IT - Finance Analyst

The role:

We are looking for an IT - Finance Analyst to join our IT department in Bristol.

We are seeking a self-motivated individual who takes ownership, drives activities forward, and confidently leads conversations with stakeholders. The successful candidate will be comfortable working independently, while also collaborating effectively across teams to deliver business outcomes. Experience working within an IT environment and managing operational and project-related budget submissions. The individual should be able to analyse complex financial information, provide actionable insights to senior management, and support effective financial governance across both operational and change portfolios.

The role is responsible for the financial management of both operational and change expenditure across the IT function. This includes budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis, reporting, and cost management activities. The successful candidate will gather, analyse, and interpret financial data, translating it into actionable insights to support decision-making by senior management. Previous experience working in an IT environment and managing technology-related budgets as part of a project management, PMO, finance, or operational function is highly desirable.

Key Responsibilities will include the following:

• Financial Planning & Budget Management:
  Own the end-to-end IT budget lifecycle (planning, forecasting, monitoring, submission of forecast to finance and supporting budget narratives). Monitor budget vs actuals and provide variance analysis.
• Project & Change Financial Management:
  Provide financial oversight of IT projects and programmes. Support business cases through financial modelling, cost-benefit analysis, and ROI tracking.
• Accruals & Financial Control:
  Manage month-end accruals to ensure accuracy of financial position. Work with Finance on accounting alignment. Maintain financial controls including invoice validation, invoice and PO processing.
• IT Contract & Supplier Financials:
  Understand IT contracts and financial commitments. Track contractual spend vs budget. Ensure contract costs are accurately reflected in forecasts, maintain narratives associated with significant changes in budget.
• Financial Reporting:
  Generate reports and projections, present findings to management. Prepare regular dashboards and presentations for management.
• Risk Assessment:
  Conduct assessments, develop risk mitigation strategies.
• Cost Analysis:
  Identify cost-saving opportunities and improve profitability.
• Compliance:
  Ensure adherence to financial regulations and company policies.
• Collaboration:
  
  Act as a finance partner to IT leadership and project managers. Engage senior stakeholders and provide financial insights to support decisions.

• Experience in Finance Analyst role in IT/technology. Strong budgeting, forecasting, and accruals experience. Experience supporting IT projects and managing budgets. Understanding of IT contracts. Strong stakeholder engagement. Advanced Excel skills.
• 3-5 years of relevant finance experience or accounting experience, preferably in a decision support / management information capacity within a projects / professional services / technology organisation.
• Education:
  
  Bachelor's in Finance or qualified / part qualified in a related field such as Accounting / Financial Planning (e.g., CIMA) preferred.
• Technical
  
  Skills:
  
  Proficiency in financial modelling, data analysis, and reporting software (e.g., Excel).
• Analytical
  
  Skills:
  
  Strong ability to interpret complex financial data.
• Communication
  
  Skills:
  
  Excellent verbal and written skills.
• Attention to Detail:
  High accuracy in analysis and reporting.
• Organizational
  
  Skills:
  
  Manage multiple tasks and meet tight deadlines. Strong at planning and prioritising its workload.

• Critical Thinking:
  Data-driven decision-making. Ability to translate IT activity into financial impact. Strong commercial awareness. Ability to operate at both detailed and strategic levels.
• Team Player:
  Collaborative work. Motivated individual that owns its workload and when required steps out of his area of responsibility to achieve the best outcome for S&S.
• Adaptability:
  Flexibility to changing business needs. Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet tight deadlines
• Integrity:
  Ethical handling of confidential information.
• General understanding of typical IT procurement and commercial arrangements.
• Familiarity with common IT purchasing models (software licensing, SaaS, managed services, multi-year agreements).
• Awareness of ongoing financial commitments (renewals, licence growth, capacity-based pricing, vendor price increases).
• Awareness that software and SaaS can be paid upfront or on a recurring basis, with costs increasing over time.
• Broad commercial awareness of how IT products and services are procured, licensed and funded.

The career level assigned to this role is level 3. The career level framework provides a formal structure…