Job Description
Finance Senior Expense Analyst - Reporting to the Lead Expense Analyst, this role is a key part of Beazley’s expense transformation journey towards being a best in class function.
Division: Finance – Financial Performance
Job Summary:
Beazley is seeking a Senior Expense Analyst to play a pivotal role in our transformation toward a sector‑leading expense function. This role sits at the heart of our journey to move from producing tables to delivering meaningful insights that shape business decisions. As a senior member of the team, you will use advanced analytical techniques, scenario modelling and deep‑dive forecasting to cut through complexity and highlight what matters most, providing strategic, forward‑looking guidance to senior finance and business leaders.
You will act as a subject matter expert across our expense reporting processes, data structures and systems, ensuring consistency, integrity and strong governance across all outputs. The role will take ownership of complex or cross‑functional improvement initiatives, driving measurable enhancements in automation, process efficiency and control. You will also lead change‑management activities linked to new systems, reporting standards and ways of working as we continue to modernise our function.
Building strong relationships across the wider finance organisation is essential. The Senior Expense Analyst will partner closely with stakeholders to understand business activity, translate it into clear financial impacts, and challenge assumptions where needed. In addition, the role will support the development of the broader team by reviewing work, sharing expertise and contributing to the shift toward a more insightful, technology‑enabled expense function.
Key Activities & Areas of Responsibility:
Key Responsibilities
Supporting best practice reporting analytics:
- Lead complex analytics and deliver deeper insights that challenge assumptions and support senior level decision making.
- Lead multi‑dimensional variance and driver analysis; identify root causes and guide stakeholders toward corrective actions.
- Own and lead cross functional process improvement initiatives with measurable outcomes (e.g., cycletime reduction, automation uplift, error rate reduction).
- Act as subject matter expert for expense reporting processes, data structures, allocation methodologies, and reporting systems; lead UAT and shape system design.
- Oversee the reporting framework, ensuring consistency, governance, and standardisation across outputs.
- Review and elevate commentary from analysts; ensure insights are forward looking, strategic, and actionable.
- Serve as a senior business partner, challenging assumptions and guiding stakeholders on cost structure, profitability, and expense strategy.
- Oversee end to end data governance across expense reporting; define and enforce data quality standards, reconciliations, and controls.
- Lead the design and evolution of dashboards and self serve reporting, including modelling logic, visual standards, and narrative clarity.
- Strengthen internal control frameworks; work with audit, risk, and compliance to address findings and ensure policy adherence.
- Oversee allocation methodologies, recommend improvements, and ensure alignment with best practice and business needs.
- Lead scenario modelling, sensitivity analysis, and advanced forecasting techniques.
- Provide strategic recommendations to senior finance leadership on cost optimisation and spend efficiency.
- Lead change management activities when introducing new processes, systems, or reporting standards.
- Mentor junior analysts; review their work, provide feedback, and raise capability across analytics, commentary, modelling, and tools.
- Collaborate with Technology teams to define system requirements and ensure solutions align with the finance strategy and data governance standards.
Core competencies:
Core competencies in addition to those noted as specific requirements for the role and which are considered to be pertinent to the Expense team are as follows:
- Financial planning and analysis expertise: Expert knowledge of expense actuals; budgeting; and forecasting processes, including the ability to drive continuous improvement in these areas.
- Strategic thinking and business acumen: Deep understanding of revenue drivers, sales optimization, margin management, and metrics cascades to provide insightful, performance inflecting decision support to business leaders.
- Communication and storytelling: Excellent storytelling, communication and presentation skills to effectively convey financial insights, analysis and recommendations to decision makers.
- Advanced technology literacy/proficiency: Ability to exploit digital technologies to drive better outcomes for finance and the business.
- Problem-solving: Ability to challenge assumptions, identify root causes and develop effective solutions.
- Relationship building and collaboration: Proven ability to build strong relationships with business unit leaders and stakeholders. Ability to collaborate with FP&A and technology teams to design intuitive reports, analyses and dashboards
- Continuous improvement: Ability to define success criteria and establish measurable metrics for monitoring tool utilization and quality. Ability to work effectively on a team that uses agile principles to continuously iterate the delivery and development of financial tools and solutions.
- Professionalism: Consistently demonstrates integrity, is highly credible, respectful and trustworthy and represents the expense team in a professional manner. Builds and maintains successful working relationships and is seen to go the extra mile.
- Learning and development: Identifies strengths and weaknesses and seeks to improve performance. Recognises and takes responsibility for mistakes and learns from them. Continually seeks self-development opportunities. Regularly engages in self-assessment and gives/receives feedback to enhance personal awareness.
- Adaptability: Effectively manages changing priorities in a dynamic environment. Seeks training opportunities to understand new working methods. Proves resilient in uncertain and difficult situations and adapts approach/plans/style as required.
- Responsibility and Accountability: Assumes full responsibility for the consequences of own behaviour and decisions. Delivers on commitments to clients demonstrating reliability and dependability. Admits mistakes and takes responsibility for correcting them.
General:
It is important that within all your interactions both internally and externally you adhere Beazley’s core values - Being Bold, Striving for Better, and Doing the Right Thing. We also expect Beazley employees to:
- Comply with Beazley procedures, policies and regulations including the code of conduct
- Undertake training on Beazley policies and procedures as delivered by your line manager, the People & Sustainability (P&S) or assurance teams (compliance, risk, internal audit) either directly, via e-learning or the learning management system
- Display business ethics that uphold the interests of all our customers
- Ensure all interactions with customers are focused on delivering a fair outcome, including having the right products for their needs
- Comply with any specific responsibilities necessary for your role as outlined by your line manager, the P&S or assurance teams (compliance, risk, internal audit) and ensure you keep up to date with developments in these areas. This may include, amongst others, Beazley’s underwriting control standards, Beazley’s claims control standards, other Beazley standards & customer relationship management
- Carry out additional responsibilities as individually notified, either through your objectives or through the learning management system. These may include membership of any Beazley committees or working groups
Essential Criteria:
- Qualified with a professional accounting qualification (e.g. AAT, ACCA, CIMA)
- Degree in Finance, Accounting, or related field (or equivalent experience).
- Demonstrated ability to lead process improvement initiatives, delivering measurable outcomes in efficiency, automation, or control strength.
- Experience working in large multi-national corporations
Desirable Criteria:
- Someone who can demonstrate an impact in previous roles, and has a can do attitude
- Experience applying judgement in complex, nonroutine scenarios, especially in areas requiring interpretation of policy or managing exceptions.
- Experience of the financial services or insurance market (preferably Lloyd’s)
- Experience of Expense roles within complex insurance organisations and knowledge of accounting policies adopted
- Experience of data visualisation tools, such as Power BI Tableau or equivalent
- Experience with tools such as PowerQuery, Python or other
Personal Specification:
We are a flexible and innovative employer offering a friendly, collaborative, diverse and inclusive working environment. We actively encourage and expect applications from all backgrounds. We empower people to choose where to work given the work they need to do. Collaboration in office spaces is important but we do not mandate a set number of days in the office or from home – you decide what works best for you and the role you are in.
Beazley will offer the person a competitive salary and discretionary bonus with a strong benefits package including commuting reimbursement, contribution to in-office lunch, excellent parental leave and financial physical and mental wellbeing contributions among others.
