Finance Business Partner
- Hiring from
- United Kingdom
- Work type
- Hybrid
- Posted
- Sep 28, 2026
Are you a finance professional who wants to help support students in Further and Higher Education?
This role provides qualified financial support to either for SAAS expenditure.
As part of SAAS, a national public body responsible for delivering student support on behalf of the Scottish Government, the postholder will contribute to the effective financial management of a high volume, high impact service operating within a complex policy and governance environment.
Working within the Finance team, the role provides broad exposure across budgeting and forecasting, stakeholder engagement, influencing and challenge, product and project costing, and financial accounting.
It offers a high degree of autonomy and the opportunity to build strong relationships across the Scottish Government, supporting informed decision making and ensuring sound stewardship of public funds within the Scottish Government framework.
This role sits within the Business Partnering Team in the Finance team at SAAS and plays a key part in supporting the organisation’s financial stewardship and strategic delivery.
The team provides high quality financial reporting, analysis and advice across the organisation, ensuring robust financial management, appropriate treatment of expenditure and compliance with governance and control frameworks.
Responsibilities
General Job Particulars:
- Provision of high quality monthly financial reports to required timescales, providing accurate, relevant and timely management information.
- Provide financial advice and assistance to stakeholders, and build and maintain effective working relationships with business areas including with the wider Scottish Government.
- Contribute to the completion and quality assurance of input to corporate financial exercises in accordance with corporate timetable. Ensuring working papers provide a full audit trail and are retained and easily accessible during the audit process.
- Providing assistance in updating the financial ledger for example performing monthly reconciliation’s and preparing and processing journal entries.
- Review budget monitoring returns, undertake the first check of forecasts, year to date actuals, and budget data, and ensure that explanations make sense and support the figures, challenging areas where more explanation is required.
- Assisting in the maintenance of overall financial control, to ensure the integrity of financial data on the ledger and the accuracy of the supporting systems and records.
- Ensuring adequate financial controls and clear audit trails are in place around accounting and reporting processes.
Working flexibly across the team and shifting direction quickly to meet changing priorities and demands. - Management of staff across the finance function.
- Leading the annual accounts and audit processes.
Specific Job Particulars:
- Budget management including forecasting, and in year adjustments.
- Leading budget monitoring return for an entity (Agency/Programme).
- Relevant monthly and quarterly reporting.
- Reviewing of work undertaken by other finance team members.
- Monthly meetings with budget holders.
- Running the annual accounts process for the entity and being the lead contact for auditors.
- Project work specific to the entity.
- Deputising for the Head of Finance (Agency/Programme)
- Staff Management.
The successful candidate must be fully CCAB (or equivalent) qualified with up to date CPD and relevant finance experience.
Proof of qualifications will be checked at the assessment stage.
Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of behaviours, experience and technical criteria (if applicable) that candidates will be assessed on.
- Budgeting, Forecasting and Costing - Practitioner
- Government finance – Working
- International Accounting Standards – Working
- Technical financial accounting skills and ability to communicate financial information clearly and succinctly to a wide range of audiences, including to non-finance colleagues.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to use information from multiple sources to inform decision making and identify areas for improvement.
- Working collaboratively to support change and build effective relationships, trust and credibility with a range of stakeholders
- Communicating and Influencing - Level 3
- Delivering at Pace - Level 3
- Working Together - Level 3
- Making Effective Decisions - Level 3
Skilled Worker Sponsorship being offered
This role has been assessed as eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship and is therefore being advertised with the option of sponsorship where required. Any offer of sponsorship remains subject to the individual meeting all other relevant Home Office eligibility and compliance requirements at the time of appointment.
Skilled Worker Sponsorship being offered at reduced rate
This role has been assessed as eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship only where a reduced salary threshold applies. Sponsorship may therefore be offered to candidates who meet the Home Office criteria for a reduced rate (for example, but not limited to, New Entrant eligibility), subject to all other relevant eligibility and compliance requirements at the time of appointment.
Skilled Worker Sponsorship not being offered
Skilled Worker sponsorship is not available for this role. As a result, we are unable to appoint candidates who require Skilled Worker sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants must have an existing and ongoing right to work in the UK.
Recruitment Principles
As a government organisation, we adhere to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and we investigate any complaints received in relation to recruitment cases.
The Scottish Government is the devolved government for Scotland. We have responsibility for a wide range of key policy areas including: education, health, the economy, justice, housing and transport. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles.