Turn financial expertise into meaningful impact - join us as a Finance Business Partner
EKC Group is seeking a proactive and commercially minded Finance Business Partner to join our Finance team. In this pivotal role, you will provide high-quality financial support and expert guidance to a portfolio of budget holders across the Group’s Colleges and business units, helping to drive informed decision-making and deliver strong financial performance.
Working closely with key stakeholders, you will produce timely and accurate monthly budget reports, contribute to the preparation of management accounts, and maintain designated budget packs for quarterly financial review meetings with Heads of Department and College Principals. Through insightful financial analysis, robust forecasting, and effective budget management, you will play a key role in supporting strategic planning and ensuring sound financial governance across the organisation.
Alongside our priority of excellent student experience, we also focus on our employees. Here are just some of our benefits when working for the East Kent Colleges Group:
- Generous Annual Leave - 29 days per annum
- Exclusive Discounts & Perks - Inc. restaurant, grocery, retail and holidays discounts as well as car leasing and tech purchasing schemes
- Flexible Personal Leave - Time off for your child's first day at nursery or school, moving homes and for interviews
- Wellbeing and Health Support - Generous sick pay, counselling services, discounted gym membership at Canterbury College
- Culture and Recognition - Being part of Community Days, an annual Staff Celebration Day, and an eco-friendly organisation dedicated to reaching net-zero by 2030
- Competitive Pension Scheme - 18% employer contribution
As a Finance Business Partner, you'll be more than just a numbers expert, you'll be a trusted advisor, working collaboratively with budget holders and senior leaders to provide financial insight that supports informed decision-making and drives organisational success.
You'll thrive in a fast-paced environment, balancing a varied portfolio of work while producing accurate financial information, analysing budgets and forecasts, and helping stakeholders understand the story behind the figures. Strong communication and relationship-building skills will be essential, as you'll confidently present financial information to a wide range of audiences and influence positive outcomes.
We're looking for someone with experience in a busy finance function, ideally with exposure to management accounts, budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis. You'll be highly organised, possess advanced IT skills, and have experience using computerised accounting systems, enabling you to deliver accurate reporting and support effective financial planning across the Group.
Ready to apply?
No need to spend time updating your CV, just click apply and complete our short application form. You can save your progress as you go, and we’ll review all applications and get back to all candidates after the closing date.
If you are interested in an informal chat about the role, or have any queries, please email us on
[email protected]
Outstanding Ofsted Provider
East Kent Colleges Group is an Ofsted Outstanding rated provider. It is proud to be the first General Further Education college organisation in the country to have received the Outstanding grade against each of the strands under the new Ofsted inspection framework. An inclusive provider, our colleagues place our students and the communities we serve at the heart of everything they do across EKC Group and this is illustrated in our ‘Strong’ skills grading by Ofsted.
Commitment to Safeguarding
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and we ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities for upholding these principles.
As a designated establishment, we are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore have an obligation to carry out checks to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults. These checks include conviction/caution self-declaration, Enhanced DBS check and obtaining sufficient referencing.
It is a criminal offence to apply for a post which involves engaging in regulated activity relevant to children if you are barred from doing so.
If you are successful in being shortlisted to interview, your suitability to work with children and vulnerable adults will be explored as part of the interview process.
Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
East Kent Colleges Group is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all members of our communities. We are particularly keen to increase the diversity of our staff body and encourage applications from candidates where there is underrepresentation in our workforce.
We are proud to hold the Positive About Disability Award and are a Disability Confident Employer. This confirms our commitment to interviewing all applicants who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. With any successful candidate, we will explore any reasonable adjustments to a role due to a health needs or disability.
Similarly, we have a commitment to Care Leavers (Care Covenant Pledge) and to current or previous Armed Forces personnel (Armed Forces Covenant Pledge) with a commitment to interview applicants who meet the positions essential criteria and who have declared this on their application.
We welcome applications from anyone wishing to work flexibly and those considering a return to work from a career break.
We do not engage with agencies for permanent staff and have an in-house recruitment team.
