Job summary

Would you like a rewarding role in Finance, building on your budgeting and customer engagement skills?

The Scottish Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) administers around £1.5 billion of student funding annually on behalf of the Scottish Government and manages an organisational budget of approximately £22 million. As part of the Finance Directorate, the Finance and Business Partner role plays a pivotal part in supporting strong financial stewardship and strategic delivery within a complex public sector environment.

Working at the heart of programme and operational delivery, you will provide high‑quality financial reporting, analysis and advice, partnering closely with budget holders, Project Managers and senior stakeholders. This is an excellent opportunity to develop a career in the Civil Service, work towards a professional accountancy qualification, and gain broad exposure to budgeting, forecasting, project costing and stakeholder engagement during a period of significant organisational transformation.

Job description

Deliver high quality monthly financial reporting to agreed timescales, providing accurate, relevant and insightful management information to support decision making.

Provide clear financial advice and support to budget holders and senior stakeholders, building effective working relationships across SAAS and with colleagues in the wider Scottish Government.

Contribute to corporate financial exercises in line with the annual timetable, including budget setting, forecasting and year end processes, ensuring robust working papers, clear audit trails and readiness for audit scrutiny.

Support the integrity of the financial ledger through reconciliations, journal processing and regular review of financial data, ensuring accuracy and compliance with governance requirements.

Review and challenge budget monitoring returns and forecasts, ensuring that assumptions are robust, explanations are evidence based and financial risks are clearly articulated.

Contribute to maintaining strong financial control across the Agency, ensuring accounting and reporting processes are well documented, compliant and aligned to the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

Work flexibly across resource and capital activity, including digital and transformation programmes, adapting quickly to shifting priorities in a fast paced environment.

Person specification

Professional / Technical Skills:

Budgeting, Forecasting and Costing - Practitioner

Government finance - Working

Experience:

Demonstrated strong analytical capability, using a range of financial and data tools to interrogate complex information, identify trends and variances, and translate these into clear, evidence-based options and recommendations.

Behaviours:

Working Together – Level 3

Delivering at pace – Level 3

Making Effective Decisions – Level 3

Qualifications

You should be part CCAB qualified (or equivalent)* or have an extensive financial expertise and be willing to work towards attaining such professional qualification.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Working Together

Delivering at Pace

Making Effective Decisions

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Budgeting, Forecasting and Costing - Practitioner

Government finance - Working