Finance Analyst jobs in United Kingdom

Finance Office

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049, with potential progression once in post to £48,822

Grade 7

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date:17 February 2026

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector‑leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the‑artsports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham.

The University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work.

The Finance department at the University of Birmingham provides a range of services and advice to all areas of the University to ensure that the finances – present and future – support the University’s delivery of the Birmingham 2030 Strategic Framework.

The Finance Analyst Team is responsible for optimising reporting development, delivery and training across Finance and the wider service users across the University, ensuring that we fully utilise our system capabilities across our various reporting platforms (Oracle, Power BI, Snowflake, Excel). We aim to drive innovation and improve digital capability within Finance through developing efficient and effective reporting, enabling our stakeholders to more easily extract insights and add value.

We are seeking a qualified accountant to join our team as a Finance Analyst, focusing on the ongoing development and maintenance of our financial reporting, models, and templates. This role helps ensure the smooth operation of the team’s BAU activities, while contributing to structured development on projects.

The Finance Analyst will be responsible for running, maintaining, and enhancing our suite of financial reports and templates, ensuring they remain fit for purpose and aligned with evolving business needs. They will also contribute to new reporting development initiatives, working within a structured framework where tasks are assigned, reviewed at key stages, and iteratively refined to maintain high standards and consistency.

The role will work closely with the other Finance Analyst, who will oversee project timelines and priorities, while also collaborating with the Senior Finance Analyst, who will provide technical guidance on solution design, architecture, and best practices.

This role is a good opportunity for a Finance professional with strong technical skills who thrives in a dynamic environment, adapting to change and tackling inefficiencies head‑on. The ideal candidate will have a keen eye for spotting improvements and the drive to implement practical and sustainable solutions, ensuring our financial reporting and models remain effective and fit for purpose.

• Continually review and enhance financial reports, dashboards, and models to support BAU activities, ensuring they remain accurate, efficient, and relevant to evolving business needs.
• Take ownership of existing financial templates and ensure they continue to meet stakeholder needs, making improvements where necessary.
• Contribute to – and where appropriate, leading on – development projects by completing assigned specialist reporting development tasks refining outputs through structured feedback, and ensuring consistency with project goals.
• Work closely with the team manager to ensure deliverables align with project goals and are completed in a structured and iterative manner.
• Collaborate with the Senior Finance Analyst on the design and architecture of reporting and modelling solutions, ensuring consistency and adherence to best practice. They will make recommendations on how the Finance team can model their data and present this data in reports. Once agreed they will be responsible for implementing the new ways of working and ensuring a high standard and consistent delivery.
• Develop and maintain clear documentation for all reports, models, and processes to ensure sustainability and knowledge transfer within the team.
• Provide technical support and troubleshooting for Finance users in relation to the suite of financial reports and tools available at the University. This will involve resolving issues related to the team’s reporting as they arise.
• Provide training and development to colleagues to increase the technical capability across the University.
• Continuously seek opportunities to refine reporting and modelling techniques, incorporating automation and efficiency improvements where possible.
• Work alongside stakeholders across Finance and other departments to understand reporting requirements and ensure outputs align with business needs.
• Support training initiatives by developing guides and materials, and helping deliver direct training where needed, to help users interact effectively with finance reports and templates.
• Promotes equality and values diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

• Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications) plus relevant practical experience - where no equivalent qualification is held significant practical relevant experience and expertise in a series of progressively more demanding roles will be required.
• Relevant technical qualification (e.g. CIMA or ACCA) plus relevant practical experience, or significant relevant experience demonstrated through increasingly more demanding roles evidencing the experience necessary for this role.
• In‑depth up‑to‑date specialist understanding and experience of finance and accounting principles.
• Strong technical expertise in financial reporting, modelling and data analysis – demonstrating a strong proficiency of working with data (e.g. Excel, Power Query, Power Pivot etc.)
• Familiarity with reporting tools such as Power BI or other financial reporting software is an advantage.
• Strong problem‑solving skills with an ability to think analytically and propose efficient solutions.
• A proactive approach to continuous improvement and a keen interest in optimising financial processes.
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly, and to produce and analyse information and data.
• Highly proficient IT skills, including MS Office and working with software. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, relationship building and influencing skills with the ability to deal confidently with a range of internal and external stakeholders/contacts.
• Excellent organisational and multi‑tasking skills with a methodical approach to work and the ability to prioritise workloads in order to meet deadlines.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day‑to‑day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

Roles at this level will require a broad understanding and practical experience of an administrative or professional field which will be used to plan the running and development of services and/or lead shorter term projects or contribute to larger projects. You will work with information which needs interpretation and analysis; you will use your judgement to identify the best solution to differing problems and issues, offering recommendations for managing more complex situations. You are likely to be responsible for managing a team of staff, being accountable for recruiting and developing them and for managing performance. You may also need to liaise and/or co‑ordinate activities across a number of different sections within the department or possibly with wider department or external bodies as appropriate.

Working at this level you will be able to develop and successfully demonstrate the core competencies/transferable skills outlined in each of the areas shown below. As appropriate for the level, our Birmingham Professionals will take ownership for getting things done. You will be expected to be flexible as required in supporting your department and wider University.

• plan the running and development of service(s), overseeing resources and inputting into resource planning as appropriate;
• develop, agree and implement standards for delivery for own area;
• manage a team of staff and review, develop and motivate them;
• plan relevant training and development;
• provide professional advice, guidance and support to others within and outside their immediate work area;
• oversee resources and make recommendations about future resource requirements.

• review, develop and propose solutions for problems with (for example) staff, budgets, services and/or systems;
• deal effectively with unexpected issues, such as changing priorities;
• deal with sensitive people matters/issues;
• provide specialist advice and recommendations to support decision‑making of others.

• understand their own and closely‑related working areas and how they contribute to the success of the University.
• has an understanding of how the University operates; actively seeks to share this knowledge with others.
• developing empathy with the academic endeavour.

• influence decision makers and win support for proposals;
• develop excellent working relationships within and outside of own area and potentially with external stakeholders;
• co‑ordinate activities across a number of areas.

Informal enquiries to Ilyas Ehrari, email: i.ehrari@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here.

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.