Finance Business Manager

The AI Security Institute (AISI) is the largest team in a government dedicated to understanding AI capabilities and risks in the world.

Our mission is to equip governments with an empirical understanding of the safety of advanced AI systems. We conduct research to understand the capabilities and impacts of advanced AI, and develop and test risk mitigations. We focus on risks with security implications, including the potential of AI to assist with the development of chemical and biological weapons, how it can be used to carry out cyber-attacks, enable crimes such as fraud, and the possibility of loss of control.

The Finance Business Manager will play a key role in delivering AISI’s operational finance function, taking ownership of financial management across an assigned portfolio of business areas. The postholder will help ensure strong financial control, accurate financial reporting and effective day-to-day finance operations, while contributing to forecasting, budgeting and wider financial analysis.

Key Responsibilities:

• Take ownership of financial management across an assigned portfolio, ensuring financial information is accurate, risks and issues are identified, and actions are followed through.
• Deliver core financial management and accounting activities, including month-end, accruals, prepayments, journals and reconciliations, ensuring financial information is reliable and supported by a robust audit trail.
• Oversee day-to-day operational finance activity, including purchase-to-pay processes, purchase orders, receipting, supplier payments and resolving complex finance queries, ensuring a high-quality and well-controlled service.
• Contribute to forecasting, budgeting, financial reporting and analysis, providing financial insight and challenge based on accurate and timely financial information.
• Identify and deliver practical improvements to financial reporting, controls and ways of working, including contributing to finance reporting dashboards and improving how financial information and processes are managed through tools such as Airtable.
• Work collaboratively across Finance and the wider organisation, working through complex problems and seeing issues through to resolution.

Person Specification:

• Strong financial management experience, with practical experience of month-end, financial reporting and analysis, and exposure to areas such as forecasting, reconciliations and financial controls.
• Good understanding of accounting principles and financial control, with the ability to work confidently with financial information, identify discrepancies and maintain accurate financial records and audit trails.
• Experience of operational finance processes, including purchase-to-pay, with the ability to work through complex financial issues and see them through to resolution.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interrogate financial information, identify risks and issues and draw out meaningful insights.
• Proven ability to take ownership and deliver in a fast-moving environment, managing competing priorities while maintaining accuracy and attention to detail.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain financial information clearly, provide constructive challenge and work effectively with finance and non-finance colleagues.
• A continuous improvement mindset, with experience identifying practical ways to strengthen financial reporting, controls, processes or ways of working.

Benefits:

• Salary: £45,740 - £53,970 per year
• Alongside your salary, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £13,250 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
• A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.