Head of Finance and Planning Systems

Salary

The starting salary will be £50,253 per annum, on Grade G, depending on qualifications and experience.

Contractual hours

36.5

Package

Generous holiday allowances, flexible working, pension scheme and relocation package (if applicable).

Job category/type

IT and Digital

Date posted

17/10/2025

Job reference

Q09491

IT Services

This new full-time post is available from January 2026 on a permanent basis and offers the opportunity for hybrid working – some time on campus and some from home.

The university is developing a new ten-year strategy where digital ways of working will be central to delivering our vision and goals. The digital transformation will impact profoundly on our workplace design, the skills we develop, the way our students learn, and the way we work and collaborate, and we want to ensure that this transformation has our staff and students at its heart. We are investing in digital technology and skills development to strengthen our education, research, and partnerships, and to meet the needs of our community.

IT Services & Digital is central to all of this, and we are looking for people to join us who want to be part of this major transformation and part of changing the way we work and the way our students learn.

Why our staff love working here

• Flexible working opportunities
• 41 days annual leave(including bank holidays)
• Actively inclusive organisation ensuring equality and fairness for all
• Sector leading policies around maternity, adoption and shared parental leave (up to 26 weeks full pay), paternity leave (up to 6 weeks full pay) and a Fertility Treatment Policy
• Multiple wellbeing and health initiatives for staff
• Onsite gyms on all of our campus' and a cycle to work scheme
• Sustainability and the environment being at the heart of what we do
• Beautiful campus environment when working from either Exeter or Penryn
• Inspiring research that really makes a difference to the world

The role

The Head of Finance and Planning Systems role plays a central role in the execution of the IT Services and Digital strategy. It sits within the Business Technology Services (BTS) directorate in IT Services and has responsibility for the Finance and Planning Systems team, reporting to the Assistant Director of BTS.

BTS sits at the heart of IT Services and bridges the gap between IT and the business on matters relating to the provision and automation of critical business services. This currently includes Finance, HR, Planning and CRM systems and there are plans in place to broaden this remit to include key Estates and Education systems.

In addition to line management of a team of skilled Systems professionals, the role has responsibility for working with key stakeholders across the Finance and Professional Services divisions to deliver best-in-class Finance and Planning Systems, to support the 2030 strategy.

The role-holder ensures there is a prioritised roadmap of activity that enables the continuous improvement of our systems and guarantees safe and compliant day-to-day running of the platforms.

About you

You will be successful in this role if you have:

• Experience of large-scale Finance/ERP implementations in a large organisation
• Experience of leading teams, setting performance standards and targets, creating communities, and motivating others.
• A strong finance background, with a recognised finance qualification.
• Excellent leadership and stakeholder management skills with experience of managing relationships with senior managers in challenging environments.
• Demonstrable experience of having supported, developed and optimised business systems, with experience of change management, the software development lifecycle and project management methodologies.
• Experience working in Higher Education. This would be highly advantageous as would experience of products including Technology One and Anaplan.

Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification for full details of this role.

We will be reviewing applications as they come in, so please don't hesitate in applying, as we reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications.

The University of Exeter

We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 200 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 and QS World University Ranking We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, achieving a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2023, underpinned by Gold ratings for Student Experience and Student Outcomes.

Our world-leading research impact has grown more than any other Russell Group university in recent years, and we are home to some of the world's most influential researchers, seeking to answer some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today. More than 99 percent of our research is of international quality and 47 percent is world-leading (2021 Research Excellence Framework).

We encourage proactive engagement with industry, business and community partners to enhance the impact of research and education and improve the employability of our students. Read about our world leading research – Green Futures and how we are transforming education for a changing world. We are located in a beautiful part of the country and Exeter (a fast growing tech hub) is one of only a few UK cities to have been designated as a UNESCO Creative City

We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and welcome applications from service people.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

We are committed to ensuring reasonable adjustments are available for interviews and workplaces.

Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented within our working community.

With over 30,000 students and 7,000 staff from 150 different countries we offer a diverse and engaging environment where our diversity is celebrated and valued as a major strength. We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where all members of our community are supported to thrive; where diverse voices are heard through our engagement with evidence-based charter frameworks for gender (Athena SWAN and Project Juno for Physics), race equality (Race Equality Charter Mark), LGBTQ+ inclusion (Stonewall Diversity Champion) and as a Disability Confident employer.

Further information

For further information, please contact Adrian Sutton )

This role may be subject to additional background screening.