Salary: £45,000 - £50,000 per annum

Employment type: Permanent

Hours per week: 37

Reporting into: Head of Financial Operations

Department: Finance

Click here to read the full job description and view our excellent benefits here

This role operates on a hybrid working arrangement that will require 1 day per week in our Coventry head office. This may fluctuate in line with business requirements. Our working model arrangements are a non-contractual benefit so please note that an Arden work location is added to our employment contracts.

About Arden University:

We are an aspirational and multi-award-winning university, delivering rapid growth with ambitious plans to disrupt the HE sector through our passion for innovation and digital education. Our vision is to become the first-choice university for career-focused lifelong learners worldwide, ensuring that everyone, everywhere can access higher education.

There has never been a more exciting time to join Arden University, as we expand into new disciplines, forge worldwide partnerships, and expand our locations.

About our Department:

The Finance Department at Arden University plays a pivotal role in supporting our ambitious growth and innovation agenda. As trusted partners across the University, we ensure that every financial decision underpins Arden’s mission to make education more accessible, affordable, and impactful for learners worldwide.

Our department is structured around excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement — providing strategic insight, robust financial management, and efficient transactional services that enable the University to deliver on its goals. From managing core financial operations and student finance to driving digital transformation across systems and processes, we are committed to achieving best-in-class financial stewardship and service delivery.

About the Opportunity:

As Accounts Receivable Manager at Arden University, you will lead the end-to-end delivery of student accounts operations, ensuring accurate billing, timely collections and robust financial control across the University. This role is central to maintaining the integrity of tuition income, supporting cash flow, and enabling a seamless financial experience for students.

You will oversee all aspects of accounts receivable activity, including student billing, payment plans, refunds, transfers and reconciliations, ensuring processes are efficient, compliant and aligned to university policy. Working closely with Finance, Student Support and wider operational teams, you will ensure that student financial records are maintained with precision and that queries are resolved in a timely, service-focused manner.

Leading a dedicated team, you will drive high standards of performance, strengthen controls, and identify opportunities to enhance systems and processes as the University continues to grow. Through effective oversight and continuous improvement, the role plays a key part in safeguarding revenue, supporting financial sustainability and delivering an excellent student experience.

About You:

Essential Skills / Experience

• Strong understanding of accounts receivable processes, billing, collections, reconciliations, and credit control.

• Solid grasp of UK accounting standards, financial reporting, and internal controls.

• Familiarity with financial systems/ERP (e.g., Banner, SITS, Oracle) and advanced Excel for reporting and analysis.

• Awareness of compliance, audit requirements, and data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR).

• Significant experience managing AR operations, ideally with supervisory responsibilities.

• Proven track record in financial reporting, reconciliations, and analysis for senior management.

• Experience supporting audits and implementing controls to ensure compliance.

• Demonstrated ability to lead staff, liaise with stakeholders, and resolve complex AR issues.

• Strong leadership and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with students, staff, senior management, and cross-functional teams.

• Strategic planning and operational management skills, with the ability to adopt structured, methodical approaches to complex financial and operational challenges.

Desirable Skills / Experience

• Experience in the higher education sector.

• Working knowledge of SITs and SIS.

Why Arden:

At Arden, you will become a part of a passionate and dedicated team who are committed to removing unnecessary barriers to learning and making education more accessible. Our people work hard to ensure our students journeys are the best they can possibly be, as such we want to reward our people with fantastic benefits. Employees benefit from:

• 30 days holiday + bank holidays on-top, and even a Christmas closure!

• A generous Aviva pension plan, company contributions starting from 7%

• SimplyHealth plan option

• Private Medical Insurance coverage (applies to certain job roles)

• Access to Perkbox benefits

• Study any Arden course for free, with a discount for all family and friends

• Plus, other excellent benefits

• Our ‘Golden Ticket’ which allows you to gift anyone in your life a free Arden education
  

Our Values:

Stand out, Progressive, Accessible, Resourceful, Kindness, reflect who we are as an institution, a team and as individuals. If they also reflect you and you are excited by the chance to be the driving, creative force within a growing business, we want to hear from you.

There has never been a more exciting time to join Arden University, as we expand into new disciplines and locations.

Closing Date: 11th March

We reserve the right to close this vacancy before the specified closing date should we receive sufficient applications or in order to respond to business needs. In order to avoid missing an opportunity to apply please submit your application as early as possible.

If you are a current Arden student or have an upcoming course with us, you are not eligible to apply for Student Experience roles due to a conflict of interest related to system access.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion:

Arden University is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. This means that if you have a disability, as defined by the Disability Equality Act 2010, you may be guaranteed an interview if you meet the essential criteria for the role.

If you wish to be considered under this scheme, you can indicate via the application form below. By doing so, you are also consenting for this information to be shared with the hiring team. For more details on what qualifies as a disability under the Disability Equality Act 2010, please refer to the guidance here.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. Therefore, we make sure that our recruitment and selection processes never discriminate based upon people's age, disability, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances, and actively welcome applications from all groups.

Sponsorship statement:

Please be aware that some roles may not meet the points requirement for a sponsored Skilled Worker visa under the points-based immigration system. However, we welcome applications from candidates who do not currently have the right to work in the UK but may be eligible for a visa through an alternative route.