Senior Finance Business Partner

This role is based at Culham, Oxfordshire

This role requires employees to complete an online Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) including The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for criminal convictions.

The Role

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to make a difference? Join our team and contribute to the future of fusion energy. As Senior Finance Business Partner, you will play a pivotal 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, 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 essential in this important & high-profile role.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Work closely with the programme or Division to ensure that objectives are delivered and to provide challenge around financial performance. You'll also deliver the business strategic planning, budgeting and forecast processes for your area. 
• 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. 
• 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 
• 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.  
• 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.  
• 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. 

Essential Requirements:

• A qualified or newly qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA) or qualified by experience 
• Experience of working closely with senior business managers & teams in a “business partner” capacity 
• Balance sheet review / reconciliation experience 
• Ability to manage a multi-funding environment and associated financial reporting 
• Highly proficient in Excel (pivot tables, lookups, sumif formulas etc)   

A full list of our benefits can be found here https://careers.ukaea.uk/life-at-ukaea/employee-benefits/

We welcome applications from under-represented groups, particularly individuals from black and other ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and women. Our Executive team, supported by our 'Equality, Diversity and Inclusion' (EDI) Partner and Inclusion Ambassadors, actively promotes EDI and takes steps to increase diversity within our organization. We reinforce best practices in recruitment and selection and evaluate approaches to remove barriers to success.

Please note that vacancies are generally advertised for 4 weeks but may close earlier if we receive a large number of applications.