Research Finance Officer
Newcastle, GB
Salary: £32,080.00 - £33,002.00 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: 26 April 2026
The Role
Are you ready to take the next step in your finance career at a world-leading Russell Group University? We’re looking for a proactive and detail-oriented Research Finance Officer to join our dedicated Research Finance team.
Based within the University’s Finance department, you’ll play a vital role in supporting the financial management of externally funded research projects across two diverse and innovative faculties — Science, Agriculture & Engineering (SAgE) and Medical Sciences.
This is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of cutting-edge research, collaborating with academics and professional services colleagues to ensure projects are financially sound, compliant, and delivered successfully.
At Newcastle University, you’ll join a supportive team in an environment that values continuous improvement and professional development. You’ll be part of a vibrant, research-intensive community making a real difference regionally and globally.
Informal enquiries are welcome and should be addressed to Wayne Younger, wayne.younger@newcastle.ac.uk.
This role is full time, fixed term for 12 months.
Interviews will be held on Friday 8th May
Key Accountabilities
- Provide advice and guidance related to the application of post award finance across the Faculty and ensure compliance with agreed University / Faculty standards.
- Support the implementation of an effective post award finance and project costing
- Assisting the Faculty Finance Project Business Partners, contribute to the continued development of financial reports specifically to support accurate financial monitoring of projects.
- Ensure effective control and adherence to both University and external sponsor’s regulations, policies and procedures.
- Work collaboratively with the Faculty Research teams to deliver a flexible, proactive and seamless Research Support network for the academic community.
- Widen the general understanding of financial issues related to projects by the sharing of best practice.
- Working with other key members of Finance e.g. the Contract Financial Management team and Management Accountants to ensure adherence to regulations and to share best practice.
- Undertake any other duties of a relevant nature as required.
The Person
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Demonstrable experience of providing financial support which should include management accounting/reporting, including financial management of projects.
- Ability to analyse financial data, identify variances, and contribute to accurate and timely financial reporting.
- Strong Excel skills and knowledge for data handling, reconciliation, and reporting.
- Ability to clearly explain financial information and processes to non-finance staff, supporting informed decision-making within academic and research teams.
- Ability to manage multiple tasks, maintain accurate records, and ensure compliance with procedures in a research environment.
- Experience of working effectively in a large and complex organisation to enable successful collaboration between university stakeholders
- Experience of SAP or other in-house financial systems is desirable.
Attributes and Behaviour
- Embraces change, reviewing and revising plans to meet with changing circumstances, changing ways and policies in light of new information.
- Develops and implements new ideas, supporting others during change building on others ideas and suggestions and enterprising in approach.
- Has a clear understanding of individual or group motives, making time to listen and clarify understanding of others to avoid misinterpretation.
- Communicates effectively, using appropriate tools and methods tailoring content of communication to the audience, changing style, tone and format appropriately.
- Maintains flexibility in work plans to allow for changing circumstances whilst working in a planned and structured way.
- Plans workload and tasks in a systematic way, ensuring all activities are completed on time using systems and tools to ensure records and audit trails are clear and up to date.
Qualifications
- Education to at least A level standard (minimum 3 x grades A-C) OR equivalent standard by experience
- It is desirable that you are AAT qualified/part-qualified (Association of Accounting Technicians) or equivalent.
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 Gold 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: 29257