Financial Planning and Analysis Assistant

Job summary

The role

This role sits within the Finance Directorate and supports the delivery of high-quality financial planning and analysis across Registers of Scotland. The postholder will play a key role in providing robust financial insight, analysis and reporting to support decision-making, business planning and the effective management of resources.

Working closely with the Financial Planning and Analysis Lead and wider RoS colleagues, the role will contribute to medium‑ and long-term financial planning, unit cost analysis, and business partnering activity. The postholder will engage with a range of internal stakeholders, helping to ensure financial information is accurate, timely and clearly communicated, supporting the organisation to deliver its strategic objectives while achieving value for money.

Job description

On a typical day you will…

• Support the development, maintenance and review of medium‑ and long-term financial plans, ensuring assumptions are robust, well evidenced and clearly documented.

• Produce and maintain financial models, forecasts and scenario analysis to support business planning, fee modelling, projects and investment decisions.

• Contribute to unit cost analysis and overhead reviews, preparing clear analysis and reports that support transparency and effective cost management.

• Prepare accurate and timely financial reports, explaining variances, trends and key drivers to support informed decision-making.

• Support business partnering activity by working collaboratively with budget holders, project teams and other stakeholders to understand financial impacts and improve financial management.

• Assist with the financial aspects of business cases, ensuring compliance with relevant guidance, governance and approval processes.

• Identify and help implement improvements to financial processes, reporting and automation, contributing to continuous improvement within the finance function.

• Monitor financial risks, issues and dependencies, escalating concerns appropriately and supporting effective financial control.

• Respond to ad‑hoc requests for financial analysis and insight, prioritising work effectively to meet deadlines.

• Build and maintain effective working relationships across Finance and the wider organisation, contributing positively to team objectives.

Person specification

Essential Criteria – Skills and Attributes for Success

Experience/Technical:

Technical

We will assess you against the following Technical skills during the application process:

• Part‑qualified or qualified CCAB/CIMA accountant (actively studying with exam progress), AAT or equivalent qualification, or qualified by experience (demonstrable financial planning and analysis experience).

Experience

We will assess you against the following Experience during the application and assessment process:

• Experience of financial planning, forecasting, analysis or management accounting within a complex organisation, including production of accurate and timely financial reporting.

• Strong financial modelling capability, with experience building, maintaining and using models to support planning, decision-making, business cases, projects or investment proposals.

• Ability to analyse financial data, identify trends and explain variances and key drivers clearly to non financial stakeholders.

• Good working knowledge of financial systems and advanced analytical capability using tools such as Microsoft Excel including the ability to present insights clearly through dashboards or visualisations (e.g. charts, models, or reporting tools).

Behaviours

At application stage, you will be scored against the bolded Behaviour only and against all Behaviours for the assessment:

Changing and Improving

• Use financial data, analysis and feedback to identify opportunities to improve forecasting, reporting and planning processes.

• Proactively suggest practical improvements to financial models, templates or ways of working that increase efficiency, accuracy or clarity.

• Adapt approach in response to changing priorities, new information or emerging risks, maintaining focus on delivery outcomes.

• Support the implementation of agreed changes, ensuring improvements are embedded into business‑as‑usual activity.

Working Together

• Build effective working relationships with RoS colleagues, budget holders and project teams to understand needs and deliver timely financial support.

• Share financial information clearly and openly, supporting others to understand financial impacts and constraints.

• Collaborate constructively with stakeholders across teams to resolve issues, manage dependencies and support shared objectives.

• Contribute positively to a supportive and inclusive team environment, valuing diverse perspectives and expertise.

Managing a Quality Service

• Deliver accurate, timely and well-structured financial analysis and reports that meet agreed standards and stakeholder expectations.

• Ensure financial outputs are quality checked, well‑evidenced and clearly explained, with risks and assumptions made transparent.

• Manage own workload effectively to balance competing priorities while maintaining attention to detail.

• Take responsibility for resolving issues within own area of work, escalating appropriately when required.

Delivering at Pace

• Plan and prioritise work to meet deadlines, responding flexibly to urgent or ad‑hoc requests while maintaining quality.

• Remain focused and resilient when working under pressure, delivering outputs to agreed timescales.

• Monitor progress against commitments and adjust plans proactively to ensure delivery.

• Take ownership for completing tasks and analysis, following through on actions and commitments.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,026, Registers of Scotland contributes £11,885 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• This job is for you if you want…

  • Work with purpose: working for the people of Scotland to set the bar for land and property registration worldwide.
  • Flexible and hybrid working: depending on the role and team requirements, work when and where it’s best for you and your stakeholders.
  • Benefits: enjoy pay progression, pension contributions of up to 28.97%, up to a year’s parental leave, and 38 days annual holiday, increasing to 42 days with length of service.
  • Investment in professional development: we invest in all our people so that they have the right skills to be productive and confident in their job.
  • Diversity and Inclusion: We are an ‘Investor in People’ and a ‘Disability Confident’ employer. We are inclusive, stronger together, and committed to putting our people first.
  • Positive work culture: RoS is an agile, digital organisation using leading-edge technology. Colleagues understand their role in achieving our strategy and have the autonomy to deliver.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours.

Stage one - Application Process

To apply, click on 'Apply now' and complete the online application form.

You will need to submit:

1. A CV outlining your career history and how you meet the technical/experience criteria including any relevant qualifications (max 4 pages).

1. Two responses:

• The first detailing your experience in financial planning and analysis (250-300 words)

• The second providing an example which demonstrates how you meet the required bolded Behaviour- Managing a Quality Service. This response should follow the STAR format. (250-300 words).

Please note:

• If we receive a high volume of applications, we may complete an initial sift on the Technical criteria using your CV.

• Applications that are not accompanied by CVs or responses exceeding 300 words per response will not be considered.

• We strongly advise you review our policy on responsible use of AI in the application process. RoS may check answers with an AI detection tool and will contact you for a pre-screening call to verify your responses.

• Applications and appointments are subject to a strict merit-based assessment process, in line with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles.

Stage two – assessment

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to an in-person interview which will include the following:

• A behaviour-based interview

• A technical exercise to assess the essential Experience criteria

Behaviour-based interview questions will be shared with candidates 15 minutes before the assessment begins. This will allow you time to review them and think about the examples you want to use, and how to position them.

You are permitted to bring brief notes from your preparation into the interview to support your responses.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Talent Acquisition
• Email : talent@ros.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : talent@ros.gov.uk

Further information

For further information relating to RoS, including:

Additional details on pay & benefits

The Civil Service Code

Complaints process

Use of AI in the application/recruitment process,

Please view our additional information page online

If you have any questions, please contact talent@ros.gov.uk