Finance Business Partner - Ed City

We are looking for a qualified or part-qualified accountant to join Ark’s finance team as a Finance Business Partner, with a focus on supporting our EdCity development project. This is a vital role for us and requires a person with excellent commercial knowledge and drive, alongside technical skills including cashflow modelling, who enjoys working as part of a busy team, has excellent organisational skills and meticulous attention to detail.

This role requires the Finance Business Partner for EdCity to have an ability to see the value in the information they are providing and to inspire others to make use of it. They will be responsible for preparing monthly management accounts and regular reforecasts. This is a customer service facing role and the successful candidate must be prepared to adapt their ways of working to meet the evolving needs and the ventures, to ensure a high-quality service whilst adhering to Ark’s financial processes, policies and procedures.

The Finance Business Partner for EdCity will report into Finance Director for Ark and Ventures. This role is currently operating hybrid working in our West London Office on a permanent basis working full time.

First-round interviews will take place virtually w/c Monday 28^th April and second-round interviews will take place in person w/c Monday 5^th May.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work with the EdCity Director on the service charge forecasting and scenario planning as we market the building to new tenants.
• Support with financial planning by leading on and/or inputting into budgets and forecasts, longer term financial models and other analytical reports as required. Analyse, comment on and challenge proposed plans throughout the process.
• Become a trusted business partner able to provide robust yet supportive challenge to operational staff.
• Develop effective working relationships that influence and challenge senior management so that the role of Finance Business Partner is a valued and integral part of the organisation.
• Lead on preparing month-end management accounts for all areas of responsibility, ensuring delivery of timely, accurate and robust reporting of financial performance against budget, forecasts and KPIs.
• Improve the financial confidence and competency of budget holders by providing timely financial analysis and reports, and meeting monthly to ensure they understand their finances and can make effective, informed decisions in the best interest of their venture.
• Deliver relevant management commentary for distribution to the senior stakeholders and providing insightful information and analysis to stakeholders.
• Work as part of a team to streamline and simplify procedures to deliver relevant and accurate management information including, but not limited to, increased automation, more user-friendly reports, the development of KPIs and dashboards.
• Work closely with the Financial Controller to ensure key control accounts are regularly reconciled.
• Support the Financial Controller on quarterly and year-end procedures with ad hoc tasks required This includes but is not limited to preparing and posting journals, analytical review of financial results, liaising with the business areas to ensure they understand requirements, providing supporting calculations, reconciliations and liaising with auditors.
• Work with the Finance team to ensure operation of an effective internal control framework to ensure compliance with statutory accounting, tax, and legal requirements.
• Train budget-holders on finance systems and processes.
• Prepare and present summary finance reports for Ark’s Board and Finance and Risk Committee, and venture Programme Boards.
• Provide insight and support on financial processes and controls, including innovations in the use of technology and IT software. Where appropriate, suggest and implement process improvements to ensure these remain fit-for-purpose.

Key Requirements:

• Right to work in the UK.
• Qualified or part-qualified accountant (ACA/ CIMA).
• An understanding of budgeting and forecasting plus variance reporting.
• Experience of preparing financial reports and presentations for various stakeholders.
• Experience of working with a range of internal and external partners including non-finance personnel.
• Experience of processing month end journals and reconciliations including prepayments and accruals.
• Property experience including service charge reporting.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to challenge and influence assertively and cooperatively, building relationships at multiple levels.
• Excellent numerical and financial skills.
• Competent computer skills, particularly Excel (including advanced modelling skills), Word, Outlook and financial databases.
• Proactive and self-motivated with good time-management skills, an ability to plan, manage and prioritise a varied workload and to take responsibility for issues through to resolution.
• Understands the importance of confidentiality and discretion.
• Strong organisational, project management and planning skills.
• Driven self-starter with a strong sense of personal responsibility.
• Meticulous attention to detail and capable of meeting strict deadlines.
• Able to follow instructions accurately, but make good judgments and lead when required.

• Our hybrid working model aims to offer the best of both worlds, striking the right balance between in-person collaboration and remote working. You will work a minimum of two days per week in our state-of-the-art office in West London allowing you to connect with colleagues, with the flexibility to work remotely, or in the office over the remaining days
• In addition to our current hybrid working arrangements, employees can request to work fully remotely for up to 10 working days a year, whether this be in the UK or abroad
• Our flexitime policy allows you to work your hours around our core hours of 10.00 - 16.00, helping you prioritise your work-life balance and personal commitments
• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays, rising with each year of service up to 30 days after 3-years’ service. This entitlement is pro rata for part time employees. This entitlement excludes bank holidays
• Full office closure between Christmas and New Year
• As an Ark employee, you will have the opportunity to be part of the TPT (The Pension Trust) scheme, our workplace pension scheme where we make an 11% contribution; you are not required to contribute towards this scheme unless you choose to
• Access to high-quality professional learning throughout your career, offering both face-to-face sessions and a bespoke online learning platform
• Access to Ark Rewards scheme offering savings from over 3,000 major retailers, interest-free loans available for season tickets or a bike, gym discounts offering up to 40% off your local gym and free eye tests.

Ark is an education charity that exists to make sure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a great education and real choices in life. Our network of 39 schools reaches traditionally underserved communities in Birmingham, Hastings, London and Portsmouth. We educate 30,000 pupils and have nearly 3,000 teaching staff across our network. We also incubate and scale innovative ventures, which we roll out beyond our network of schools for the benefit of teachers, pupils and the education system as a whole. Current Ventures include Ark Curriculum Plus, which equips teachers with the subject expertise needed to ensure students succeed, and Ark Start, a growing chain of nurseries offering affordable, high-quality early years education.

Recently, Ark moved to new offices at EdCity – a unique not-for-profit development in West London, in partnership with Hammersmith & Fulham council. EdCity is designed to bring mission-aligned organisations together to focus on improving the lives of children, especially through education. It offers leased offices, a range of venues for training and events, and an innovation hub for the education sector to connect, collaborate and learn together.