Job Description

We're proud to be recognised as one of the Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equity for the fourth year running.Network Rail operates and maintains the railway infrastructure 24/7 365 days a year. Our purpose is to connect people and goods with where they need to be and our vision is for a simpler, better, greener railway.The 'North West Route' is part of the 'North West and Central Region' and runs from Cheshire in the south to Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Cumbria in the North, with the two Northern Powerhouse cities of Liverpool and Manchester on the route, as well as the tourist destinations of Blackpool and the Lake District.Major stations across the route include Crewe, Liverpool Lime Street, Preston, Manchester Victoria, and Manchester Piccadilly.We're a very busy region, with 1.3 million passengers travelling on our rails every weekday and 700,000 tonnes of freight moved a week. With 571 stations in the North West & Central region, we make up a quarter of Britain's railway system.For us, 'Diversity' means recognising differences between people while valuing the contribution they make. 'Inclusion' means creating safe and welcoming workplaces with fair cultures that encourages innovative and fresh ways of thinking.We value the commitments you may have outside of work and will consider flexible and hybrid working applications. If we can make it work - we will! .Brief DescriptionAn exciting 12 month fixed-term Finance Business Partner opportunity has become available in the Northwest Route FP&A team.We are seeking a detail-oriented FP&A Analyst with foundational knowledge in financial planning and analysis, budgeting, forecasting, and experience with basic data analytics tools such as Power Query and Power BI. The ideal candidate will assist in driving key financial processes, providing financial insights to support business decision-making, ensuring accurate financial reporting, and providing various summary reports for stakeholder business review meetings.You will be engaging with a multitude of stakeholders around the business, including Route FD, Route Director, Heads of Maintenance and Operations.You will have a working knowledge of Power BI and an ability to manipulate and interpret data from multiple systems and transform into relevant insights for stakeholders.*Please note this is a 12 month secondment/fixed term contract and may have the potential to be extended*About the role (External)Financial Planning & Analysis:Support the annual budgeting and quarterly re-forecasting (RFs) processes by gathering, analysing, and consolidating financial data.Develop and maintain financial models to project future performance and help assess potential risks and opportunities.Analyse, manipulate and interpret historical financial data to identify trends and variances, offering insights for improvement.Reporting & Data Analysis:Assist in preparing monthly, quarterly, and annual financial reports, presenting variance analysis, and key financial metrics.Use Power Query and Excel to extract, transform, and load data from various financial systems for analysis.Leverage Power BI dashboards and reports that visualize key financial performance indicators (KPIs).Financial Insights:Analyse financial performance to identify trends or anomalies.Present actionable insights and recommendations to management to improve efficiency, controlling costs, and optimising resource allocation.Collaboration:Work closely with cross-functional teams (e.g. Delivery Units, Regional finance teams and X-Route Finance stakeholders) to collect relevant financial data and ensure accuracy in reporting.Assist in identifying opportunities to improve financial processes and reporting mechanisms.Ad-Hoc Analysis:Provide ad-hoc financial analysis and reporting support as needed for special projects, business initiatives, or strategy meetings.About the role:Every day will be different, but you can expect to be involved in the following activities:1. Lead and provide financial advice and guidance to senior budget holders to understanding the impact of the period results and forecasts against budgets so they can understand their business better.2. Be the expert in the function on accounting practices and advise on financial results and forecasts for budget holders, including preparing accruals, transfers, and adjustments to validate accounts are accurate.3. Deliver expert and accurate business review information and reporting to highlight any significant issues with both financial and other business results to enable informed decision making.4. Engage and influence senior members of the team to help them understand their financial position and use professional expertise to guide in initiatives to improve business performance.5. Build detailed plans to manage and develop the production of business plans and budgets to enable good corporate governance and value add analysis for senior leaders6. Model and analyse the cost base to identify and drive opportunities for efficiencies to achieve cost targets.In order to be successful in this role, we would like you to have/to be:xc2xb7 Demonstrate strong understanding of business needs and relevant application of accounting standards.xc2xb7 Expert knowledge and experience of creating and maintaining accounts and annual budget.xc2xb7 Significant experience within relevant finance disciplines.xc2xb7 Strong excel skills and use of data manipulation.xc2xb7 Strong interpersonal and communication skills.xc2xb7 Ability to interpret technical accounting regulations into everyday language.xc2xb7 Demonstrable effective influencing skills at a senior level.xc2xb7 Significant understanding of financial control and risk.xc2xb7 Excellent technical finance and accounting knowledge.We would also like, but it isn't crucial to have/to be:xc2xb7 Understanding of project management principles and experience of managing complex projectsxc2xb7 Experience of Oracle based systems.xc2xb7 Membership (or working towards a membership) of a relevant accounting body (CIMA/ACCA)xc2xb7 Degree or equivalent qualification in finance and accounting or business management or experienceHow to apply (External)We are a Disability Confident Leader and want to make the most of the skills and talents disabled people bring to the workplace - skills and talents we need in our businessSalary and benefits:xc2xb7 Salary: Band 4C, starting at xc2xa343,588 and increasing to xc2xa350,018

• Pro-rata annual leave entitlement (28 days)
• My benefits - our discounted online shopping site
• A range of discounted offers including, childcare vouchers, healthcare offers - cycle to work, healthcare club discounted membership and other benefits.
• Subsidies of up to 75% on rail and underground season tickets
• 75% discount on leisure travel
• A choice of contributory pension schemes
• 2 weeks paid reserve leave for our Armed Forces community.

Want to find out more about what fantastic benefits we offer?Network Rail adheres to a structured pay framework, any salary offered will be within the pay range advertised.All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks.Closing date: 2nd May 2025. Late applications will not be accepted.Click 'apply now' to apply.Safe behaviour is a requirement of working for Network Rail. Applicants should be able to demonstrate their awareness of our

Network Rail