Senior Finance Assistant - Procure to Pay

09/04/2026

Job Id: 2442

School/Department: Finance

Work Arrangement: Full Time (Hybrid)

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary per annum (£): £27,319 - £33,951

Closing Date: 22/04/2026

The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university.

We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more. Find out more about our benefits (opens in a new window) and join us to become part of something special.

Overview

We are seeking confident and positive individuals to join one of the Faculty Procure to Pay Hubs with a primary focus on supporting all aspects of the Procure to Pay (P2P) Process within a Faculty hub.

You will provide a high quality, responsive service in all aspects of your role, which primarily will include processing purchase orders, purchasing card payments and expenses claim forms using the University's financial systems (uBASE and MyPurchase). Additionally, you will assist the Finance Hub with various aspects of financial management as necessary.

The role is customer focused requiring excellent communication skills to deal with a variety of internal and external enquiries. You will be proactive in delivering a high-quality service with a commitment to continuous improvement and responsive to change.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Contribute to the management and delivery of the Procure to Pay function for the Faculty, acting as a main contact for Faculty queries and for external supplier queries.
• Provide expert advice and support to colleagues, staff and students within the school on a wide range of P2P and other financial transactional processes, ensuring compliance with and understanding of the University's financial directives and compliance framework.
• Raise purchase orders, ensuring all orders have been made in accordance with University financial regulations
• Raise invoices to external customers
• Work to embed compliant and consistent purchasing activity across the Faculty and help to identify areas of non-compliance.
• Take responsibility for identified problems in liaison with service users providing timely feedback and support where errors or discrepancies are identified.
• Ensure appropriate data management and record retention in accordance with departmental and University requirements.
• Provide training for colleagues as required.
• Regular and productive investigation of blocked invoices to resolve issues on a timely basis and through liaison with service users, accounts payable and external suppliers.
• Ensure expenses and P-Card expenditure is checked against receipts and coded efficiently ahead of approval for payment
• Work with the Finance Assistant(s) providing support and guidance to ensure efficient delivery of all team responsibilities.
• Attend Faculty Finance meetings when required and share best practice throughout the Faculty P2P hubs, making suggestions for improving processes and ways of working.
• Providing reciprocal support/ cover as necessary to other Faculty P2P teams as necessary
• Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the post.

Person Specification

Our diverse community of staff and students recognises the unique abilities, backgrounds, and beliefs of all. We foster a culture where everyone feels they belong and is respected. Even if your past experience doesn't match perfectly with this role's criteria, your contribution is valuable, and we encourage you to apply. Please ensure that you reference the application criteria in the application statement when you apply.

Criteria

Essential or desirable

Stage(s) assessed at

5 GCSEs grades A-C, including Maths and English

Essential

Application

Excellent written/verbal communication skills and customer service skills, with the ability to build strong working relationships

Essential

Application/ Interview

The ability to analyse, interpret and effectively communicate financial information

Essential

Application/ Interview

Ability to review and provide meaningful feedback on contractual financial terms and conditions

Desirable

Application/ Interview

Effective team player with a flexible approach

Essential

Application/ Interview

Ability to work proactively using own initiative, with minimum supervision and to multiple deadlines.

Essential

Application /Interview

Ability to gain trust, confidence and respect amongst colleagues

Essential

Application/ Interview

Ability to manage simple and complex processes effectively

Desirable

Application/ Interview

Strong analytical and problem solving skills with the ability to manipulate and interpret financial data.

Desirable

Application/ Interview

Confident with willingness to challenge and be challenged

Desirable

Application/ Interview

Further Information

Grade

Grade 5

Salary

£27,319- £31,236 per annum (pro-rata), with potential to progress to £33,951 through outstanding contribution

Work arrangement

Full-time

Line manager

Procure to Pay Lead - Finance Business Partner

Direct reports

N/A

Our website

http://www.shef.ac.uk/finance

For informal enquiries about this job contact Rachel Nowlan, R.Nowlan@sheffield.ac.uk, P2P Lead Faculty of Engineering, or Michelle Potts, EA and Departmental Administrator at m.potts@sheffield.ac.uk.

Next steps in the recruitment process

The selection process will consist of an interview and questions will be provided in advance. We plan to let candidates know if they have progressed to the selection stage as soon as possible. If you need any support, equipment or adjustments to enable you to participate in any element of the recruitment process you can contact Michelle Potts at m.potts@sheffield.ac.uk.

Our vision and strategic plan

We are the University of Sheffield. This is our vision: sheffield.ac.uk/vision (opens in new window).

What we offer

• A minimum of 38days annual leave including bank holiday and closure days (pro rata) with the ability to purchase more.
• Flexible working opportunities, including hybrid working for some roles.
• Generous pension scheme.
• A wide range of discounts and rewards on shopping, eating out and travel.
• A variety of staff networks, providing opportunities for social interaction, peer support and personal development (for example, Race Equality, LGBT+, Women's and Parent's networks).
• Recognition Awards to reward staff who go above and beyond in their role.
• A commitment to your development access to learning and mentoring schemes; integrated with our Academic Career Pathways and Professional Services Shared Skills Framework.
• A range of generous family-friendly policies
  • paid time off for parenting and caring emergencies
  • support for those going through the menopause
  • paid time off and support for fertility treatment
  • and more

More details can be found on our benefits page: sheffield.ac.uk/jobs/benefits (opens in a new window).

We are a Disability Confident Employer. If you have a disability and meet the essential criteria for this job you will be invited to take part in the next stage of the selection process.