Faculty Finance Business Partner

Salary: £35,608.00 - £37,694.00  per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 21 October 2025

The Role

We are looking for a highly motivated Finance Business Partner to provide a full financial management, advisory, and guidance service to the School of Engineering. You’ll play a crucial role in helping our academic and professional service leaders make informed decisions, manage budgets effectively, and deliver outstanding outcomes for students and colleagues.

This is a dynamic, high-impact role where you’ll partner closely with senior leaders, turning financial data into actionable insights that drive decision-making. You’ll lead the preparation of annual budgets, forecasts, and management accounts, present clear performance updates, develop business cases for strategic investments, and provide expert advice to build understanding across the School or Engineering. All while ensuring strong financial controls, compliance with policies, and a culture of best practice within the finance team.

We’re looking for someone with significant experience in management accounting and reporting within a complex organisation who is able to translate complex financial data into clear insights for non-finance colleagues. You must have a proactive, solutions focused mindset, and be able to work independently, whilst also being an enthusiastic team player.

If this sounds like you and you’re keen to advance your career in finance whilst helping to shape the future of a world class University, we’d love to hear from you. Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Janet Ford via janet.ford@ncl.ac.uk.

Please note this is a full time, fixed term maternity cover role until January 2027, and can be a secondment opportunity.

To apply, please ensure you attach a cover letter evidencing how your skills and experience aligns to the person specification within job description, along with a copy of your CV.

Key Accountabilities

• Provide key financial support to the Head of Faculty / PS Finance, Head of School / Head of Service and School / Service executive including regular reporting and presentation of performance
• Provide a pivotal role in the preparation of detailed annual budgets, plans and quarterly financial forecasts at a School / Service level and ensure compliance with agreed Faculty / PS standards
• Implement an effective budget and forecast review process at the School / Service level to meet the requirements of the Head and Deputy Head of Faculty / PS Finance and the Faculty PVC / Registrar  
• Assisting the Head and Deputy Head of Faculty / PS Finance, contribute to the continued development of financial reports across the Faculty/ PS to support accurate financial analysis and the production of commentaries
• Present and discuss management accounts with the School(s)/Service(s), review and summarise the results and recommend actions. Provide financial information on behalf of the School / Service to Faculty/ Registrar
• Bring forward and develop business cases and financial appraisals for investment cases on behalf of the School / Service 
• Provide advice to the School / Service and lead on financial related issues to enable School / Service staff to discharge their responsibilities effectively
• Ensure effective financial control and adherence to University policies and procedures is maintained within the School / Service
• Provide input, monitor and comment on Key Performance Indicators as agreed with Faculty / Registrar to inform management decisions by the Head of School / Service
• Widen the general understanding of financial issues within the School / Service by the preparation and delivery of courses / workshops
• Work within a team of Faculty / PS Finance Business Partners and other areas of the Finance Office to implement consistency and to share best practice
• To undertake any other duties of a relevant nature as required by the Head and or Deputy Head of Faculty / PS Finance. This includes the cover of other Finance Business partner roles as necessary

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Strong oral and written communication skills for financial information delivery across varying levels of understanding
• Advanced IT proficiency (e.g. Microsoft Office, SAP) and familiarity with data systems like data warehouses
• Significant experience in management accounting and reporting
• Skilled in analysing complex data using structured techniques and identifying trends
• Experienced in working within large, complex organisations to support cross-functional collaboration
• Competent in planning workloads, managing tasks, and maintaining accurate records and audit trails
• Effective communicator who tailors messages appropriately across various formats and audiences

Attributes and Behaviour

• Analytical mindset with the ability to identify key issues and probe deeper into data
• Organised and detail-oriented, with a structured and methodical approach to work
• Time-efficient and prioritises effectively to meet deadlines and objectives
• Customer-focused attitude, valuing collaboration and service excellence
• Clear, concise communicator who adapts tone and delivery to audience needs
• Positively engaged, taking ownership of tasks and showing commitment to improvement
• Understands organisational goals, sensitive to wider priorities, and aligned with team objectives

Qualifications

• Part or qualified CCAB Accountant or other relevant qualification with a minimum of 3 years’ experience, or equivalent standard by experience

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 28636

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