Senior Finance Officer

Department

Finance

Location

Joseph Priestley Building

Salary

£38,050 to £44,131 per annum

Permanent

Post Type

Full Time

Release Date

21 November 2025

Closing Date

23.59 hours GMT on Sunday 07 December 2025

Reference

F125006

Birmingham City University is seeking an experienced and highly organised Senior Finance Officer to join our Finance team to support Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). This is an excellent opportunity for an ambitious finance professional to play a key role in supporting the University's strategic objective to grow our KTP portfolio.

In this role, you will provide high-quality financial and accountancy support, contributing to the preparation of funded project reports and ensuring that central University departments and projects operate within effective financial control systems.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support financial management across a portfolio of corporate projects.
• Provide costings, financial advice, and input to project working groups.
• Contribute to post-project appraisals and evaluations.
• Ensure expenditure is monitored accurately, with appropriate activity reporting and data controls in place.
• Support the completion of statutory returns and year-end processes, including reconciliations, analysis, and notes to accounts.
• Prepare and complete corporate and statutory returns, including as required submissions to regulatory returns and the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
• Support the planning and management of budgets and forecasts, arranging regular monitoring meetings with budget holders.
• Provide full budgeting and forecasting support to University departments, ensuring compliance with University policies and procedures.
• Maintain accurate expenditure forecasting and performance monitoring systems.
• Ensure all budgets and transactions are accurately recorded within the University's finance systems.
• Undertake regular reviews to ensure transactions are correctly coded and recharges or corrections are processed appropriately.

Person Specification:

• Part-qualified accountant or looking to start a recognised finance qualification (CCAB or CIMA).
• Demonstrable and up-to-date experience providing comprehensive financial and accountancy support, ideally including project accounting within a large or complex organisation.
• Knowledge and understanding of costing and resource allocation models in the sector would be adventageous.
• Understanding of and ideally experience in a business partnering approach to finance support.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex financial information clearly and confidently.
• Strong influencing and problem-solving skills with the ability to build effective working relationships.
• Advanced IT skills, including Microsoft Office, Excel, and experience using finance information systems.
• Highly organised, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Confident interpreting financial data, producing accurate reports, and presenting information clearly.

Why Join Us:

At Birmingham City University, we pride ourselves on being a diverse, innovative, and inclusive community with over 30,000 students from more than 100 countries. As part of our Finance team, you'll play a vital role in supporting the University's continued growth, sustainability, and financial excellence.

If you're a motivated finance professional who thrives on delivering results and is looking to progress your career in a supportive and forward-thinking environment, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply today and take the next step in your finance career with Birmingham City University.

The appointed candidate will normally be employed through our subsidiary company BCU Support Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Birmingham City University. Appointees with prior LGPS membership who wish to enter the LGPS scheme will be able to do so and will be employed by Birmingham City University directly.

Birmingham City University is deeply committed to equality, diversity, and inclusivity at all levels in the organisation, and to addressing underrepresentation in our workforce to ensure we are truly representative of the community we serve. We welcome applications from applicants from all backgrounds and communities for this role, and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic applicants.

The University is proudly Disability Confident. This means amongst other things that we commit to offering a guaranteed interview to disabled applicants who fully meet the essential criteria for each role.