Assistant Finance Manager

Royal Marsden; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an Assistant Finance Manager to support Finance and Operational teams with robust financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting and partner with budget holders to drive financial performance across services.

You will own month-end processes, contribute to annual planning and medium-term financial strategy, and lead improvements in systems and reporting while ensuring value for money and financial sustainability.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in financial management and costing.
• Experience with NHS budgeting, SFIs and annual planning.
• Able to produce monthly budget statements and management reports.

Responsibilities

• Own the month end process for areas of responsibility.
• Produce monthly budget statements and management reports.
• Deliver accurate forecasting, variance analysis and reporting.
• Support budget holders with financial advice and partnering.
• Contribute to annual budget setting and long-term planning.
• Assist in developing business cases and investment proposals.
• Deputise for the Finance Manager when required.
• Drive improvements to financial systems, reporting and processes.

Skills

Budgeting & Forecasting

Financial Analysis

Business Partnering

Variance Analysis

Advanced Excel

Financial Reporting

Stakeholder Management

Education

Degree level or equivalent

CCAB recognised qualification progress or completed

Tools

General Ledger systems

Microsoft Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

The Assistant Finance Manager plays a pivotal role in supporting the Finance and Operational teams across The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. The postholder will provide high-quality financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting, and support to budget holders and senior managers, enabling informed decision-making and financial sustainability.

Working closely with operational leaders, the role combines Technical Financial expertise with Business Partnering responsibilities, helping services understand financial performance, manage risks, identify opportunities, and achieve financial targets. The successful candidate will take ownership of the month end process for their areas of responsibility, assist with annual planning and medium-term financial strategy while supporting continuous improvement across finance systems and processes.

Main duties of the job

• Produce monthly budget statements and management reports for a diverse portfolio of budgets.
• Deliver accurate forecasting, variance analysis, and financial performance reporting.
• Support budget holders and senior managers with financial advice and business partnering.
• Contribute to annual budget setting and long-term financial planning.
• Analyse the financial impact of activity changes, capacity variations, and service developments.
• Assist in developing business cases and investment proposals.
• Deputise for the Finance Manager when required.
• Promote financial awareness and compliance with Standing Financial Instructions (SFIs).
• Drive improvements to financial systems, reporting, and processes.

Working for our organisation

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals – one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey – as well as a Medical Daycare Unit in Kingston Hospital.

At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.

At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits, learning and development opportunities and clear career pathways. There are opportunities to work flexibly across a range of areas and specialities and we welcome flexible working requests from point of hire to support employees work life balance. We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information on this role, please see the attached detailed Job Description and Person Specification

• To be responsible for the production of the monthly budget statements and associated reports for a wide range of budgets in accordance with agreed timetables
• To develop and maintain an integrated financial performance report, including a year end forecast, highlighting key variances and trends in activity and finance, commenting on influencing factors and advising on any necessary management action.
• To meet regularly with budget holders and Senior Managers to assess financial performance and to provide financial management information, analysis and advice to them regarding key risks and
  critical success factors in achieving financial targets.
• To ensure budget holders and managers have an awareness of financial performance requirements, including the need for budgetary control and adherence to SFIs, and to provide financial awareness training where necessary.
• To assess the impact on income and expenditure of any in-year changes in activity levels, resulting from changes in referral patterns (NHS or private patients) or changes in available capacity (e.g.
  ward or theatre capacity).
• To assist in the preparation of elements of business cases as required.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

• Degree level or equivalent
• Significant progress towards the completion of a CCAB recognised accountancy qualification or in exceptional circumstances, to have gained experience with is considered equivalent to significant progress towards completion of such qualifications
• Have completed a CCAB recognized accountancy qualification

Experience

• Significant experience in a Financial Management role and some costing experience.
• Costing experience within an acute hospital setting

Skills/Abilities/Knowledge

• Able to understand and apply the concepts and techniques for budgeting, financial planning, costing, pricing, variance analysis and reporting
• Good, well presented written communication skills
• Advanced excel skills
• Able to demonstrate competence in word processing
• Able to demonstrate competence in the use of the General Ledger and other financial systems within the department.
• Able to demonstrate an ability to analyse and interpret financial data
• Able to work effectively to tight deadlines, often involving the management and prioritization of multiple tasks with conflicting priorities.
• Able to demonstrate an understanding of the link between financial data and influencing factors
• Able to demonstrate an understanding of the rationale for budgetary control, Standing Financial Instructions/Standing Orders and the means for ensuring that they are adhered to
• Able to deal quickly with questions and information requests and to respond in a way in which non-finance staff will understand and can make use of.
• Able to demonstrate an active interest in the development of skills, experience and career.
• Advanced ECDL qualification
• Able to demonstrate competence in the use of other software packages eg Access and powerpoint

Other Requirements

• Demonstrates a flexible and adaptable approach to work
• Team player
• Able and willing to work flexible and additional hours as required
• Self-motivated and able to show initiative
• Able to operate effectively with minimal support
• Able to develop good working relationships with budget holders and managers of all levels

Circumstances

• Able to work on both sites and to be flexible to meet the needs of the role

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Please ensure your information is accurate to avoid errors with processing your application

All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.

Flu Vaccination – What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.

The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.