Junior Finance Business Partner - CSM

The opportunity

This is an exciting new role that was created to strengthen the Central St Martin’s Finance team at a time of sustainable growth. The successful candidate will be joining the friendly and supportive University of the Arts London (UAL) Academic Finance team that works with stakeholders across all the four UAL colleges. This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to the financial management and decision-making processes within a dynamic and creative environment.

You will play a crucial role in providing reliable financial and management information and customer focussed support to budget holders and stakeholders across Central St Martins (CSM). Collaborating closely with the CSM Head of Finance and CSM Finance Manager, you will be responsible for delivering comprehensive finance business partnering services. Your main responsibilities include supporting; annual budget setting, the financial year-end process, quarterly forecasting, monthly reporting and ensuring adherence to established principles and agreed timelines. You will also provide insightful commentaries and variance analysis to facilitate informed decision making.

Additionally, you will develop and maintain strong relationships with an assigned group of senior managers to understand their plans, deliverables, and operational challenges. You will contribute to the process improvements and the development of financial transparency, accountability, and engagement across the College. You will be able to assist in the enhancement of monthly reporting packs by evaluating reporting needs and proposing updates as required. Furthermore, you will conduct business analysis for course validations, new course development, resource allocations, and team structure changes.

About you

This versatile role will be suitable for someone who is actively studying towards a professional accounting qualification and is looking to further their skills and apply in practice what they have learnt. You will need to demonstrate relevant work experience and strong knowledge of financial controls and procedures. Experience in financial planning, budget setting, forecasting, and variance analysis is essential, along with the ability to produce user friendly management report within tight deadlines.

You should be a strong team-player who can also work independently without supervision and have a proven track record of offering and implementing improvements. Your strong planning and organisational skills will enable you to prioritise effectively and manage resources to achieve both short and long-term objectives. Additionally, you should have excellent oral and written communication skills, with the ability to convey complex financial information to non-finance staff in a clear and meaningful manner.

If this role sounds like the desired next step in your career but you feel that you do not cover every single one of the requirements, please apply and let us decide.

Please note that we might need to close the application process earlier if the number of applications reach a maximum number, so apply today.

Please check the JD for further details and if you have any queries about this role or need any reasonable adjustments for your application, please contact Hazel Bailey, Resourcing Adviser via email at PSOstaffrecruitment@arts.ac.uk.

What we offer

To recognise the hard work of our staff and their contributions, we provide a wide range of benefits – please check our careers site/Canvas for further information as conditions and exclusions apply:

▪ at least 31 days of annual leave in addition to bank holidays.
▪ generous defined benefit pension schemes (LGPS/TPS).
▪ flexible working and family-friendly policies for improved work-life balance.
▪ 2 days of paid volunteering leave for a UK registered charity.
▪ discounts including TOTUM, gyms, nursery and private healthcare insurance.
▪ continuous learning and development opportunities including free UAL Short Courses.
▪ season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme, free counselling via EAP and more! 

We are UAL

University of the Arts London (UAL) offers an extensive range of courses in art, design, fashion, communication and performing arts. We are a collegiate University spread across London with six Colleges, four Institutes and five Research Centres. UAL also has two subsidiary companies, delivering specialist activities – UAL Short Courses Ltd, and UAL Arts Temps Ltd.

We’re made up of all types of people, coming together in London, the world’s creative capital. We are designers, artists, performers, thinkers, researchers and makers. Our students, staff and graduates form a global network of creatives, entrepreneurs and leaders. Together, our ideas change the world. Because the world needs creativity.

We are ranked highly across the board. We are ranked first for specialist art and design, second in the world for Art and Design in the 2023 QS World University Rankings (for the fifth year in a row), ranked fifth in sustainability and two of our colleges were rated in the top three fashion schools in the world. 

Our culture

We have become one of the world’s most international Universities, welcoming over 22,000 students and 6,000 staff from 130 countries. And, as a global university, staff and students learn from different cultures and perspectives, which leads to new conversations and innovative work. At our very core, everything we do seeks to challenge the status quo by driving social purpose and standing up for what matters.

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds including those who may feel underrepresented in the workforce due to their socioeconomic circumstances such as those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (B.A.M.E.) backgrounds. We aim to be a university where everyone can be themselves and are supported to reach their full potential.

With our commitment to inclusion and diversity, we are proud to be a Race Equality Charter (REC) member to help us reduce barriers that negatively impacts B.A.M.E. staff, a Stonewall Diversity Champion to ensure all LGBTQ+ people are valued at work, a Disability Confident Scheme Committed employer and member of the Business Disability Forum which help us to improve the lives of disabled people in the workplace.