Finance Manager for Scottish Seabird Centre (12 months – Maternity Cover)

Further Info...

Introduction

The Scottish Seabird Centre (SSC) works to ensure that Scotland’s seas and coasts are alive with wildlife, celebrated and protected by all. We act to save seabirds and restore Scotland’s marine environment through conservation, learning, and unforgettable wildlife experiences:

Conservation – In partnership with RSPB Scotland, we care for internationally important seabird islands, including Bass Rock, which is home to one of the largest gannet colonies in the world, and Craigleith, where our community conservation project, SOS Puffin, has quadrupled the population of breeding puffins.

Learning – We seek to build an understanding of and a passion for the marine environment. Over 60,000 children and young people have engaged with our education programme.

Experience – We operate one of the leading nature visitor centres in the UK, welcoming over 170,000 visitors a year, and were awarded the Gold Green Tourism Award in April 2025.

We recently published our strategic plan for 2026 – 2031. You can read it here.

The Finance Manager will work collaboratively with the CEO, members of the senior management team and department heads to ensure strong financial management is in place throughout the charity. They will provide timely financial information to the Senior Team and the Board, and work with colleagues across the charity to support the development of budgets for fundraising applications and to monitor and report on funded expenditure.

Essential skills and experience

  • A recognised accountancy qualification (CA/ACCA or similar) with post qualification experience in a financial management role, or partial qualification with substantial experience.
  • Experience preparing management accounts, budgets and cashflow forecasts, with the ability to analyse business, financial and risk information and make clear recommendations to the Senior Management Team and trustees.
  • Experience overseeing VAT returns and payroll
  • An effective people manager with the ability to prioritise, delegate and deliver operational outcomes.
  • Confident and experienced lead user of finance and/or CRM platforms, able to develop system functionality, run queries and produce reports independently
  • Skills and confidence in adapting to and interrogating new systems.
  • Good organisational and administrative skills with strong attention to detail.
  • Leads by example and role models the values of the Charity, as described in our strategic plan.

 

Desirable skills and experience

  • A passion for the natural world.
  • Experience of overseeing a system implementation, migration or major upgrade.
  • Experience working in a charity and accounting for charity funds.

We welcome applicants with the right skills and experience and are happy to explore different working hours or patterns to support the right candidate.

To discuss this role please contact Alan Surgeon, AWS Executive, at [email protected] or 07795954029.

The closing date is midnight on Friday the 4th of December 2026.

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