About the job

Job summary

Senior Officer - Financial Assessment

Bristol

£51,846 - £56,662

Plus generous Civil Service defined benefit pension

We are the independent regulator of higher education in England. 

We aim to ensure that every student, whatever their background, has a fulfilling experience of higher education that enriches their lives and careers. We also care about supporting and developing our staff, working together to achieve more than each of us can do alone.   

We’re proud of our people, our culture and the benefits we offer. At the OfS we want to create a welcoming and engaging working environment which is free from discrimination.

We’re looking for skilled, committed people who care about students and their experience of higher education. Join us and you’ll be part of an energetic, forward-looking organisation with high ambitions and big opportunities for our people.

Job description

Job Summary

Would you like a finance role without the same monthly accounting processes again and again? Then this Senior Officer post in our Financial Assessment team might be the role for you. You will learn and apply the OfS' approach to assessing the financial viability and sustainability of higher education providers, joining a high performing team in which members help and support each other to get the work done. You will enjoy a variety of work, where each assessment is different and no month is ever the same!

The main purpose of the role is to undertake financial analysis based on complex data supplied by the regulated providers, information available about them in the public domain and the general knowledge regarding macroeconomic conditions in which the providers operate, to make judgements on their financial strength. This analysis is key in supporting the OfS’s regulatory decisions, so the postholder will write evidence-based assessments that are intelligible for non-experts, and deliver crucial financial insight and recommendations to decision-makers. The role therefore requires engagement with internal stakeholders, but it also involves interactions with external stakeholders, when necessary to support the decision making. In addition the role will provide an opportunity to input into improving the systems and processes that deliver services to customer teams internally and to providers.

The Key person attributes to fulfil this role are:

• Qualified accountant (with significant experience in a finance role) or part qualified (final level) with relevant experience in a similar role
• Ability to analyse and communicate complex financial issues effectively, orally and in writing
• Ability to understand, interpret and identify risks in financial performance in diverse types of organisations
• Ability to reach and convey reliable and challenge-proof judgements to non-specialists on the basis of complex and imperfect information
• Ability to work with high levels of complexity and ambiguity
• Ability to work collaboratively and flexibly in a complex environment to deliver the team’s functions

Enablers

The Office for Students currently uses enablers to evaluate your strengths and ask that your application describes what you’ve done and how you’ve done it. The enablers for this role are:

Knowledge and Learning

• Maintains a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the regulatory context for the OfS’s work
• Maintains the professional knowledge necessary to deliver the team’s financial assessment functions

Planning

• Plans and manages own workload and works collaboratively with others to resolve competing demands, and copes with changing priorities in a flexible and proactive way
• Identifies risk to plans and delivery
• Demonstrates a readiness to contribute to decision-making and to take the initiative and originate action in circumstances where norms are already established

Communication

• Provides actionable technical and professional feedback to colleagues on financial assessment matters
• Writes in a clear and concise manner, using appropriate grammar, style and language, which is tailored for the reader.  Writing will set out financial assessments in a way that is evidence-based, intelligible for non-experts, and provides confidence to decision-makers
• Communicates clearly and fluently to individuals and small audiences, using appropriate style and language, and with good presentation skills

Relationships

• Demonstrates a confident and co-operative style and deals effectively with people at all levels to build positive working relationships
• Maintains credibility with other teams in the directorate and with external contacts
• Maintains effective work behaviour in the face of setbacks or pressure and remains calm and professional in such circumstances

Person specification

Working for us

The OfS regulates the higher education sector on behalf of all students. We value diversity and the wealth of perspectives, experience and ideas that it brings to our work, and we strive to embed equality of opportunity in everything we do.

We recruit based on fair and open competition and welcome applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and socio-economic background.

We recognise that flexibility can enable people to work more effectively. A set of organisation-wide principles shape our approach to flexible and hybrid working, which our teams then use as guidance on how they deliver their business goals. This would usually mean working from the office for two or three days in a typical week.

To attract the widest possible field of qualified applicants, flexible working, for example job share and part-time working, apply to these roles.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £51,846, Office for Students contributes £14,050 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Closing date for applications: Tuesday 30 April

Shortlisting: Thursday 2 May

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to respond to a case study

Case study deadline: 12pm Friday 10 May

Interviews: Monday 13 May

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.