Finance Manager

Credible financial planning. Informed decision-making. Impacting the future.

x3 Finance Manager

£57,500 - £65,500 (+ Benefits)

Grade: P3

Reports to: Head of Finance or Senior Finance Manager

Contract:  14 month fixed-term contract

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Stratford, London . Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office)

Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship. 

External closing date: 06 February 2026 23:55

Internal closing date: 13 February 2026 23:55

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. If you require more time to apply as part of a reasonable adjustment, please contact recruitment@cancer.org.uk as soon as possible.

Recruitment process: Two competency-based interviews

Interview date: From the week commencing 23 February 2026

How do I apply? We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to fully complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly, and objectively.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That’s why we’re looking for someone talented, someone who wants to develop their skills, someone like you.

Cancer Research UK’s Finance team’s credibility and professionalism in handling money fundraised through public generosity are essential to the smooth running of our organisation, ultimately helping the charity reach our goal of beating cancer. In 2024/25, the finance team managed an income of £735m and expenditure of £715m.

We’re recruiting for three commercial Finance Managers to join the team, each covering one of the following business areas:

• Scientific Research & Innovation (R&I)

  • In 2024/25, we committed £403m towards this life-saving research and are on track to spend over £1.5b on research over 5 years.

• Fundraising, specifically Marketing & Digital, Philanthropy, & Relationship Management

  • The driving force and operations behind our annual fundraising contribution of £600m+.

• Fundraising, specifically Legacies

  • Our largest income stream, £503m in 2024/25.

As a Finance Manager, you’ll lead the delivery of high-quality and insightful reporting and financial planning for your specified business area. This will involve advising senior managers and leaders on important financial decisions across a range of initiatives and projects to deliver our ambitious strategy.

Your legacy by the end of this contract will be to have made a meaningful and lasting impact on the organisation’s financial capability, decision‑making, and long‑term planning. If you’re a qualified finance professional who has led budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning activities in large, complex organisations, we would love for you to join our mission.

What will I be doing?

• Owning and delivering timely and insightful reporting for one of the following business areas:

  • Scientific Research & Innovation (R&I)

  • Fundraising (MFE & Philanthropy)

  • Legacies

• Taking accountability and ownership of the Financial Planning, Forecasting & Budgeting for your specified business areas. This includes:

  • Creating in-year forecasts, full-year budgets, and long-term financial plans.

  • Supporting and collaborating with your stakeholders to enable the organisation to own and take responsibility for their plans and delivery.

  • Collaborating with the other members of the wider finance team to guide them on financial planning activities.

  • Acting as an advocate and role model for understanding cost drivers and cost control.

• Owning the financial reporting for your areas by:

  • Collaborating with Management Accountants to ensure accurate and insightful monthly reporting for your business areas.

  • Providing commentary and understanding on monthly and year-to-date variances and expectations.

  • Understanding what is needed to inform decision-making.

• Providing financial analysis and supporting financial decision-making:

  • Provide high-quality analysis and decision support to initiatives, projects, and business cases.

  • Analysing trends and performance and feeding findings into forecasts and long-term financial planning.

  • Helping senior stakeholders (including Heads) to understand the financial impact of their initiatives and decisions on the charity's financial plan.

  • Producing analysis that turns complex data into insight, understanding the 'so what', and questioning Heads and Senior Manager on 'what's next?’.

  • Identifying opportunities to drive change and improving the financial acumen of decision-makers.

• Building strong, credible, and constructive stakeholder relationships within the business areas that you support (particularly with Senior Leadership and Management teams).

Scientific R&I Finance Manager:

• Helping Scientific Research & Innovation make confident funding decisions by turning complex financial information into clear, practical insight.

• Supporting budgeting, forecasting, and long‑term planning, while working closely with research leaders to understand costs, challenge assumptions, and make sure investment decisions deliver the greatest impact.

Fundraising Finance Manager:

• Line managing a Senior Finance Analyst, ensuring to set clear objectives and provide supportive management and coaching.

• Managing a wide group of stakeholders across multiple departments.

Legacies Finance Manager:

• Supporting the team that delivers the largest income stream for Cancer Research UK using strong financial analysis and modelling skills to help analyse complex data in a judgmental area.

  • Support will also be required to work with a third party to develop and continuously improve a new financial model.

What skills will I need?

• Qualified Finance Manager or Finance Business Partner (CIMA, ACCA, ICAEW or by experience) who has led financial planning and decision making in large, complex organisations.

  • Qualified by Experience definition: Has significant, demonstrable experience leading the full annual and monthly forecasting, budgeting, financial planning, and reporting cycles required for this role. Meets all requirements of the role.

• Commercial Finance or FP&A background with post-qualification experience leading annual budgeting, forecasting, financial planning, and monthly reporting activities for medium to large business areas (c.£10m+ P&L).

• Has successfully built credible and collaborative cross-functional internal stakeholder relationships with strong interpersonal, influencing, and negotiating skills (including senior leadership and auditors).

• Commercially minded with strong analytical and modelling skills, and the ability to interpret complex financial data into actionable insights and trends.

• Strong communication skills with the ability to clearly present and explain complex financial information and advice to non-technical audiences.

• A proactive problem-solver with a continuous improvement mindset for identifying and implementing continuous improvements, encouraging innovation, promoting best practices, and challenging conventional organisational approaches and thinking.

• Demonstrates curiosity and a proactive approach to learning, with the ability to quickly get up to speed, build stakeholder relationships, and deliver impact from the outset of the contract.

• R&I & Fundraising only: Either immediately available or on one month’s notice or less.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination  

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism   

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people  

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We’re looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we’d still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

Additional Information

Owing to the nature of this position, any offer of employment for this role will be subject to a satisfactory basic DBS check.

For more information about working with us please visit our website or contact us at recruitment@cancer.org.uk.  

For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact recruitment@cancer.org.uk or 020 3469 8400 as soon as possible. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.