Regional Finance Assistant

Reports to: Senior Finance Manager

Location: North London (mixture of working from school mainly based in Wembley, but some likely travel to the rest of the region including Barnet and Acton)

Contract: Permanent

Pattern: Term Time only plus 2 weeks – 37.5 hours per week

Full Time Salary: £24,000 to £30,000 (depending on experience)

Closing date: 12/06/2023 at 10am

Interviews: w/c 12/06/2023

Term Time Only Salary: £21,799.77 to £27,249.71 (depending on experience)

About the role:

This is a great opportunity to join our Regional Finance Team to support Ark academies in North London.   This regional role will involve travel within the North London region where we have schools based in Ilford, Enfield, Wembley, Barnet, Paddington, White City and Acton.  You will have set days working in Wembley, Enfield and Barnet and the remainder will be supporting the rest of the region.  You will work closely with (and report to) the Senior Finance Manager and will also work with the relevant Principal and Finance leads at the school(s) you are supporting.

As Regional Finance Assistant, your role is an integral part of the schools in the region, responsible for ensuring high standards of financial integrity. Depending upon which school you are supporting, you will manage the daily and monthly financial processes in the school, ensuring compliance with the requirements of the Academies Financial Handbook.  Your duties in each school may vary slightly as you may be required to support the current Finance team(s) in place.

Key Responsibilities:

• Working closely with the (Senior) Finance Manager and Finance leads to ensure the continuing financial stability of the school
• Placing orders, receiving goods, and maintaining a professional relationship with suppliers
• Ensuring accurate and timely processing of purchase invoices and other documents using Concur and PS Financials accounting software, reconciling supplier statements, and preparing payment runs for authorisation
• Support other schools in the region as necessary

Support school finance teams where appropriate:

• Reconciling schools bank accounts, credit card statements and financial ledgers
• Operating petty cash; receiving, recording and banking monies paid into the school, ensuring all monies outstanding are collected
• Assisting the (Senior) Finance Manager or Finance leads with the preparation of month end and year end accounts
• Working with the Operations leads to ensure goods and services are processed in compliance with current and relevant procurement legislation, ensuring best value is achieved
• Assist with the administration of school’s parent payment system

Key Requirements:

• Strong organisational and time-management skills and the ability to delegate appropriately
• Ability to skilfully manage and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues and other stakeholders
• Ability to manage own time to enable multi-school regional working
• High standards and a keen eye for detail
• Keen to learn and further develop own skills

View the full job description and person specification here

About Ark

We’re an international charity, transforming lives through education. We exist to give every young person, regardless of their background, a great education and real choices in life. In the UK, we’re a network of 39 schools, educating around 28,500 pupils in areas where we can make the biggest difference and we’re recognised as one of the highest achieving academy groups in the country. We want to change the lives of children everywhere, not just in our own schools. So, we create and incubate Ventures designed not only to help pupils in Ark schools, but also to improve education systems.

You’ll be joining a group of like-minded, ambitious individuals who work collaboratively and are all committed to our core mission, that every child has the potential to succeed. Having just celebrated our 20^th anniversary, we are shaping our goals for the next 20 and there has never been a more exciting time to join us.

Benefits

• Holiday will be remunerated and included in the salary for this post
• Full office closure between Christmas and New Year
• A flexible approach to working with understanding and consideration for work life balance and personal commitments
• 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. Depending on your role you may also be entitled to LGPS which is a defined benefit scheme where you contribute a percentage based on how much you earn (as do we) in exchange for a guaranteed amount in your pension pot every year
• 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

How to Apply:

Apply with a CV and cover letter on our online recruitment portal. Applications to be submitted by Monday 12^th June 2023 at 10am but please note: we will be reviewing applications on an on-going basis and this advert may close earlier than advertised depending on the level of response.

This ATS application form should take no longer 20 minutes to complete. At any time, you can pause, save, and log back in. If you have any difficulty with meeting the deadline for application, please contact recruitment@arkonline.org

Interviews will be arranged as suitable candidates are identified, so early application is strongly advised.

Ark is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in its academies. In order to meet this responsibility, its academies follow a rigorous selection process to discourage and screen out unsuitable applicants.  

Ark requires all employees to undertake an enhanced DBS check. You are required, before appointment, to disclose any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. Non-disclosure may lead to termination of employment. However, disclosure of a criminal background will not necessarily debar you from employment - this will depend upon the nature of the offence(s) and when they occurred. To read more about Ark’s safer recruitment process, please click this link.