Job Title: Finance Officer (Maternity Cover)  

Responsible to: Finance Manager   

Type of Contract: 10 months fixed term, 32 hours   

Salary: £25,199

About the Role  The Finance Officer plays a key role in supporting the day-to-day financial operations of Unlimited. Working closely with the Finance Manager and sharing responsibilities with the parttime Finance Officer, you’ll ensure our financial systems are accurate, timely and well-maintained.

You’ll handle income and expenditure processing, maintain financial records, support payroll and banking administration, and help ensure staff, artists, creditors and partners receive clear, responsive communication. This role is essential to keeping our financial processes running smoothly and to supporting our commitments to accessibility, equity and good governance. 

Core responsibilities – 70% 

Financial processing and bookkeeping 

• Record all income and expenditure in QuickBooks, ensuring correct coding, approvals and documentation, per our Finance Policies. 
• Process purchase invoices, expenses and chargecard statements, maintaining accurate up-to-date creditor      records. 
• Process grants to beneficiaries, ensuring payments are correct and fully supported. 
• Record income and raise sales invoices where required, monitor debtors and carry out credit control actions. 
• Manage weekly payment runs, ensuring queries are logged, followed up and resolved.
• Carry out regular checks to ensure accuracy of financial data in QuickBooks. 

Banking, payroll and compliance 

• Administer the organisation’s bank accounts, maintaining minimum balances, posting transactions and reconciling statements. 
• Run monthly payroll via our payroll provider, ensuring transactions are correctly posted and payments administered. 
• Prepare and submit timely Access to Work claims, liaising with staff and the Department of Work and Pensions. 

Month end and audit support 

• Take part in the month end process, including posting journals and reconciling accounts by agreed deadlines. 
• Investigate and resolve discrepancies, raising any issues/concerns with the Finance Manager where appropriate. 
• Support the Finance Manager in preparing information for management accounts, budgeting and the annual      audit. 

 Teamwork and collaboration – 15%  

• Liaise with staff, artists, suppliers and other partners to resolve finance queries. 
• Support induction and training of new Finance team members when needed. 
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across all teams to ensure smooth financial processes. 
• Provide administrative support to wider finance work as required.

Other duties – 15%  

• Attend staff, programme and project meetings, including away days. 
• Adhere to Unlimited’s values and contribute to improving the accessibility and inclusivity of our policies and processes. 
• Champion equity, diversity and intersectionality in all areas of work. 
• Represent Unlimited professionally when dealing with internal and external stakeholders. 
• Working collaboratively and supporting other staff in their areas of work when required. 
• Any other duties that may from time to      time be required by the Finance Manager and Director. 

This job description is a guide to the nature of the work required of this position. It’s neither wholly comprehensive nor restrictive and will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure its accuracy and validity.  For any questions regarding the information above please contact us by emailing recruitment@weareunlimited.org.uk.

What we’re looking for?   

This is the person specification for this role. We expect those applying to meet all the essential requirements and have some of the desirable ones too.  

Essential criteria:

Experience and knowledge 

- Minimum 3 years’ experience in a similar finance role within a UK-registered charity.  

- A bookkeeping qualification or equivalent demonstrable experience.   

- Strong understanding of day-to-day financial processes and controls.   

- Experience using accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero or equivalent).  

 - Intermediate or above Microsoft Office skills, especially Excel. 

Skills and attributes 

- Excellent attention to detail and accuracy, with a methodical approach.   

- Self-motivated with good organisational skills and able to work to deadlines   

- Initiative, confidently able to identify potential problems and suggest solutions    

- Ability to work independently, as well as collaboratively within a team.   

- Comfortable working remotely, at home, with occasional UK travel   

- Clear verbal and written communication skills.   

- Commitment to best practice, confidentiality and secure handling of financial information.

Desirable criteria 

• Experience supporting colleagues who have varied access requirements. 
• Experience in the UK arts or cultural sector. 
• Enthusiasm for Unlimited’s mission and values. 
• Experience working remotely. 
• Adds to the diversity of our current team. 

How to apply    

Applications can be made in text, audio or video - use the method you prefer.  Ultimately, we want to know why you’d be great at this role, and we don’t mind how you share this with us. If there’s another method that you’d prefer to use to apply due to your access requirements, please let us know. We want to remove as many barriers to applying as we can.  

Access the application via our online portal here.

Access the Word document of the application questions here. 

Recruitment timeline

Deadline for applications: Monday 30 March, midday 

All applicants contacted by: Thursday 2 April

Pre-interview tasks: Tuesday 7 April 

Interviews: Wednesday 8 April   

Assessment day: Monday 13 April

Candidates notified: Tuesday 14 April 

Start date: Tuesday 5 May (ideally no later than Monday 11 May)