Senior Finance Officer (4880)

Could you play a key role in delivering student support funding that makes a real difference to learners across Scotland?

The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS), an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government, is seeking a Finance Officer to support the delivery of Further Education Student Support (FESS) and Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). As part of Post-School Education and Skills Reform, SAAS has taken on responsibility for the administration of FESS and will become the single funding body for student support in Scotland, helping ensure eligible learners receive the financial support they need to access and succeed in education.

Working within the Corporate Services Directorate, you will support the finance and data processes that underpin the effective administration of FESS and EMA, contributing to a high-profile and evolving area of service delivery. You will work collaboratively with colleagues across SAAS, including Finance, HR and Communications teams, as well as partners in the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council, to maintain strong financial management, provide reliable data and insights, and support the continued development of student support funding arrangements.

• Annual review and update of grant offer letter process for FESS and EMA.
• Input into the AO processes for spend.
• Monitor team mailboxes and work with the finance officers to resolve any queries.
• Producing reports on expenditure to date and detailed forecasts.
• Undertaking the annual EMA data collection, review and reporting.
• Undertake the quarterly FESS data analysis.
• Ensuring data governance, retention and compliance with best practice.
• Work flexibly across the team alongside other B1 finance roles to ensure cover of tasks.
• Project work on development of finance processes and delivery of student support.
• Ensuring the maintenance of overall financial control to ensure the integrity of financial data and accuracy of the supporting systems and records.

Success Profile:

Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of behaviours, experience and technical criteria (if applicable) that candidates will be assessed on.

Professional / Technical Skills:

• Working with data in finance - Working
• Government Finance - Awareness

You can find out more about the skills required here: Finance Profession Capability Framework

Experience:

• Experience in reviewing information from a range of data or information sources to draw out key findings and recommendations.

Behaviours:

• Changing and improving Level 2
• Making effective decisions Level 2