Senior Project Accountant

UKCEH is looking for an experienced Senior Project Accountant to join our team of talented individuals, contributing to scientific discovery and generating the data, insights and solutions that researchers, businesses and governments need to solve complex environmental challenges.  

Working at UKCEH is rewarding. Our science makes a real difference, enabling people and the environment to prosper, and enriching society. We are the custodians of a wealth of environmental data, collected by UKCEH and its predecessors over the course of more than 60 years.   

As a valued member of our team, you’ll get:  

• 27 days annual leave, rising to 29 days after five years   
• 10% employer pension contribution  
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave (subject to qualifying requirements)  
• 24 hour, 365-day access to support with physical, mental, social, health or financial issues plus access to our trained Welfare Officers  
• Flexible working opportunities  

And much more…  

You’ll be joining a friendly, supportive, and progressive team of around 20, working across all four of our sites. They foster an open and collaborative way of working together, ensuring our values of Excellence, Integrity and Teamwork are embedded in everything they do.  

We need your accountancy skills, allied with an ability to communicate with non-finance personnel, to support our environmental scientists to manage finances across multiple projects. Typically, the contract value of these projects can range from £5k to over £2m. The projects you’ll work on will be varied, scientifically impactful and interesting, their focus could be within the UK or international and sometimes both!  Full training will be given on all our systems and processes.  

You will collaborate closely with your talented team of project accountants and support officers, providing guidance on project-related tasks and ensuring the accuracy and integrity of data. 

You’ll be joining a leading independent, not-for-profit research institute that’s committed to recruiting talented people like you, progressing your career and giving you the support you need to thrive at UKCEH.  

Your main responsibilities will include:   

Team Leader: 

• Lead team of Project (Finance) Support Officers and Project Accountants 
• Support project accountants with project invoicing and provision of financial cost statements to customers 
• Drive data integrity and accuracy for portfolio of projects 

Accounting Lead: 

• Attend and contribute to Project Accounting and Support senior management team (SMT) meetings, highlighting issues/ areas for development and working to improve processes 
• Support year end project processing and ad-hoc financial processes through the year (e.g. accounting process changes/ structure changes) 
• Monthly revenue recognition. 
• At project level, annual statutory audit support and support of customer audits (working with project compliance team) 
• Project revision and closure approval 

Jointly with Project Accountants: 

• Provide accurate and timely project costing/ pricing to support bid submission and drive financial sustainability 
• Financial approval of bids to support UKCEH financial objectives and with consideration of wider financial issues e.g. VAT 
• Financial approval at project set up to ensure project finances are in line with contractual obligations, revenue recognition policy is correctly applied, and project set up is consistent with customer and external audit requirements 

For the role of Senior Project Accountant, we’re looking for somebody who is:  

• Fully or part qualified accountant (alternatively, extensive experience working in Project Finance within an academic, scientific or research environment will be considered) 
• IT literate, Microsoft Office with intermediate to advanced Excel skills 
• Has excellent communication skills, with the ability to effectively translate financial information and concepts to non-financial budget holders, building good working relationships across the organisation 
• Has the ability to plan, organise, and prioritise work effectively, demonstrating good time management skills 
• Solution focused and able to contribute well to problem-solving 

Desirable skills: 

• Experience of using Workday system 
• Experience working within academic, scientific or research environments 

If we’ve just described you, we’d love to meet. Apply now.  

We welcome applications from international candidates; however, at present, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role.