Department for Education

Financial Planning and Analysis

• Keep ARIA’s finance engine moving: You’ll assist in the day to day running of our procure-to-pay processes, helping make sure suppliers are onboarded, invoices are processed, approvals move smoothly, and payments happen accurately and on time. You aren’t just processing transactions - you’re helping ensure that the scientists, engineers, programme teams and partners we work with can focus on ambitious R&D, knowing the finance operations behind them are thoughtful, reliable and well run.
• Be a trusted first point of contact for finance operations: You’ll help manage the finance inbox and reply to queries from colleagues, suppliers and partners with clarity, care and pace. You’ll act as an ambassador for the Finance team, making sure every interaction is helpful, human and well owned - whether you’re resolving a supplier question, helping a colleague learn new processes, or spotting where a recurring query points to something we could improve.
• Build the knowledge and systems that help us scale: Working closely with the Finance Operations Manager, you’ll help refine and professionalise our internal finance knowledge base, guidance, templates and process notes. You’ll make sure our ways of working are easy to comprehend, consistently applied and high quality - turning repeat questions or manual workarounds into clear, useful resources that help the whole organisation move faster and with more confidence.
• Improve how finance work gets done: You’ll support process improvement projects across finance operations, from implementing new tools and apps to using AI and automation to reduce manual work. You’ll work closely with the Finance Operations Manager, Head of Finance Operations, and wider Operations team to identify friction, test better ways of doing things, and help build simple, scalable solutions that balance ARIA’s start up energy with the duty and transparency expected of a publicly funded organisation.

Finance Operations Associate