Job Description

Position Details

Finance Office

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,062 to £31,900, with potential progression once in post to £35,883

Grade: 5

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 10th June 2026

Our offer to you

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-art sports 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

Background

Achieving the global ambitions of our University strategy depends on our people - and we are proud of our highly talented and engaged professional services colleagues.Our culture is ambitious and high-performing, but also supportive and inclusive.Career progression is encouraged, and you will have the opportunity to take responsibility for your own professional development and wellbeing.We actively support collaboration within and across disciplines and roles.Our staff have high levels of engagement and pride in the University.

Roles at this level provide authoritative professional advice across a range of activities and/or will lead and manage a diverse team(s) and resources.You will use your professional skills to resolve problems where the solution is not immediately apparent.Significant evaluation and independent thought is therefore required to resolve ambiguity.You will have wide discretion to decide on direction whilst ensuring activities are broadly consistent with operational policies. You will be able to influence policy through advising on the impact of policy change and implementation in your area of work.You will need to assess the impact of your activities across your area, with related areas and to ensure they fit with the broader objectives of the University.

Department overview

The Finance Business Partnering team sits within the Financial Services department which also includes the FP&A and Corporate Accounting teams. The team are responsible for running a reliable and responsive Financial Business Partnering function that provides the CFO, Deputy Director of Finance, the Senior Management Team across the university with incisive, value-add financial support and analysis which facilitates effective decision making.

Reporting to a Senior Finance Business Partner, this role will support the Finance Business Partnering team in providing management information to a range of Colleges and Professional Services. It is responsible for the preparation and consolidation of monthly accounts and communication of that information to key stakeholders.

To deliver an effective and efficient financial service across a range of financial and management accounting activities the post holder has responsibility for ensuring that the data provided is accurate, timely and consistent and that reports provided are clear and easily understood. Working within the business partnering teams the role holder will gain an understanding of the business to ensure the integrity of data and information provided to budget holders enables them to manage their budgets effectively and support financial decision making.

They will also work closely with the FP&A and Corporate Accounting Teams to ensure finance data is consistent and accurate for both reporting, but also to ensure the accounting treatment is correctly applied.

Main Duties

• Support in preparation of the relevant College or Professional Departments budgets and forecasts, including preparing data and analysis, liaising with budget holders and producing commentary
• Produce data on resource allocation, cost optimisation and staffing decisions
• Review balances and variances to ensure the income and expenditure for the budget area is reported accurately and consistently against the budget set and to agreed accounting principles.
• Responsibility for the preparation of accounts ensuring all deadlines are met and that budget holders are adhering to financial regulations and accounting practices.
• Highlighting where spending is in line with budget or plans.
• Liaising with budget centre contacts and Finance Office staff to resolve day to day queries or issues identified through monitoring and producing ad-hoc financial data as deemed necessary.
• Undertake balance sheet reconciliations.
• Producing ad-hoc financial data as deemed necessary.
• Understanding and interpretation of management information for use in business decisions related to finance level initiatives and reviews.
• Support discussions and answer questions about data and reports across Finance and relevant budget centres.
• Support the management, development and implementation of operational processes and systems.
• Delivering improvements to the monitoring of financial performance indicators to ensure targets are set.
• Identifying inefficiencies in ways of working and support in identifying effective process improvements.
• Providing knowledge and advice on best practice relating to all aspects of accountancy, financial processes and management information.
• Supports equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others. Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to A Level standard, or equivalent level 3 qualification such as a Level 3 NVQ, or level 3 national diploma or relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
• Minimum of grade C/4 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent.
• Experience of working in a similar accounting role.
• Part-qualified accountant and either actively, or a willingness to, studying for a CCAB/CIMA qualification.
• Ability to work with different stakeholders
• Experience of producing financial reports
• Team player, with exceptional interpersonal skills, able to work with a diverse and broad range of stakeholders across the organisation. Demonstrable ability to influence.
• Good communication skills, able to communicate clearly, concisely, accurately and in ways that promote understanding, to both finance and non-finance specialists.
• Highly proficient IT skills, especially the wider MS Office suite of programmes including excel and PowerPoint. The post holder should also be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
• Ability to work flexibly with conflicting demands so that work is scheduled in order to meet changing priorities and deadlines.
• Proven ability to plan ahead and anticipate requirements, proactively planning own to manage time effectively, progress tasks concurrently and work to deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills. The postholder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
• A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues.
• A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self-motivating approach.
• Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions work.
• Ability to understand policy and procedures and how to apply these.
• Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
• Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

DBS required

The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.

Informal enquiries to Liz Gaynor, email: e.gaynor@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 everyoneon our website