Qualified Accountant

Qualified Accountant

Cirencester | Royal Agricultural University

12-month fixed-term contract

**£38,784

• £46,049 per annum**

Ready to take your finance career somewhere it really matters?

Wilkins Talent Solutions is delighted to be working in partnership with the Royal Agricultural University on an exclusive and retained basis to recruit a Qualified Accountant into a high-profile, senior finance role with genuine influence.

This is an opportunity to step beyond routine reporting and into a role where your expertise will shape decisions, support strategy and deliver visible impact across a distinctive, values-led institution.

If you’re a qualified accountant looking for more scope, more ownership and more meaning in your work, this role offers exactly that — regardless of whether your background is practice, industry, public sector or higher education.

Why this role stands out

This is not a narrow or back-office position. You’ll sit at the heart of the finance function, trusted to operate across a broad and engaging remit, including:

• Research and grant accounting
• working with complex, regulated funding streams
• Management accounting and financial controls
• keeping the numbers robust and trusted
• Financial planning & analysis
• turning data into insight that drives decision-making
• Audit and statutory reporting
• working directly with external auditors and senior stakeholders
• Strategic projects
• leading the finance input where it really counts

You’ll gain real breadth, visibility and autonomy, with the chance to see the impact of your work across the organisation.

Who we’re looking for

You’ll be:

• Fully qualified (ACA / ACCA / CIMA or equivalent)
• Technically strong with broad experience, spanning accounting and financial reporting through to business partnering, FP&A and bespoke project work
• Comfortable engaging with senior and non-finance stakeholders
• Curious, proactive and solutions-focused
• Motivated by working in an organisation with a clear sense of purpose

Why the Royal Agricultural University?

RAU is a specialist university with a strong national reputation and an ambitious future. Its values — collaborative, open-minded, resourceful, responsible and inclusive — underpin everything it does.

You’ll join a supportive, close-knit finance team in a beautiful Cotswolds setting, with the opportunity to develop quickly in a role that combines challenge, variety and meaning.

Interested?

This appointment is being managed on an exclusive and retained basis by Wilkins Talent Solutions.

For a confidential discussion about the role, the organisation or your suitability, please contact Anneka Wilkins at Wilkins Talent Solutions. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and early interest is encouraged.

Closing date: 23rd January 2026

Interviews: w/c 3rd February 2026 (includes a short technical assessment)

The Royal Agricultural University is an equal opportunities employer and particularly welcomes applications from Black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented at this level.

Agency notice:

The Royal Agricultural University operates a Preferred Supplier List (PSL) and has appointed Wilkins Talent Solutions as its exclusive recruitment partner for this vacancy. No agency introductions or CV submissions will be accepted outside of this arrangement. Any unsolicited CVs received will not attract a fee and will be deemed forwarded to Wilkins Talent Solutions on behalf of the candidate.