positive impact greater representation will have on our organisation, programmes and culture. It’s our goal to become an inclusive place to work and for our teams to better reflect our city and the people who visit us. We welcome applications from people of all lived experiences and particularly those that are not well represented in the science centre sector.

Working with us: We value the people that work with us. Our staff have access to the following:

• Wellbeing & support: Flexible working, Hybrid working (if suitable and stated for role), Cycle to work scheme, Free yearly flu jabs and eye tests, Paid sick leave for physical and mental health, Mental Health First Aiders, Confidential advice & counselling through the Employee Support Programme.
• Leave: 25 days in addition to bank holidays (all pro-rata), A day of extra holiday for every 5 years' service, An amount of paid leave for emergency dependent care, domestic emergency leave and compassionate leave.
• New Parent Policy: We are proud to be a family friendly organisation, which is why we work to develop our people practices in line with that value.
• Facilities & discounts: Free tickets to the venue for you and up to four guests, plus 12 additional entry tickets per calendar year to give away, 15% off in the We The Curious café, 20% off in our shop, Range of discounts with local businesses and free entry to other local attractions.
• Pension: We offer a pension scheme with 5% company contributions.
• Death in service benefit: Four times your annual salary.