Careers at British Council

The Role:

This role partners with the English & Exams (E&E) business to provide financial insight, planning, budgeting, forecasting, and performance analysis. Working closely with operational teams, it supports informed decision-making, risk management, and commercial performance, acting as a collaborative finance partner to maximise business impact.

Accountabilities:  

Business Partnering & Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as a trusted finance partner to Finance Directors and Market Leads, providing decision support, financial insights, and profitability analysis to drive commercial performance and strategic outcomes.
• Enable stakeholders to understand financial performance by identifying cost drivers, KPIs, risks, and opportunities while building strong relationships across finance, programme delivery, and corporate services.
• Manage multiple stakeholder and product support requests, effectively prioritising work based on risk, business impact, urgency, and competing demands.

Operational Decision Support

• Develop financial analysis and business cases for Teaching Centres, delivery models, market expansion, property changes, and investment opportunities to support strategic decision-making.
• Produce cost-benefit, ROI, and payback analyses, alongside operational and commercial models, to optimise pricing, utilisation, and delivery channels.
• Conduct scenario and financial modelling to assess regulatory, tax, and organisational changes, supporting multi-year planning through revenue, margin, and cost forecasts.

Financial Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

• Support annual planning, forecasting, reforecasting, and scenario modelling by consolidating inputs across business units and regions, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and alignment with approved assumptions and strategy.
• Provide clear financial guidance to non-finance stakeholders, explaining variances, managing budget and forecast queries, and supporting expenditure tracking and financial processes.

Financial Monitoring, Reporting & Analysis

• Prepare and deliver accurate management reporting, KPI dashboards, variance analysis, and performance insights, highlighting trends, key drivers, and emerging issues across Exams and Teaching.
• Produce ad hoc analysis and reporting to support business decisions, performance reviews, and leadership requirements, while ensuring data accuracy through close collaboration with the CoE and reporting teams.

Role specific knowledge and experience: 

Essential:

• Intermediate experience in financial management, FP&A, or management accounting.
• Strong financial modelling, forecasting and analytics skills.
• Strong data literacy (Power BI, dashboard creation).
• Experience providing financial support to operational teams with positive feedback.
• Strong communication skills, including story telling supported with data, and the ability to effectively explain financials to non‑finance colleagues.
• Experience handling multiple deadlines and working with a portfolio of activities.

Desirable:

• Experience in Exams, Teaching, or broader education / commercial service environments.
• Experience with SAP or similar ERP platforms.
• Experience with Anaplan or similar EPM platforms.

Role specific skills:

• Business Partnering: able to build trust and communicate financial information clearly to non‑finance teams.
• Financial Acumen: solid understanding of budgeting, forecasting and financial performance drivers.
• Analytical Skills: able to prepare meaningful internal variance analysis and identify early warning indicators.
• Multi‑tasking and prioritisation: able to manage multiple demands and deadlines.
• Collaboration: strong relationship‑building skills across dispersed teams.
• EPM System Expertise (preferably Anaplan): confident in both planning and reporting functions.

Language Requirements:

The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency in English is required.

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The Role:

Leads the Centre of Excellence (CoE) function, ensuring high-quality financial data, standardised processes, and strong governance across English & Exams. Oversees insights analysts, drives data integrity and process optimisation, and enables effective planning, forecasting, reporting, and decision-making through reliable financial information and operational excellence.

Accountabilities:  

Data Quality & Reconciliation Oversight

• Act as the subject matter expert for E&E financial data, ensuring data quality, consistency, and accurate reconciliations across SAP, Anaplan, reporting templates, and regional records.
• Monitor key financial datasets, identify variances and trends, and provide clear narratives and insights to support planning, forecasting, reporting, and informed decision-making.
• Maintain audit-ready documentation and collaborate closely with Business Partners to ensure alignment between financial data inputs and business-facing outputs.

Process Standardisation & Efficiency

• Leads standardisation of financial processes, reporting, and automation initiatives to improve efficiency, consistency, and internal controls.

Internal Financial Support for E&E

• Deliver accurate, timely, and reconciled financial information, financial summaries, and trend analyses to support effective performance reviews and business decision-making.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to resolve data discrepancies, improve reporting quality, and maintain consistent data definitions for comparability across regions and markets.

