Finance Business Partner
Application Deadline: 5 June 2026
Department: Finance
Employment Type: Permanent – Full Time
Location: London
Reporting To: Hannah Jende
Compensation: £70,000 / year
Description
Salary: £70,000
Bonus: Discretionary
Location: Kings Cross, London (Tuesdays-Thursdays – 3 days in our office, Monday + Friday – anywhere)
Employment Type: Permanent, full time
ARIA is a new kind of R&D funding agency. We fund scientists and engineers to pursue research at the edge of the possible. From climate change to AI, society faces enormous challenges and opportunities that can be uniquely addressed by science and technology. ARIA was created to activate the UK’s world‑class R&D in new ways, so we can meet these head on.
We are growing our team to develop bold new approaches that can scale – from programmes to systems, processes and everything in between. If that sounds fun, come and build ARIA with us.
Learn more about how we work.
Role Summary
You will be one of our first Finance Business Partners working closely with the Programme Directors and the wider ARIA team to help shape and deliver programmes. This role will report to the Finance Director and aid ARIA’s Programme Directors in the financial management of a number of ARIA Programmes. This will span programmes both in pre‑award discovery and post‑award management, and in each case you will ensure accurate and regular reporting and re‑forecasting of the programmes. Working as an integral part of a small team, and with significant exposure to ARIA’s Executives, you will help ARIA deliver professional excellence within its finance operations.
What you’ll do
The scope of the role will evolve as ARIA continues to grow, but will broadly involve the following:
Pre‑award (25%)
- Work alongside Programme Directors and their teams in capturing evolving requirements as they design, plan and implement the full delivery of the programmes
- Review funding applicants’ cost templates for consistency, accuracy and value for money
- Support the development of new funding models, including commercial analysis, granted to ARIA via its freedoms in the ARIA Act
Post‑award (50%)
- Build trusted and effective post‑award financial management support to Programme Directors
- Manage the relationship with external grant and contract recipients, ensuring that all invoice, reporting and audit requirements have been met
- Ensure that ARIA’s Programme Directors have visibility into reliable and transparent financial data on all Programme spend
- Execute accurate programme re‑forecasting models
Other (25%)
- Boost the Finance team’s developing AI and automation initiatives
- Feed into ARIA’s evolving data roadmap, enabling the rich data collected from Creators to inform cross‑portfolio insights
- Lead on adhoc projects that boosts the Finance team in scaling to meet ARIA’s ambitions
Who you are
Essential Criteria
A successful candidate will bring many of the following to the role:
- Highly numerate with a high level of attention to detail
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Experience of working as a business partner to multiple programmes or different business units
- Ability to balance the trade‑offs between Finance governance and programme priorities
- Background in external audit, commercial finance, financial accounting or management accounting
- High level of budgeting/forecasting or FP&A experience
- Ability to manage own workload and priorities
- Adaptable mindset and comfortable with working in a fast changing environment within a small, highly‑performing team
Qualifications
- Fully qualified (ACCA/CIMA or equivalent)
Desirable Criteria
- Experience of building financial plans with scenario planning
- Worked in mission‑compelled organisations that frequently require trade‑off decisions, including third sector
- Comfortable with working in new scenarios with an adaptive mindset
- Experience working within Finance governance structures, including internal and external audit and Audit Committees
- Has used a diverse range of systems associated with start‑ups and scale‑ups, including Google suite and data visualisation systems such as Tableau or Power BI.
Benefits
- 27 days annual leave provision, with the option to buy/sell additional days
- Hybrid working arrangements; 60% in office / 40% at home
- Supportive environment for learning and development opportunities
- Enhanced family leave arrangements
- A free and confidential 24/7 employee assistance programme
- Life Assurance
- 2 days of paid volunteer days
- 5% defined contribution pension scheme with Smart Pension
- Cycle to Work scheme
- An excellent office location in Kings X, London
We make every effort to accommodate reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process. Please notify us if you require any accommodations and we will strive to support you.
ARIA adopts a highly considered approach to ethical and social responsibility. You can read our policy. Our research and development activity will abide by the 3Rs principle. You can read about those.
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