Job Description

Details

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Reference number

417077

Salary

68,525
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP

Job grade

Grade 7
UKRI Band G

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

UKRI - Finance

Type of role

Finance

Working pattern

Full-time

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

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Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information

Location

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Swindon

About the job

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Job summary

Purpose of the role

Lead the BBSRC Finance Business Partnering (FBP) Team, providing strategic financial leadership across BBSRC's programmes, institutes, and capital investments. The role is responsible for delivering accurate, risk-informed financial forecasts, ensuring robust stewardship of public funds, and aligning financial planning with BBSRC's strategic goals. Working closely with UKRI central finance and other council FBP teams, the postholder plays a key role in strengthening financial insight, governance, and decision-making across the bioscience portfolio.

Job description

Key Areas of Accountability

Leadership / teamwork

Lead, develop, and motivate the BBSRC FBP Team to provide high-quality business partnering and strategic finance advice. Build strong relationships with the BBSRC Executive Leadership Team (ELT), Senior Leadership, and staff across BBSRC and UKRI Finance. Act as a senior advisor to the BBSRC ELT on financial risks, opportunities, and investment trade-offs, helping shape decisions at the highest level. Lead strategic finance input into BBSRC's corporate planning process, ensuring financial plans are aligned with organisational priorities and the UKRI funding framework. Promote strong financial ownership and performance accountability across the organisation. Drive alignment between financial and non-financial planning, working closely with programme, science strategy, and corporate planning colleagues. Represent Finance at Executive meetings, Boards, and Committees. Collaborate with FBP teams in other UKRI councils and with UKRI central finance teams to strengthen integration, share best practice, and deliver cross-council consistency. Champion improvements in financial planning capability, including training, tools, and continuous improvement across the BBSRC finance community. Provide visible leadership within UKRI Finance, modelling strong professional standards and behaviours.


Delivery / programmes / projects / process

Oversee BBSRC's 490m+ budget, ensuring plans are affordable, risk-adjusted, and deliverable. Lead the financial planning, forecasting, and reporting cycles, providing timely and accurate insight for BBSRC ELT decision-making. Develop monthly and quarterly finance reports, identifying the in-year and projected outturn position, highlighting risks and opportunities, and supporting corrective action. Lead BBSRC's input into UKRI Spending Review planning, including scenario modelling and long-term financial strategy. Manage the demand pipeline of programme resource funding requests, ensuring high-quality business cases and transparent prioritisation. Provide robust financial assurance and governance for BBSRC's major capital, infrastructure, and transformation investments. Ensure compliance with UKRI, DSIT, and public sector financial policies and control frameworks. Deliver the financial aspects of business cases and provide leadership in shaping wider case content, ensuring value-for-money and alignment with strategy. Contribute to financial modelling, risk appraisal, and contingency planning to support organisational resilience.


Other

Support cross-functional working across BBSRC and UKRI, helping to embed integrated planning and delivery approaches. Promote the role of the finance function in achieving public value, sustainability, and evidence-based decision-making. Actively participate in UKRI finance leadership forums, contributing to shared improvement priorities and development of the finance profession. Lead cultural and capability transformation in the BBSRC FBP Team in line with UKRI Finance Strategy and Government Finance Function standards.

Person specification

Essential skills, qualifications and experience

(S) - Assessed at shortlisting

(I) - Assessed at interview

(S&I) - Assessed at both shortlisting and interview

Qualifications:

Qualified Accountant (ACA/CIMA/ACCA/CIPFA) (S) High level understanding of accounting and finance and demonstrable experience of working in senior finance roles and delivering effective financial management. (S) High level competency of IT systems and applications including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access, with focus on exceptional Excel skills. (I) Strong experience of month and year-end processes - accruals and prepayment calculation, variance analysis etc. (S&I) Highly numerate with the ability to provide insightful analysis on complex issues, communicating the key elements to effectively deliver projects and influence decision making at a strategic level. (I) Experience of working strategically to balance the conflicting demands of multiple stakeholders whilst protecting the integrity and ownership of financial processes. (I) Strong experience of working as part of a wider-business, consulting with senior stakeholders and effectively 'partnering' with stakeholders to meet organisational and financial objectives. (I) Significant experience in provision of high quality written and verbal advice suitable for executive and senior level decision makers. (S) Proven experience in the preparation of budgets, forecasts and financial plans. (I) Understanding of the role of governance, risk management and assurance in project delivery (I)

Skills and abilities:

Ability to lead and motivate a team to deliver high standards of service. High level written and oral communication skills. Personal resilience and a confident approach, willing to apply good judgement to solve issues and find solutions. Able to form effective, collaborative relationships with senior stakeholders. Ability to respond calmly under pressure and to make impartial and well-considered judgments in complex situations. Good organisational skills, able to manage and prioritise own and others' workload and meet deadlines in a very timely manner.

Benefits

We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package! We are committed to supporting employees' development and promote a culture of continuous learning! A list of benefits below;

An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme 30 days' annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privilege days (full time equivalent) Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities Employee assistance programme, providing confidential help and advice Flexible working options

Please click here for more details on the Benefits of working for UKRI - UKRI

Benefits

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Alongside your salary of 68,525, UK Research and Innovation contributes 19,851 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Learning and development tailored to your role An environment with flexible working options A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

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Selection process details

1st Interview incl presentation.


Interviews will either take place remotely via Teams or in person face to face.



Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check .



See our vetting charter .
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:


UK nationals nationals of the Republic of Ireland nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020 Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

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Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

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Job contact :

Name : Recruitment Team Email : recruitment@ukri.org
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Recruitment team

Email : recruitment@ukri.org

Further information

https://fa-evzn-saasfaukgovprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/UKRI-Careers/job/1094