Research Projects Finance Administrator - Financial Services - 98448 - Band 400

Position Details
Finance Office

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time / Part Time considered starting salary is normally in the range £20,488 to £21,868. With potential progression once in post to £26,603 a year (pro rata)  

Band 400

Full time - 12 months

Closing date:  28 November 2021

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 including hybrid working.  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  

Job summary

This role will be based in the Project Finance team within the College of Medical and Dental Sciences Finance Office. The Project Finance team are responsible for the Post Award finance support to the Institutes that sit within MDS, from the point of award through to closure.
The post holder will have the responsibility of supporting the Project Finance team with the management of £220m worth of externally funded research grants and contracts per annum. Tasks will involve processing journals, project overrides, raising invoices, raising queries with the various finance teams and liaising with the College Institutes.   

Main duties

Working as part of the Project Finance Team responsible for providing Post Award finance support to Institutes SMT and Academics, related to externally funded research projects.
•    You will act as a point of contact to provide accurate and timely information and advice to internal and external customers and stakeholders on University processes and procedures, answering queries promptly, providing guidance and resolving queries from initial contact to resolution.  This will include recognising when queries need to be referred elsewhere. 
•    Regularly communicate relevant information to staff and external contacts for example the Principal Investigator on the project.
•    Process financial data monitoring accuracy, chasing up missing information, and escalating any issues as appropriate.  This will include: 
•    Processing Journals
•    Project Overrides
•    Raising Invoices
•    Use a variety of complex University systems and processes to research, manipulate, analyse and interpret sets of data, produce routine reports and complete ad-hoc system/process rectification tasks.  
•    Maintain working relationship with key stakeholders, fielding queries, receiving and dealing with any disputes or complaints and resolving promptly.
•    Offer advice and support to others on area of activity. 
•    Review processes and tasks and proactively offer suggestions for improvement and sharing best practice as appropriate. 
•    Supports equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
•    Ad-hoc jobs for the Team Leader, Line Manager and Assistant Finance Business Partner 

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience 

•    Some professional experience in a similar Finance role.
•    GCSEs to a minimum of grade C/4 in English and Mathematics grade C/4 minimum (or equivalent level 2 qualification).
•    Some relevant formal training (such as AAT, other Finance/Accountancy/Business qualifications) would be preferred but is not essential.
•    Excellent Financial and analytical skills.
•    Good IT skills with working knowledge of standard Microsoft Office software.
•    Ability to take responsibility for specific tasks, carrying out duties without needing to refer to others, with scope for some choice and using your own judgment.
•    Ability to work on your own initiative.
•    Ability to proactively contribute to improving processes and for proposing new ways of working.
•    Excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with others.
•    Well organised with the ability to prioritise work proactively, independently and as part of a team.
•    A good understanding of how to deliver excellent customer service. 
•    Experience of using and maintaining complex work systems e.g. finance record systems and an aptitude for learning new IT packages and systems.
•    The ability to cope with change in a fast moving, dynamic environment where change is often required immediately. 
•    An understanding of the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
•    The ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures and how to respond to issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

For informal inquiries please contact [email protected]

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.

 
 

Qualifications

 

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