Finance Assistant

National History Museum; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 26,000 - 34,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27.5 days holiday + bank holidays

Pension scheme 4-10% employer contrib.

Season ticket loan

Life insurance

Free museum admission

Staff discount

Training opportunities

Civil Service Sports Council benefits

Sports and Social Association

Job summary

The National History Museum invites applications for a Finance Assistant to support the Finance Operations function with accurate processing of financial transactions, banking activities and expense claims.

You will help maintain compliant financial records, support reporting, and interact with colleagues and external stakeholders. The role supports a hybrid working model with 2/3 onsite days, and aligns with the museum's focus on accuracy and collaboration.

Qualifications

• Experience in operational finance, administration or related roles.
• Proficient in Excel and Microsoft 365.
• Able to process expenses, receipts and banking transactions.

Responsibilities

• Support Finance Operations through accurate processing of financial transactions.
• Assist with banking activities and expense claims.
• Maintain financial records in line with Museum policies and procedures.
• Provide reporting support and respond to stakeholder inquiries.

Skills

Excel

Microsoft 365

Attention to detail

Stakeholder communication

Data entry

Job description

About Us

We are a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre. We use the Museum's unique collections and our unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 16 million visits to our website.

Today the Museum is more relevant and influential than ever. By attracting people from a range of backgrounds to work for us, we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things.

We employ 1100 staff in a variety of roles, all united by our vision of a future where people and planet thrive. We need everyone to have the passion and drive to help us with our mission to create advocates for our planet and inspire millions to care about the natural world.

Diversity and inclusion matter to us.

Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. Diversity is one of our core values and we strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. All new staff who join us learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion to the Museum and how to contribute to creating an inclusive environment. We know we have more to do, but we are committed to ensuring that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected.

About the role

Reporting to the Finance Operations Manager, the Finance Assistant is responsible for supporting the Museum's Finance Operations function through the accurate processing of financial transactions, banking activities and expense claims. The role ensures that financial records are maintained in accordance with Museum policies and procedures, supporting effective financial control, regulatory compliance and the delivery of high-quality services to colleagues, volunteers and external stakeholders.

About you

You're an organised and detail-oriented finance professional with experience working in operational finance, administration, and customer service environments. Ideally, you'll have experience processing expenses, receipts, or banking transactions, and an understanding of month-end finance activities. You are confident handling large volumes of data with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail. You can effectively prioritise your workload, manage competing deadlines, and communicate clearly with stakeholders to ensure reporting requirements are met. You build positive working relationships with colleagues, suppliers, and stakeholders through strong communication and interpersonal skills. You have a solid working knowledge of Microsoft Excel and are comfortable using other Microsoft 365 applications to support reporting, analysis, and process improvement. You're a self-motivated individual who enjoys working both independently and as part of a collaborative team. Experience of working within a museum, charity, higher education or public sector environment would be advantageous.

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work

We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.

Find out more here

What we offer

• 27.5 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays (full time equivalent)
• Generous defined contribution Natural History Museum Pension Scheme (employer contribution 4 - 10%)
• Season ticket, bicycle and rental loan
• Life insurance
• Free admission to our exhibitions and many other paid exhibitions at museums, galleries and institutions across London and the UK.
• Staff discount at our Museum shops and cafes
• We offer a wide variety of training initiatives and opportunities to build skills. Investing in staff development is important to us, and we are ambitious about helping staff to grow and fulfil their potential.
• Affordable membership to the Civil Service Sports Council which offers a range of benefits including an extensive list of special offers and reduced entry fees at a selection of cinema chains, theme parks, theatres, retailers and supermarkets. It also provides entry to up to 300 English Heritage sites and other national treasures. For more details, visit https://www.cssc.co.uk
• Membership to our Sports and Social Association (for a small fee), which includes access to our in-house gym and clubs such as football, softball, table tennis and tennis and classes in Middle Eastern dance, yoga and Tai Chi

Hybrid working

We are working towards a vision where both people and planet thrive, and nothing gives a greater connection with this, than seeing first‑hand, the visitors, scientific research and collections that all of our work is inspired by and working side by side with the teams delivering the visitor experience and events. We also recognise the benefits and flexibility that hybrid working brings. We operate a hybrid working model that requires regular, weekly attendance for this role, with the precise pattern of days on site and worked from home to be agreed with your manager.

For this specific role, the work pattern will be 2/3 days per week onsite.

Closing date: 21 October 2026 at 23:59

Interviews expected: w/c 9 November 2026

Please note that this role does not qualify for Museum sponsorship so the successful postholder will need to have a valid right to work in the UK at the point of offer.