Strong financial controls. Smooth financial operations. Delivering at a fast pace.

Management Accountant

£35,000-£45,000 (+ Benefits & study support, if required)

Reports to: Finance Manager (Management Accounting)

Department: Chief Operating Office

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Stratford, London Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office)

Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship.

Closing date: 15 January 2025 23:55

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. If you require more time to apply as part of a reasonable adjustment, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

Recruitment process: Two competency-based interviews with an exercise

Interview date: From the week commencing 20 January 2025

How do I apply? We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to fully complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly, and objectively.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That’s why we’re looking for someone talented, someone who wants to develop their skills, someone like you.

Cancer Research UK’s Finance team’s credibility and professionalism in handling money fundraised by public generosity is essential to the smooth running of our organisation, thus helping the charity reach our goal of beating cancer. This role will sit within our Core Purpose Finance team as the Management Accountant for our Cancer Research Horizons subsidiary.

Cancer Research UK is the largest UK charity and independent, non-commercial funder of cancer science worldwide. Horizons is a commercial subsidiary of the charity that unites all our drug discovery capabilities and our commercialisation expertise to help translate more scientific discoveries into treatments for patients faster. Ultimately, taking cutting-edge innovations from the lab bench to the bedside, translating them into effective tools, treatments, and diagnostics for people with cancer (8 in 10 NHS cancer patients are being treated with drugs we’ve helped to develop and commercialise!). So far, our Horizon’s portfolio has raised £3bn with £600m reinvested into Cancer Research UK to fund further research (annual reports). In 2023/24, the charity committed £400m towards this life-saving research and is on track to spend over £1.5b on research over 5 years to deliver our Discover, Translate, and Partner strategies.

We’re looking for a Management Accountant to take ownership of our Cancer Research Horizons accounts.  In this role, you will be responsible for owning the management accounts ensuring appropriate financial controls are in place. You will collaborate closely with stakeholders while ensuring they have accurate management information to inform decision-making and ensure Horizon’s has the resources needed to deliver our life-saving research and treatments. Therefore, you will play an essential role in the smooth financial operations and commercial decision-making of Horizons, ultimately helping to bring forward the day everybody can lead longer and better lives free from cancer.

If you are a finalist or qualified Management Accountant who has owned and delivered accurate management accounts and month-end activities, we’d love for you to join our mission.

What will I be doing?

• Owning and delivering timely, high-quality, and accurate management accounts (or other business-critical reports) for our Cancer Research Horizons subsidiary.

• Commenting on balance sheet variances and supporting the Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) team and stakeholders in interpreting management information, understanding major variances, and answering queries.

• Collaborating closely with the Assistant Management Accountants and Finance Analysts in your specified areas to ensure monthly transactions (e.g. accruals, prepayments, and revenue recognition & recharges) are processed accurately and on time.

• Identifying and implementing improvements and efficiencies in management accounting processes.

• Supporting the year-end audit and accurately producing the annual report and accounts for your business areas. This will involve contributing notes to the accounts and handling audit queries as required. 

• Supporting Horizon’s Procure-to-Pay (P2P) process.

• Monitoring and questioning any variances against the budget.

• Being a key finance point of contact for your specified business areas ensuring appropriate financial controls are being adhered to while challenging and offering solutions to stakeholders as appropriate. 

What skills will I need?

• Finalist or qualified accountant (or by experience).

• Management accounting background with experience owning and delivering accurate management accounts and month-end activities.

• Supported in delivering year-end audit and producing annual accounts.

• Strong Excel skills - comfortable manipulating data and working with large, complex data sets using multiple systems and Excel functions (e.g. VLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, Sumifs etc).

  • This recruitment process will include an Excel test.

• Can set and meet deadlines while maintaining strong attention to detail and effectively managing expectations. 

• Questions what you and the wider team are doing while striving for continuous improvement and strong financial controls.

• Demonstrates the ability to communicate clearly and build strong, collaborative relationships with an interest in collaborating with Cancer Research Horzion’s Scientific Research & Innovation teams.

What will I gain?

Each and every one of our employees contributes to our progress and is supporting our work to beat cancer. We think that’s impressive.

In return, we make sure you are supported by a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools, policies and processes to enable you to do your job well.

Our benefits package includes a substantial retirement plan, a generous and flexible leave allowance, discounts on anything from travel to technology, gym membership, and much more.

We don’t forget people have lives outside of work too and so we actively encourage a flexible working culture.

Our work – from funding cutting-edge research to developing public policy – will change the world. It’s exciting to be part of our team.

Additional Information

For more information on this career opportunity please visit our website or contact us at [email protected].  

For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact [email protected] or 020 3469 8400 as soon as possible. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.