Finance Assistant
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
£26,000 - £29,000 + 33 Days Holiday + EV Car Scheme + Monthly Rewards & Recognition + Holiday Trading + Employee Discounts + Other Company Benefits
Derby
Certain Advantage is hiring for a Finance Assistant based in Derby.
This role is on a permanent basis and is fully office-based, supporting the finance function within a busy rail engineering environment.
Are you a Finance Assistant or Purchase Ledger Clerk with strong transactional experience, looking for a stable, long-term role where you will be an integral part of a collaborative and supportive finance team.
Do you want to join a growing engineering business, where you’ll play a key role in keeping the finance function running smoothly and ensuring suppliers and contractors are paid accurately and on time?
This is an excellent opportunity to join a business with a strong pipeline of work, where you’ll take ownership of core finance processes and contribute to gradual improvements as systems and processes evolve.
The Company:
We are working with a well-established, growing rail engineering services provider based in Derby. The business supports major passenger and freight operators across the UK and is continuing to expand its operations and finance team.
With ongoing investment in systems and processes, this is a great time to join a business focused on improving efficiency while maintaining a collaborative and down-to-earth culture.
The Role:
This role is for a Finance Assistant with a strong focus on purchase ledger and transactional finance activities.
You will support the day-to-day running of the finance function, ensuring accurate processing, reconciliations, and timely payments, while dealing with supplier and contractor queries.
Day to Day:
- Manage purchase ledger activities, ensuring invoices are processed accurately and efficiently
- Support payment runs and ensure timely payments to suppliers and contractors
- Handle supplier and contractor queries, resolving issues in a professional manner
- Reconcile supplier statements and investigate discrepancies
- Manage company credit cards and employee expenses
- Support billing activities, including project-related invoicing
- Carry out prepayments and accruals reconciliations
- Assist with general ledger corrections where required
- Support engineering labour cost tracking and allocations
- Provide additional purchase ledger support across the wider business
- Minimum 2 years’ experience in a Finance Assistant or Purchase Ledger role
- Strong experience with purchase ledger processes
- Proficient in Microsoft Excel and other Microsoft Office tools
- Open to contributing to gradual process improvements over time
- 33 Days Holiday
- Company Pension
- Flexible working
- EV Car Scheme
- Monthly Rewards & Recognition
- Long Service Awards & Gift Vouchers
- Company Socials
- Free Eye Test & Specs Vouchers
- Employment Discount Schemes
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Stable, long-term role within a growing business
- Supportive team environment
- On-site parking
- Opportunity to be involved in ongoing system and process improvements
Working with Certain Advantage
We go the extra mile to find the best people for the job. If you are looking for a role where you can make an impact and be part of a growing business, we will work with you to find it.
We work with businesses across the UK to find the best people in Finance, Marketing, HR, Business Support, IT and Engineering. If this job is not for you, head to certainadvantage.co.uk and register for job alerts and career guidance tips.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Highlight your purchase ledger experience prominently as this role specifically focuses on transactional finance activities
📊 Quantify your achievements: "Processed 200+ invoices weekly with 99.5% accuracy" or "Reduced payment processing time by 25%"
🔧 Emphasise your Microsoft Excel proficiency as it's specifically mentioned for this finance role
🚂 Research rail engineering terminology and mention any relevant industry experience or interest in engineering environments
💰 Showcase your experience with supplier management, payment runs, and reconciliations as these are core daily responsibilities
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Processed 250+ purchase ledger invoices weekly with 99.8% accuracy, ensuring timely supplier payments across 180+ active accounts
- •Reconciled supplier statements for £2.3M monthly spend, identifying and resolving discrepancies within 48-hour SLA targets
- •Managed company credit card reconciliations for 25 employees using Microsoft Excel, reducing processing time by 30%
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
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Letter preview — tailored to Certain Advantage
Dear Hiring Manager,
Certain Advantage's Finance Assistant role combines my passion for purchase ledger excellence with the dynamic rail engineering sector. My experience in transactional finance and Microsoft Excel proficiency align perfectly with your requirements for managing supplier payments and reconciliations.
My background in purchase ledger operations has equipped me with the precision needed to process high-volume invoices while maintaining accuracy and building strong supplier relationships. I am particularly drawn to contributing to process improvements as your systems evolve.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›How do you ensure accuracy when processing high volumes of purchase ledger invoices?
- ›Walk me through your process for reconciling supplier statements and investigating discrepancies
- ›What Microsoft Excel functions do you use most frequently in purchase ledger work?
- ›How would you handle a situation where a supplier disputes a payment amount?
- ›Describe your experience with prepayments and accruals reconciliations
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a complex supplier query under tight deadlines
- ›Describe a situation where you identified and helped implement a process improvement
- ›How do you prioritise your workload when managing multiple finance tasks simultaneously?
- ›Give an example of when you had to work collaboratively with other departments to resolve a finance issue
- ›Tell me about a time when you made an error in your work and how you handled it
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a complex supplier query under tight deadlines
Describe a situation where you identified and helped implement a process improvement