Line Management & Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team, setting clear objectives, managing performance, and building capability to deliver high-quality financial planning, reporting, and analytical insights.
• Foster a collaborative and inclusive team culture while effectively prioritising and allocating workloads to ensure successful delivery across multiple country demands and stakeholder requirements.

Governance, Controls & Internal Assurance

• Supports BDS compliance, audits, and assurance activities while strengthening data governance, documentation standards, master data structures, and reporting frameworks to improve financial control, consistency, and insights across markets, regions, and consolidated results.

Role specific knowledge and experience: 

Essential:

• Significant experience in financial data analysis, FP&A, management accounting or similar.
• Experience in leading data quality and reconciliation processes.
• Experience with Anaplan or similar EPM platforms.
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders in a matrix or multi‑country organisational context.
• Demonstrated ability to work with complex financial datasets across multiple markets or business units.
• Strong capability in financial modelling, forecasting and analytics.
• Ability to simplify complexity for senior executives.
• Strong data literacy (Power BI, dashboarding and data modelling), as well as good business story telling with data.

Desirable:

• Track record of delivering accurate financial reporting and analysis to tight deadlines.
• Experience with SAP or similar ERP platforms.
• Experience delivering financial training or capacity‑building.

Role specific skills:

• Advanced data quality and reconciliation skills – able to identify inconsistencies and guide corrective action.
• Analysis and variance report preparation – able to interpret data patterns and provide succinct preliminary insights.
• Team leadership – able to coach, develop and manage a small team.
• EPM systems proficiency – strong working knowledge of Anaplan, and experience working with SAP and associated reporting tools.
• Accuracy and attention to detail – ensuring high‑integrity financial data across markets and regions.
• Communication skills – able to explain financial data clearly to finance and non‑finance audiences.

Language Requirements:

The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency in English is required.

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The Role:

The Payroll Officer supports the delivery of accurate and compliant payroll operations across assigned countries, ensuring all payroll-related data is processed on time and to the highest standard of accuracy.

The postholder is responsible for preparing, validating, and reconciling payroll input data, assisting in payroll runs, managing employee queries, and maintaining records in compliance with statutory and internal policies. This role contributes to continuous improvement, risk mitigation, and audit readiness by supporting payroll consultants and ensuring effective coordination with Finance, HR, and external vendors.

Main accountabilities but not limited to the following:  

Payroll Execution & Validation

• Support end-to-end payroll processing by validating input data (new hires, exits, salary changes, allowances, deductions, and benefits) in coordination with HR and Finance.
• Prepare and verify payroll input templates for review and approval by the Payroll Consultant.
• Ensure all payroll transactions are compliant with internal controls and statutory regulations. 

Records Management & Documentation

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date payroll records, ensuring documentation is complete and properly stored in line with Information Governance and Records Management (IGRM) policies.
• Ensure all payroll records are available for internal and external audits.
• Support archiving and data-retention compliance in accordance with PDPA and GDPR standards.

Compliance & Risk

• Ensure compliance with local statutory regulations (tax, pension, social security) and escalate any discrepancies or anomalies for resolution.
• Follow payroll control checklists to ensure audit readiness and mitigate operational risk.
• Support the Payroll Consultant in preparing reports for compliance reviews, audits, and reconciliations.

Case Management & Employee Support

• Manage payroll-related cases and queries in the case management system (e.g., C4C), ensuring prompt, courteous, and accurate resolution within SLA.
• Collaborate with HR, Finance, and the MSP to resolve employee concerns related to payroll, benefits, or statutory deductions.
• Maintain a strong customer-service mindset, providing empathetic and professional support to employees.
• Escalate complex cases to the Payroll Consultant or Manager for review.

Continuous Improvement & Collaboration

• Contribute to the documentation and refinement of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and process checklists.
• Participate in post-payroll reviews, lessons-learned sessions, and continuous-improvement initiatives.
• Support the implementation of automation tools or process simplifications introduced by the Payroll & People Data Manager.

Requirements of the role:

• Written and verbal proficiency in English
• Experience in payroll administration or data processing within a shared-services or multi-country environment.
• Knowledge of payroll processes, data validation, and statutory deductions.
• Familiarity with HRIS and payroll systems (e.g., SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle, or similar).
• Ability to manage confidential data responsibly and maintain high standards of accuracy.
• Strong communication and teamwork skills, with an ability to work under tight timelines.

Desirable:

• Experience working with external vendors or managed service providers.
• Exposure to continuous-improvement initiatives or process documentation.
• Understanding of statutory payroll compliance in one or more Asia-Pacific countries.

