Building on nearly 30 years of creativity, ideas and impact, Demos is working to shape a more collaborative democracy, in which power is devolved, citizens participate in policy making, and together as a nation we find answers to the challenges of our century.
About the role
The Finance Manager is responsible for the day-to-day bookkeeping of the organisation, as well as being a key support in administrative processes. The Manager will work in the Operations team supporting the part time CFO and reporting to the Head of Operations on a day to day basis. The principal function of the post is monitoring and reporting on the financial performance of the organisation and individual projects together with the day to day accounting associated with an organisation of its size. The manager will also provide administrative support to the research teams, the Chief Executive, Leadership Team and Board of Trustees.
Responsibilities
Bookkeeping
- Day-to-day financial administration, including processing, coding all inbound invoices sales and other receipts
- Communicate with external clients and funders, to create and issue invoices and follow up on payments, with support from the Operations Assistant.
- Perform at least weekly bank reconciliations on Xero.
- Payments to suppliers
- Accounting associated with the payroll including reporting to and paying HMRC
- Quarterly VAT return preparation and submission
- Other accounting to third party funders
Financial Reporting
- Assist with production of the quarterly and annual accounts to present to the Board of Trustees.
- Provide data and management information to support production of financial forecasts including cash flow projections.
- Assist the auditors with annual accounts and reports.
- Collate any relevant financial information to report to the Chief Executive, the CFO and wider team.
- Coordinate, attend and take minutes for the Finance and Risk subcommittee for the Board of Trustees.
Project Administration
- Assist Project Managers with the financial aspects of grant applications and funding proposals.
- Act as the first point of contact for contracting new projects, drafting and sending contracts to funders and clients and ensuring that payment schedules are followed.
- Manage finance planning and tracking for projects, working with Project Managers to ensure that projects have full budgets and analysing budget variances throughout and at the end of projects.
- Maintain healthy communication channels with Project Managers, ensuring that project updates are documented in finance projections.
- Send project finance reconciliations to funders as projects are wrapped up, when needed.
Operations
- Manage internal payroll procedures, sending payroll information to the external payroll accountant on a monthly basis.
- Coordinate and prepare payments with HMRC of PAYE and the company pension scheme.
- Assist team members with Ad-hoc tasks as required.
Reporting to: Head of Operations
About you
The types of experience and skills we are looking for include the below. We welcome a range of applications which include parts of these attributes.
- Ambitious self starter who is able to work independently and demonstrate initiative
- Able to show consistent attention to detail whilst managing competing and varied tasks
- Shows a professional disposition and is able to work closely and effectively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders
- Excellent communication and follow up skills
- AAT or CAT and/or experience in a similar finance role for a significant period
- Experience with a mainstream UK accounting software package
- Previous use of Xero
- A good and proven level of expertise in MS Excel
- IT skills in Microsoft Office Suite and be able to familiarise yourself with new software quickly
- Knowledge of management of payroll and experience of working on HR admin, including contracts
- Administration experience involving communication with other departments in an organisation
- Experience in a charity or think tank environment and a familiarity with charity accounting principles
- An interest in the work and mission of Demos, particularly in politics and the public policy landscape
- Kind and collaborative attitude
Demos is committed to equality and valuing diversity within our organisation. We recognise, celebrate and promote the positive contributions that are made by diverse groups: engaging with and promoting the voices of people whose voices may not otherwise be heard is core to our work and we believe that this should be reflected in our team. We strongly encourage applications from people from minority ethnic communities, people with disabilities, or others with lived experience of disadvantage. We have flexible working policies, and would be happy to discuss flexible working requirements with any candidates.
What we offer
- Salary: £36,000 – £37,000 (depending on experience)
- Location: Demos offices, London SW1. Flexible working is supported and the team is currently working from a mixture of office and home. We are happy to discuss more details about the flexibility of this with candidates.
- Hours: 37.5 hours per week
- Holidays: 30 days plus statutory holidays
- Pension: 6%
- A forward-thinking, welcoming and collaborative team
How to apply
Please send a CV and a cover letter, detailing why you are interested in working with Demos and highlighting any relevant experience or skills, to jobs@demos.co.uk by Wednesday 28th September. We also ask you to fill out and attach the Demographic Monitoring Questionnaire which will be kept completely confidential, and ensures we are monitoring our pledge to increase diversity in the think tank sector.
Selection Process
We will conduct first interviews via Zoom, w/c 3rd October, followed by second interviews and a short exercise in person the following week.
Questions?
If you have any further questions or aren’t sure if the role is right for you, please feel free to reach out to us and we would be happy to answer any queries.
We look forward to hearing from you!