Accountancy Assistant

Salary: £32,080 - £33,002 per annum with progression to £34,610

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 27 September 2026

Are you looking for a role that will give you exposure to a wide range of finance activity and the chance to work on projects that really make a difference?

We have an exciting opportunity for an Accountancy Assistants to join our Contract Financial Management team.

This team plays a vital role in providing expert funder advice and financial management for the University's research and non-research projects - often involving multi-million-pound budgets and collaboration with multiple domestic and international institutions.

This is a varied and rewarding role, giving you the chance to:

• Make a contribution to all aspects of finance within a large complex organisation
• Take responsibility for a diverse portfolio of projects
• Use your initiative and judgement to make decisions and resolve queries
• Support the CFM Team Leads with training and work allocation

We're looking for a confident communicator who is well‑organised, customer‑focused, and comfortable working to tight deadlines. Strong analytical and systems skills, along with attention to detail, are essential to succeed in this role.

If you're ready to build valuable experience and play a key role in supporting impactful projects, we'd love to hear from you.

The Post is full time, permanent.

• Take responsibility for the production of financial claims for the more complex projects to strict deadlines, in accordance with funder regulations and University policies
• Provide comprehensive budgetary and forecast information and advice to researchers on the financial aspects of their funding to enable them to discharge their financial responsibilities on large complex projects
• Attend project set up meetings with Grants and Contracts, Administrators and PIs to advise on appropriate SAP structures and financial management
• Liaise with Research and Enterprise Services contract managers on specific financial matters associated with new and ongoing contracts
• Create complex projects in the SAP financial management system in order to facilitate the most effective structure to ensure appropriate controls are embedded. Projects to Include, multi funded, Research Council, collaborative, foreign funded and other complex awards
• Maintain and update data on the SAP financial management system relating to complex projects (e.g. structure, budget, and timescale)
• Ensure timely closure of completed complex projects in SAP, ensuring that the final reconciliation is complete
• Provide guidance, training and advice to staff within the team on relevant SAP and University procedures and funder regulations
• Manage the preparation of, and communicate with, auditors to arrange timely audit dates
• Oversee the calculation and checking of salary award increase and update the salary budgets in complex projects
• Deputise for the Team Leader where applicable
• Undertake any other duties of a relevant nature as required from time to time.

• Recent relevant accountancy experience
• Extensive experience in the reconcilliation and interpretation of financial ledgers
• Demonstrable ability to work accurately under pressure, prioritising own workload and that of the section in order to meet strict funder and University deadlines
• Strong oral and written communication skills in order to effectively disseminate financial information to staff possessing a wide range of financial literacy and to communicate confidently with staff at all levels…