Financial Management and Reporting Lead – UKIFS Ltd.
Overview of Responsibilities
For more information on UKIFS, visit: https://careers.ukaea.uk/wp-content/uploads/download/UKIFS_CandidateRecruitmentPack.pdf
The salary for this role is £59,723, and onsite working is expected for 3 days each week, however, we actively support requests for flexible working.
Employees of UKIFS can be based at either of our sites; West Burton, Nottinghamshire or 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 and possibly a search of open source data.
The Role
The Financial Management and Reporting Lead role is one of the first roles we are hiring in the UKIFS Finance Team to develop the company’s ability to manage annual budgets effectively and provide excellent financial performance reporting to the company.
As the Financial Management lead, you will be responsible for effective financial management across the company, working closely with other finance team colleagues, the programme team, Whole Plant Partners, and other stakeholders in ensuring we maximise use of funding in-year and manage finances effectively.
You will ensure excellence in corporate reporting, driving operational efficiency, strengthening controls and planning of expenditure, both in the operational and strategic time horizon.
Key Accountabilities:
Management Insight and Data Structure management
- Ensure structure of finance data supports effective programme finance control, management and reporting, by ensuring linkage to and leverage of existing systems and control of master data reporting structures.
- Focus on establishing and continuously improving financial management information.
- Develop and embed a Financial Management information strategy that supports integration of management information across the company, ensuring coherency across key management information outputs (including Programme, Commercial and People reporting) that senior management use to support decision making, with a consistent narrative and supporting improved insights on cost impacts of project and milestone progress.
Management Reporting
- Provide information and advice to senior management, working closely with the head of finance and the finance director on financial forecasts, actuals and risks.
- Lead on production of monthly finance MI packs to management and to finance business partners, supported by appropriate non-financial information and commentary in an accurate and timely manner.
- Drive consistency, simplicity and efficiency in reporting of financial and related performance reporting.
- Work closely with the programme costing team on setting budgetary controls, and effectively managing and controlling scope and costing changes.
- Responsible for the coordination of the finance reporting calendar, establishing clear timetables for forecasting and reporting and effective communication and training to business leads.
- Balance financial reporting with insight of benefits and impact to support investment decision and demonstrate value for money and financial efficiency.
Financial Management
- Responsible for the delivery of annual financial outturn within target and maximising use of resources available to UKIFS.
- Provide excellent strategic financial analysis and advice relating to annual financial performance to the Executive and other senior stakeholders, analysing trends, variances and risks to support management of the in-year financial position.
- Identify and manage any risks, pressures or slippages through active engagement with senior budget holders to support management and delivery of available levers to ensure spend to budget.
- Work closely the Programme team, UKAEA and delivery teams delivering through the Corporate Services and Whole Plant Partner Agreements to understand and manage programme cost drivers, key drivers of uncertainty and ensure accurate reporting that supports strategic decision making in the business.
- Develop and maintain all necessary systems, policies, and procedures to ensure effective and efficient financial management within UKIFS.
- Support the Head of Finance in ensuring spend approval processes and the delegations support the business and maintain an effective control environment.
- Manage people cost assumptions, cost allocation methodology and associated reporting
- Ensure that expenditure is in full compliance with relevant financial standards and contractual terms.
Stakeholder Management
- Build and maintain key relationships with UKIFS finance business partners and UKAEA finance colleagues.
- Work across the wider team to share best practice and strengthen overall finance capability.
- Build strong relationships with colleagues managing parallel reporting processes across UKIFS.
- Maintain a culture of collaboration within both the UKIFS and UKAEA finance team and with the business, whilst retaining finance role of effective challenge and independence.
Embody a Leadership Mindset
- Embrace and embody our organisation’s culture, values, and mission in all aspects of your work.
- Foster a positive and inclusive team environment that aligns with our cultural values.
- Contribute to maintaining a respectful and collaborative workplace, valuing diversity, and promoting teamwork.
- Act as a cultural ambassador, representing our organization’s values and professionalism in interactions with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders.
- Lead by example, demonstrating integrity, professionalism, and ethical behaviour.
- Make informed decisions and solve problems effectively, considering diverse perspectives and organizational goals.
The above is not intended to be an exhaustive list of activities and you may be required to undertake other reasonable tasks or duties requested.
Qualifications
Essential:
- Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA) with significant post qualification experience in a senior role.
- Experience of working with and advising programme leadership teams on complex financial matters.
- Excellent financial skills gained in a complex organisation, of significant size and responsibilities.
- Extensive experience in financial planning, reporting, forecasting, and analysis as applied to major programmes.
- Effective communications skills with ability to analyse, interpret, and communicate complex data to a wide audience outside of the finance function including programme delivery teams and other key senior stakeholders, and inspire confidence in taking relevant stakeholders methodically through complex financial information
- Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain effective relationships, work effectively across matrix teams and support senior stakeholders both internally and externally.
- Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and strategic thinking skills
- Ability to work in a complex, fast-moving and evolving environment.
Desirable:
- Extensive experience as a business partner, dealing with technical and scientific customers.
- Experience working in a matrix and project-based environment, and with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
- Experience working in both public and private sectors.
Additional Information
As part of your application, please submit your CV, supported with a Covering Letter detailing your relative knowledge and experience for the role.
A full list of our benefits can be found here https://careers.ukaea.uk/life-at-ukaea/employee-benefits/.
We welcome talented people from all backgrounds who want to help us achieve our mission. We encourage applications from under-represented groups, particularly from women in STEM, people from Black British Caribbean and African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi British, and other ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and neurotypical individuals. Our Executive team, supported by our 'Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion' (EDI) and Wellbeing and our EDI Networks actively promote Inclusion and takes steps to increase diversity within our organisation. 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.
For applicants applying from outside the United Kingdom or those who have spent time outside the UK in the last five years, please visit the following link for information on criminal records checks: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants If your country of residence or previous residence is not listed on the website or if the UK Government does not have information on obtaining a criminal records check from that state, we regret to inform you that we cannot process your application.
