Research and Knowledge Exchange Finance Manager

About Northeastern University London

Northeastern University London (NU London) is a growing, ambitious university and part of the global Northeastern University network. Originally founded as The New College of the Humanities, the institution has undergone a rapid transformation in recent years, gaining degree awarding powers in 2020, university title in 2022, and expanding its footprint with campuses at St Katharine’s Dock, next to Tower Bridge, and more recently at Portsoken.

As an experience-led university, NU London combines high-quality teaching with a strong focus on real-world, interdisciplinary learning. Alongside this, the University is now actively building its research and innovation profile. With over 50 research-active faculty and a growing doctoral community, we are investing strategically in areas such as data science, AI, and engineering, while maintaining strengths across the humanities and social sciences.

Our Doctoral School was established in 2023, and we are preparing for our first submission to REF 2028. We have also recently gained UKRI eligibility, marking a significant step in our research development. As a relatively new and evolving research environment, we are continuing to build the systems, processes, and culture that will underpin our long-term ambitions.

This is a small, collaborative, and dynamic team where individuals have the opportunity to shape how things are done. Working at NU London offers the chance to be part of an institution at a pivotal stage of growth - combining the agility of a start-up environment with the resources, networks, and global reach of a major international university.

Purpose of role

The Research & Knowledge Exchange Finance Manager is the institutional lead for post-award research finance governance and compliance at Northeastern University London. The role is responsible for ensuring robust financial management, regulatory compliance and audit readiness across the University’s externally funded research and knowledge exchange portfolio. As research income and complexity increase, this post provides strategic financial oversight, safeguards institutional income, and ensures adherence to funder, statutory and sector requirements.

The role combines operational financial management with institutional-level responsibility for research income reporting, regulatory returns, and financial governance frameworks that underpin research growth and risk mitigation.

Key responsibilities

• Lead financial governance and compliance oversight for all externally funded research and knowledge exchange activity, ensuring adherence to funder terms and conditions (including UKRI and Horizon Europe/ERC).
• Provide strategic financial oversight of post-award activity, including budget monitoring, risk management, funder reporting, audit readiness, and compliance approval of research transactions, ensuring accurate reconciliation and timely completion of all financial activity.
• Lead preparation and submission of institutional research income returns, including REF finance return and HE-BCI reporting, and monitor publicly funded income against TRAC thresholds, initiating readiness planning where required.
• Oversee financial management of funded PhD studentships and grant-funded staffing commitments.
• Act as the institutional subject matter expert for research finance within Workday, ensuring system integrity, reviewing agreements for compliance prior to setup, overseeing accurate and timely data entry, and resolving complex issues to maintain alignment between system controls and regulatory requirements.
• Develop and maintain robust financial control frameworks, processes and standard operating procedures to support institutional research governance.
• Provide expert financial guidance to Principal Investigators and senior leadership, including regular portfolio reviews covering balances, activity, forecasting, and closeouts, and manage prior approvals and project changes across the full award lifecycle to ensure compliant and sustainable research delivery.
• Lead financial planning, monitoring and forecasting for the RKE Services operational budget, advising the budget holder on resource allocation, risk and sustainability.

Qualifications

• Accountancy qualification or other professional qualification e.g., ARMA Certificate (desirable).

Key Criteria

• Extensive experience in UK higher education research finance.
• Experience of working with research finance systems and contributing to system development or implementation.
• Experience of managing complex externally funded awards, including UKRI and European funding.
• Experience contributing to or leading statutory research finance returns (e.g. REF, HE-BCI, TRAC or equivalent).
• Strong understanding of research finance compliance, audit and regulatory frameworks.
• Proven ability to develop financial governance processes and operate effectively across institutional systems.
• Experience of working collaboratively with academic and professional services stakeholders.
• Experience of financial reporting, forecasting and providing insight to decision-making.