Senior Finance Officer (4880)

Job summary

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.

Job description

• 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.

Person specification

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

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions

Technical skills

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

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

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,936, Scottish Government contributes

£10,120 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an in person interview and presentation .

Assessments are scheduled for w/c 9 November 2026 however this may be subject to change.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window) .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the

Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window)

and the

Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) .

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available.

You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Simon Norbury
• Email : simon.norbury@gov.scot

Recruitment team

• Email : scottishgovernmentrecruitment@gov.scot

Apply at advertiser's site

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