Finance Business Partner
No salary listed
Senior
Brighton, Brighton and Hove, UK
Remote
Finance & BankingCorporate Finance & FP&A
About the job
Requirements
- Be a qualified accountant with ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or an equivalent qualification such as ISCA or CPA.
- Have experience as a Finance Business Partner with a commercial outlook, working with senior stakeholders in a complex, preferably global, matrix organisation.
- Have a record of collating and analysing financial and non-financial data and sharing the resulting information and insight to support business decision-making.
- Have strong leadership skills demonstrated through formal management, deputising responsibilities, or informal mentoring.
Responsibilities
- Produce forward-looking insight and analysis and ensure a joined-up approach to business partnering by taking a holistic view across the business.
- Identify key areas of opportunity and risk, communicate them to business areas, and devise and follow through on action plans.
- Lead efforts to strengthen financial controls over student acquisition costs, including discounts, commissions, and related expense drivers.
- Use data and improve the use of Power BI as the golden source for insight and analysis.
- Ensure delivery and quality of analysis, reports, benchmarking, KPI identification and measurement, and historical trends to enable proactive decision-making.
- Represent commercial finance interests and requirements in organisation-wide projects, change initiatives, and core process and systems evaluation and implementation.
- Incorporate industry benchmarking, competitor analysis, market trends, and macro factors affecting business performance.
- Champion a growth and cost-efficiency mindset across the wider business.
- Coordinate with the Business Partner team and wider Finance colleagues to standardise the preparation and evaluation of business cases and establish internal cross-portfolio benchmarking.
- Oversee and, where appropriate, own the preparation and evaluation of capital investment business cases using a standardised organisational model.
- Establish a mechanism for post-implementation project evaluation.
- Challenge the business on commercial decisions, including Gate Meetings, Forecasting Cycles, and Commercial Committees.
- Maintain clear, clean, and usable working files and directories across the team, including business case and scenario files.
- Improve team capability, financial models, and processes to deliver enhanced and standardised commercial analysis.
- Provide commercial expertise in preparing and delivering reporting and operational presentations to the Study Group Senior Leadership Team and Executive Committee.
- Identify and feed improvements into the planning process as part of continuous improvement.
- Work closely with the FP&A team to ensure clear accountability and a collaborative approach.
- Collaborate with HR and other key partners to align data, insights, strategies, and expectations, solve problems, and ensure compliance.
- Keep the CFO and Director of Commercial Finance updated by maintaining the project activity planner and tracker.
- Own monthly P&L results analysis, highlight improvement areas, and manage the mechanisms through which non-finance stakeholders engage with performance, including monthly meetings.
- Deputise for the Head of FBP and Director of Commercial Finance where appropriate, providing project-based Finance support to Executive Committee members and other key stakeholders.
- Provide thought leadership, coordination, and mentoring across the wider Commercial Finance team.
- Coordinate team-wide activities where required to deliver successful outcomes consistently and efficiently.
- Champion process improvement and drive value into the business.
Desired Qualifications
- Experience with analytical tools such as Adaptive and Power BI.
- Experience working in a business model where business-facing roles are supported by Finance Centres of Excellence or Shared Services teams.
- Project-based work experience.
About the company
Study Group runs International Study Centres on partner university campuses to prepare international students for degree study. Its programs combine English language courses with pathway programs that build language and academic skills for university admission. Unlike standalone language schools, its centres are integrated with universities and tied to degree pathways, expanding access through a global network of partner campuses. Its goal is to help international students gain admission to degrees by providing integrated language and academic preparation within partner university networks.
Company Size
5,001-10,000
Company Stage
Growth Equity (Non-Venture Capital)
Total Funding
$26.4M
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Founded
1994
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- University of Bath signed a 10-year Study Group partnership in March 2026.
- Study Group added University of Wisconsin-Stout in September 2025, expanding U.S. reach.
- Arete’s May 2026 acquisition and capital support reduce near-term financing pressure.
What critics are saying
- UK Home Office placed Study Group on a compliance action plan in late 2024.
- April 2024 reports tied Study Group-sponsored visas to 804 asylum claims, inviting renewed scrutiny.
- A future UK visa crackdown would slash recruitment volumes and threaten Study Group’s sponsorship model.
What makes Study Group unique
- Study Group runs campus-based International Study Centres with 50-plus university partners worldwide.
- Its pathway model converts international students into degree candidates through English and academic preparation.
- Arete Education bought Study Group in 2026, pairing it with AI-enabled delivery infrastructure.
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Benefits
- Professional Development Budget
- Training Programs