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Role Purpose

The role will support Cultural Engagement (CE) in delivering a sustainable, financially robust and high-performing contracts portfolio by providing commercial insight, management information and strategic financial advice. Acting as a trusted business partner, the post holder will ensure that contracts are priced appropriately, deliver value for money and align with CE priorities on surplus, quality, partnerships and impact.

The role leads the ongoing development and governance of CE’s pricing and costing model and associated commercial tools, embedding good practice in commercial proposal development across the organisation. Through rigorous financial appraisal of new opportunities, the post holder is accountable for ensuring contracts are financially viable, risks are understood, and returns are appropriate for the delivery model. The role provides independent commercial challenge and formal recommendations to the global contracts Tripartite Approval Board (TAB) on whether to proceed with contract opportunities.

As a key contributor to TAB, the role has high visibility across the CE Strategic Business Unit and plays a critical role in shaping commercial decision-making. They must display an understanding of the organisation’s aims and build strong, effective relationships with senior leaders, operational teams and finance colleagues. Operating across a complex, multi-location international environment, the role requires a proactive, forward-looking commercial finance professional with strong strategic thinking, analytical and interpersonal skills.

Role Accountabilities

• Act as a trusted business partner, providing commercial and financial insight to advise and constructively challenge stakeholders. Support new business development through robust pricing, sustainable commercial terms and alignment with Cultural Engagement priorities. Lead financial appraisal of new opportunities, ensuring consistent use of pricing and costing models and clear measurement of benefits and investment.

Strategy & planning

• Support strategic planning through commercial modelling, analysis and insight. Assess donor landscapes, contract types and service models to understand financial implications and inform sustainable growth.

Relationship, stakeholder and key account management

• Champion Cultural Engagement as a centre of excellence in commercial and contract finance, sharing best practice across the organisation. Build strong relationships with non-financial colleagues, funders, partners and suppliers, providing constructive challenge and strengthening commercial capability, value for money and financial performance. Support the Business Strategy, Performance and Partnerships function to deliver and exceed business development objectives.

Business development

• Provide commercial support throughout the contract lifecycle, from pipeline review and risk assessment through to pricing, approvals and reporting. Evaluate proposals using pricing and costing models, ensuring alignment with delivery models, funder requirements and specialist tax and treasury advice. Support colleagues to develop financially sustainable, funder-attractive offers and negotiate balanced terms. Develop compelling financial narratives, Value for Money approaches and enhanced reporting to strengthen tenders, and provide financial quality assurance and recommendations on bids.

Business performance

• Support the transition from contract award to delivery, using programme learning to inform future opportunities. Provide accurate management information, analysis and insight for decision-making and reporting, while championing performance improvement, efficiency and value creation. Develop and embed consistent global approaches to pricing and costing, including overhead calculation, allocation and recovery.

Leadership, professional expertise & development

• Maintain high professional standards and ensure client needs shape commercial finance priorities. Share expertise and learning to drive continuous improvement, build understanding of organisational interdependencies and take responsibility for ongoing professional development. Deputise for the Head of Commercial Finance as required.

Risk Management and Compliance Monitoring

• Identify and communicate material financial risks and recommend appropriate mitigation. Work with global and specialist finance teams, including tax and treasury, to assess new business risk. Ensure projects and reporting meet funder, regional and corporate requirements, and maintain relevant commercial finance policies, systems and information in line with governance standards.

Knowledge & Experience

Education

Essential:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience
• Qualified accountant with proven experience of successfully managing and delivering similar roles

Experience

Essential:

• Business partnering experience, (minimum of 5 years), with at least 3 years recently supporting business development teams.
• Operating in international and multi-cultural organisations
• Knowledge of and experience of commercial finance activity in bid pursuit and tendering environments
• Proficiency in financial modelling and analysis.
• Excellent working knowledge of cost & pricing tools and advanced Excel.
• Awareness of tax and treasury implications of contract/partnership work in an international context

Desirable:

• Experience of commercial tendering for FCDO, EU and/ or other major international funders
• Knowledge of sector best practice on value for money and transparency reporting
• Experience of working in public sector organisations particularly aligned to a central government remit.
• Contract management knowledge and experience.
• Experience of using accounting and planning applications.
• What constitutes best practice in the upper quartile of finance functions