Financial Analyst

Finance Analyst

Salary: £50,000 - £60,000

Permanent, Full-time

Hybrid working – 2 days per week on site

A leading University is seeking a Finance Analyst to join its collaborative and high-performing finance team. This newly created role will be pivotal in ensuring the organisation delivers on its financial strategy, making it a fantastic opportunity for an ambitious individual eager to thrive in a dynamic, challenging environment where they can truly showcase their skills and make a meaningful impact.

About the role

As Finance Analyst, you’ll play a critical role in supporting the financial health and strategic direction of the organisation. You’ll analyse financial data, identify trends, and produce actionable insights to drive informed decision-making across departments and functions.

Your work will be integral to optimising performance, allocating resources efficiently, and meeting both short- and long-term financial objectives. Alongside your analytical expertise, you’ll serve as a key communicator of financial information – translating complex data into clear narratives and reports for stakeholders at all levels.

This is an exciting time to join, with opportunities to contribute to process improvements, systems enhancements, and transformation projects aimed at strengthening financial planning and reporting capabilities.

Key priorities in your first six months:

• Produce accurate, insightful financial analysis to support strategic decision-making
• Develop reports and dashboards that clearly communicate performance against KPIs
• Partner with colleagues across the organisation to improve the quality and efficiency of financial data and reporting
• Support the annual budgeting process and in-year forecasting cycles
• Contribute to process improvement and system optimisation initiatives within finance

About you

We’re looking for a part-qualified or newly qualified accountant (ACCA, ACA, CIMA) – or an individual with equivalent strong financial analysis experience – ideally gained within a complex organisation such as higher education, the public sector, or a large charity.

You’ll be highly numerate with strong Excel and data analysis skills, confident in working with senior, non-finance stakeholders, and able to explain financial information clearly. Experience in financial planning and reporting systems (e.g., Unit4, Agresso, Oracle) would be advantageous, as would a proactive, collaborative approach to problem-solving.