Senior Finance Business Partner

We have a current opportunity for a Senior Finance Business Partner on a contract basis. The position will be based in Culham near Abingdon. For further information about this position please apply.

UKAEA is leading the drive to put fusion energy on the grid, to give the world a new form of long-term, sustainable low-carbon electricity. At their sites at Culham, Oxfordshire and Rotherham, South Yorkshire, they have a rapidly growing workforce to fulfil their expanding programme of research, focused on delivering the UK's first fusion prototype power plant by 2040.

A Senior Finance Business Partner (SFP) is a key role in supporting the delivery of major programme and/or Business Unit (BU) objectives. As a valued member of the Senior Management Teams (SMT) for the UKAEA's major programme areas, the SFP provides financial support in a range of activities covering strategy, planning & analysis, accounting, reporting, bids and costing support, and ad-hoc project work. Depending on the programme area, the Senior Finance Partner may directly manage direct reports with the associated line management responsibilities. Whether managing a small finance team, providing financial input into the 5 Year planning process, a new business case, or closing the monthly accounts, a strategic outlook, accuracy, timeliness, collaboration, and understanding of performance are essential in this important & high-profile role.

Accountabilities:

1. To be the key Finance Partner for the programme area or BU, acting as the key point of contact for all finance-related matters of programme or BU delivery.
2. Work closely with the programme or BU SMT to ensure that programme or BU objectives are delivered and to provide challenge around financial performance.
3. Review and analyse performance, producing reports and commentary for the monthly management accounts, individual project managers, and business unit management to enable monitoring of profitability against budget, reasons for major variances, and risks and opportunities.
4. Ensure Financial Reports and associated supporting information is provided to agreed timelines for major grants.
5. To ensure provision of consistent, high-quality financial information, reinforced by high-quality insight and financial advice, supporting the programme / BU to deliver the right financial outcomes and to help drive sustainable performance improvement.
6. Where applicable, effectively lead and manage a small finance team, including mentoring, training, supervision, and performance reviews in line with UKAEA line management guidelines.
7. Provide financial leadership and coaching to wider project team members as required, particularly those that are supporting the management of financial performance through forecasting or monitoring and control activities such as for timesheets and procurement.
8. Work with the Head of Financial Accounts to ensure accurate recognition of expenditure & revenue in accordance with UKAEA financial policy & where appropriate, with IFRS15 Revenue from contracts with customers, and to ensure that aged debt is kept to a minimum.
9. Working closely with your SMT & business area to ensure the successful delivery of the business strategic planning, budgeting, and forecast processes.
10. Build effective working relationships with your key PM's and other relevant senior managers and stakeholders to enable the creation of robust programme or BU budgets and periodic forecasts at project and at a consolidated business unit level.
11. Support the maintenance of a robust control environment, including responsibility for relevant balance sheet accounts appropriate to the business area, such as prepayments, accruals, Work in Progress, Income in Advance that are fully reconciled with adequate supporting documentation available for audit purposes.
12. Act as key point of contact for programme audits & ensure all audit requirements are met.
13. Follow up on internal audit actions and ensure they are closed out to agreed timescales.
14. Support finance-wide initiatives, such as testing of new reports & upgrades, and other ad hoc work.
15. Support the overall capability within finance by leading on initiatives and procedures which improve processes to support and manage programmes and/or enhance the technical capability of junior team members through training and coaching.

Budget Responsibility:

None

Specific Qualifications/Experience:

1. A qualified or newly qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA) or qualified by experience.
2. Experience of working closely with senior business managers & teams in a "business partner" capacity.
3. Experience of managing multi-million-pound government or commercial projects and associated accounting, costing, and forecasting activities, understanding of project controls and management processes.
4. Balance sheet review/reconciliation experience.
5. Understand the principles of IFRS15 revenue recognition and accounting for grant funding.
6. Experience of audits of major contracts or grants and European Union & Innovate UK funded programmes.
7. Ability to manage a multi-funding environment and associated financial reporting.
8. Highly proficient in Excel (pivot tables, lookups, sumif formulas, etc).
9. Experience of an ERP accounting system; experience of using Unit 4 (Agresso) would be an advantage.
10. Experience of report writing in ERP systems or working alongside systems developers to specify and develop reports would be very relevant.
11. Able to work on occasion to challenging timescales while still ensuring accuracy.
12. Power BI efficiency.

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