Student Finance Implementation Consultant

PACT Solutions is a specialist management and digital transformation consultancy working exclusively with UK higher education institutions. We help universities improve strategy, student records, data, change and delivery.

Our values are Partnership, Integrity, Curiosity and Transformation.

The Role

We are looking for a Consultant to join our Systems and Integration capability and lead defined Student Finance systems and integration workstreams for higher education partners.

This is a delivery-focused consulting role for someone with strong business analysis skills and experience of finance systems and processes. You will work directly with partner stakeholders to understand requirements, shape practical solutions and support successful implementation.

Working alongside Senior Consultants and Leads, you will help universities improve Student Finance capability through process analysis, solution design, implementation and integration.

Purpose of the role

To lead Student Finance systems and integration workstreams by understanding business needs, shaping practical solutions and supporting successful implementation.

Key responsibilities

• Lead workshops to elicit, challenge and document business, functional and non-functional requirements; produce process maps, user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Analyse current and future-state Student Finance processes, identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, automation and user experience.
• Lead defined configuration and implementation activities; advise on effective use of Student Finance functionality and support solution-design decisions.
• Define integration requirements, work with technical teams to validate solutions, and investigate issues across Student Finance, Finance, Student Records and related systems.
• Define test approaches and acceptance criteria; coordinate user acceptance testing, support defect triage and confirm readiness for deployment.
• Build trusted relationships with Student Finance, Registry, Finance and IT stakeholders; facilitate workshops and present clear recommendations.
• Own assigned workstreams, including plans, risks, dependencies, reporting and delivery of agreed outputs to time and quality.
• Contribute to PACT methods, proposals, knowledge sharing and capability development.

Essential experience and capabilities

• Experience of finance processes and systems, gained in higher education or another sector.
• Understanding of core finance processes, including ledgers, debtors or receivables, payments and double-entry accounting.
• Experience supporting implementation, configuration, optimisation or improvement of finance-related systems or processes.
• Strong business analysis skills, including requirements elicitation, as-is and to-be process analysis, process mapping, user stories and stakeholder analysis.
• Experience working in structured systems implementation, change or project-delivery environments, with ownership of defined deliverables.
• Strong analytical skills, including using complex data to identify issues, requirements and opportunities.
• Ability to understand the interaction between systems, data and business processes, and translate incomplete requirements into practical delivery plans.
• Clear documentation, facilitation and stakeholder-management skills, with strong organisation, attention to detail and commitment to quality.

Desirable

• Direct experience of Student Finance processes, systems or operations within higher education, including tuition fees, sponsorships, bursaries, student payments, debtors or funding.
• Experience with student-records systems such as SITS, Banner or TechnologyOne, including Student Finance modules.
• Knowledge of Student Finance England or Student Loans Company processes, payments and integrations.
• Experience of integrations and data flows between Student Finance, institutional Finance and Student Records systems, including APIs.
• Experience supporting UAT, system testing or implementation assurance.
• Previous higher education, consultancy or digital transformation experience; BCS business analysis qualification or equivalent.

Location: Bristol or Manchester hybrid (regular travel to partner sites across the UK and Ireland as needed) 

Role Type: Permanent (full-time preferred, flexible working considered) 

Please apply via the ‘Apply’ button above.