Financial Officer

APS 4
- $76,658 - $80,995 per annum plus 15.4% Superannuation
- Canberra

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is Australia’s leading Government agency for supporting health and medical research for the improvement of individual and population health. It does this through funding high quality research, supporting the translation of research into evidence-based practice and policy, providing guidance on responsible research practices and ethical issues and administration of legislation governing research using human embryos. In addition, NHMRC has responsibilities in relation to implementation of the Medical Research Future Fund.

NHMRC engages closely with a range of stakeholders across the health system and community to ensure that health and medical research meets the needs of the Australian community. This includes governments, researchers, biotech industries and other business leaders, medical, nursing and allied health practitioners, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and research leaders, teaching and research institutions, health services, community health organisations, consumers and carers.

NHMRC’s responsibilities include engagement with the health and medical research sector and broader community to manage NHMRC’s grants system which has up to 57,000 external users and is responsible for coordinating and administering grants processes totalling more than $1.5 billion annually.

NHMRC has a workforce of around 250 staff, with most located in the Canberra office, with a smaller number in our Melbourne office. NHMRC offers attractive flexible work arrangements which allow staff to work from home.

NHMRC is dedicated to championing gender equity and diversity, ensuring equal opportunities for all staff in our pursuit of excellence in health research.

**About the Section**
The Finance section manages a range of financial functions including statutory and internal reporting, the end of month accounting process, external and internal budgets, financial analysis, procurement support and financial compliance.

**Who we are Seeking**
NHMRC is seeking someone who demonstrates experience and knowledge in exercising sound technical accounting expertise, has good interpersonal, collaboration and communication skills, as well as the ability to be flexible to learn new concepts and willing to coach and develop team members.

**Job Specific Duties**
In addition to meeting the Integrated Leadership System profile of the APS 4 level, primary outcomes and accountabilities will include:

- Committee onboarding - Prepare onboarding documentation, ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and NHMRC practices
- Committee payroll processing - Preparing payroll payment runs, preparing journals, reconciliations and supporting the Treasury and operations team to effectively manage overseas payments
- Annual Financial Statement Process - undertake preparation of responses to ANAO and internal business requests for review by the Senior Financial Accountant
- Committee information - Preparing Committee information to meet external and internal reporting requirements for review by the Senior Financial Accountant
- Payroll Reporting and advice - Provide advice to NHMRC business areas on simple Committee onboarding and payroll transactions and assist with the preparation of the lodgements to Quicksuper for Committee superannuation payments
- Process documentation - Develop and maintain standard operating procedures for the key activities and tasks which will support team capability through coaching and training within the finance section
- Other Tasks - Providing backup and/or support to other functions in the Finance section.

**Core Capabilities**
- Ability to build rapport and sustain strong stakeholder relationships with a variety of internal and external stakeholders
- Effective interpersonal and communication skills, structuring both written and oral communication to ensure clarity
- Ability to resolve moderately complex enquiries from stakeholders and provide timely information and advice
- Critical thinking and problem solving skills to identify and contribute to the resolution of issues and problems
- Accountability for completion of allocated tasks, organising workflow, review of work and contribute to team goals
- Ability to assist in data analyse and present results for different audiences
- Ability to work independently or as part of a team under direction
- Reliability with efficient time management and organisation skills
- Ability to manage competing priorities and work cooperatively
- Ability to achieve quality outcomes
- Resilience and ability to adapt to changes in the workplace.

**Highly Desirable**
Demonstrated knowledge and experience of:

- Relevant government financial experience
- Good communication skills (both written and verbal) and the ability to implement and track work processes, keeping lines of communication open at all times
- A high level of attention t