Location: Hybrid – your time can be split between our office in Bristol based on the Harbourside, and your home subject to agreement with your manager.
Department: Finance
Salary: £26,712 per annum
Contract: Fixed Term for 12 months
Working hours: Full time – 37.5 hours per week
About We The Curious
We The Curious is an educational charity and one of the UK's leading science centres.
We produce experiences that bring people together to play, get creative with science and explore different ideas.
We work with partners, locally and nationally, supporting people to be inquisitive, develop new skills and improve their wellbeing.
We are progressive, inquisitive, collaborative, playful and creative.
Our Why, What & How
Our vision
What if everyone is included, curious and inspired by science to build a better world together?
Our mission
To connect and empower people through sharing creative experiences which celebrate unknowns in science.
Our pledges
_Cultivate Curiosity
_Strive for Sustainable Futures
_Include Everyone
_Build Resilience
_Open Up Science
You can find out more about these in our Manifesto.
Our Values
_Inquisitive - Asking questions
_Progressive - Thinking about what's next
_Playful - Embracing the unexpected with a sense of fun
_Creative - Generating and testing new ideas
_Collaborative - Being inclusive, connecting and valuing
Our Strategic Priorities
/ SP1 - We will deliver collaborative, curiosity-led learning projects to reduce inequality and improve life chances.
/ SP2 - Our team and those we work with will reflect the diversity of our city, delivering a more inclusive experience.
/ SP3 -We commit to being a carbon net zero organisation by 2030 and will inspire audiences to take positive action for our planet
/ SP4 - To deliver our charitable mission, we will strengthen existing income sources and seek new opportunities to deliver long-term financial security.
/ SP5 - We will provide opportunities for people to explore new ideas, develop skills and influence scientific research.
About the role
Working within a small forward-thinking finance department, the main focus of this role is supporting the team on the day-to-day management of the Finance Systems.
This is a crucial role, you will have the ability to start conversations and develop relationships to ensure your responsibilities are completed to a high level of detail, with a diplomatic and sensitive approach.
What will you do in this role?
_You’ll be responsible for the accurate entry of purchase ledger invoices, monthly supplier statement reconciliation and disputing invoices if required.
_You’ll be responsible for setting up and maintaining supplier records and direct debit monitoring as well as periodic BACS runs
_You’ll provide great customer service and build relationships with suppliers, responding to external supplier queries.
_You’ll deal with internal queries regarding invoice and purchase order approvals.
_You’ll support the team in the month-end close process
_You will reconcile weekly retail transactions and process weekly takings as well as responding to internal ticketing and merchant queries
_You’ll raise general sales invoices as requested by the organisation and will liaise with the bookings team for raising schools invoicing on a weekly basis
General responsibilities
_Embody and demonstrate our values; Collaborative, Creative, Inquisitive, Playful, Progressive.
_Responsible for carefully following safeguarding policies and procedures and raising any concerns to manager/Designated Safeguarding Officer.'
_General responsibility for departmental compliance with GDPR.
_Support the rest of the Finance team with projects when required.
_Due to the financial responsibilities of this role, you will be required to complete a standard DBS check.
What we're looking for from you
_You’ll have previous experience of working within a Finance team and a knowledge of accounting processes and software.
_You are passionate about all things finance, with a high standard of numeracy and literacy and great Excel skills (e.g. vlookups, pivot tables)
_You’ll be highly self-motivated and bring effective organisational skills, with good attention to detail.
_Ability to work well under pressure and maintain a strong attention to detail.
_You are approachable and friendly with a flexible professional approach with the ability to communicate with staff at all levels
_You enjoy working in a fast paced/constantly changing environment
Application process
Deadline for applications: Sunday 23rd February at midnight
Interview dates and location: 11th and 13th March 2025 at We The Curious.
Start date: ASAP
If you would like to apply, please complete the application form. It contains questions designed to assess your interest in and suitability for the role.
Please don't send in CVs or cover letters as we don't review them.
We appreciate interviews can be stressful, so we try to make them more of a conversation and a chance for you to tell us about how your skills and interests make you the right person for the role.
If you are invited for an interview, we'll send you the questions that you'll be asked beforehand so that you have time to prepare.
If you have any particular needs or requirements, please do let us know so that we can make the required adjustments.
If you would like to talk about the role or the application process, please email people@wethecurious.org
Support during the process
We The Curious is a Disability Confident Employer and we welcome applications from candidates who self-assess themselves as having a disability. We will guarantee an interview to applicants who advise that they have a disability and who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy. To help you, under the Equality Act 2010 a person is defined as having a disability if a) they have a physical or mental impairment, and b) the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
We want to work with you to ensure the recruitment process is accessible for you.
If you are disabled, neurodivergent, or if you have a long-term health condition, we’ll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to our processes for you.
You’ll have the opportunity to let us know about any adjustments you may need throughout the application and selection process. We’ll continue this conversation if you join us as a staff member, and we’ll work with you to make sure you have the adjustments you need to succeed in your role.
Examples of adjustments could include:
_providing alternative formats at every stage
_options to apply
_extra time for tasks
_providing some extra information about what to expect
_office orientation before an in-person interview.
Including everyone
We value the positive impact greater representation will have on our organisation, programmes and culture. It’s our goal to become an inclusive place to work and for our teams to better reflect our city and the people who visit us.
We welcome applications from people of all lived experiences and particularly those that are not well represented* in the science centre sector.
*By not well represented we mean people with lived experience including but not limited to:
_African and African-Caribbean heritage
_South Asian and East Asian heritage
_Global Majority
_Disabled
_Neurodivergent
_Visually Impaired
_Deaf community
_LGBTQIA+ and/or non-binary
_Working class background
_Didn’t go to university or first in your immediate family to attend University
Working with us
We value the people that work with us. Our staff have access to the following:
Wellbeing & support
_Flexible working
_Hybrid working (if suitable and stated for role)
_Cycle to work scheme
_Free yearly flu jabs and eye tests
_Paid sick leave for physical and mental health
_Mental Health First Aiders
_Confidential advice & counselling through the Employee Support Programme
Leave
_25 days in addition to bank holidays.
_A day of extra holiday for every 5 years' service
_An amount of paid leave for emergency dependent care, domestic emergency leave and compassionate leave
New Parent Policy
We are proud to be a family friendly organisation, which is why we work to develop our people practices in line with that value. We have recently introduced a non-gendered approach to Maternity and Paternity, re-branded as our “New Parent Policy”. There are eligibility criteria and terms and conditions, but the key take away is that anyone who is due to become a new parent, regardless of their gender, can take 1 year off work, and we’ll pay your full salary for the first five months.
Facilities & discounts
_Free entry to the venue with up to four guests, plus 12 additional entry tickets per calendar year to give away.
_15% off in the We The Curious café
_20% off in our shop
_Range of discounts with local businesses and free entry to other local attractions.
_Social events
_Secure cycle storage
Pension
_We offer a pension scheme with 5% company contributions.
Death in service benefit
_Four times your annual salary.
