Senior Finance Project Manager – UNIC Athens

The University of Nicosia invites applications for UNIC Athens Campus for the role of Senior Finance Project Manager.

The Senior Finance Project Manager will lead the financial management of a major, multi-phase university capital project in Athens involving the development of new teaching and research facilities for UNIC Athens.

The postholder will be responsible for end-to-end financial oversight across the project lifecycle, including financial planning, budget control, integrated cash flow and liquidity management, funding coordination, financial governance, lender and funding-party interface, procurement support, contract-related financial oversight, risk monitoring, and executive reporting.

In addition, the role is expected to actively contribute to broader financial decision-making, particularly in relation to funding strategy, liquidity positioning, investment structuring, and financial risk.

This is a highly collaborative and non-standalone role, requiring the ability to operate through and coordinate a multidisciplinary network of finance, accounting, legal, procurement, and administrative stakeholders, ensuring consistent financial oversight across a complex and evolving project environment.

The role requires a senior finance professional with substantial experience in large-scale, complex capital projects, capable of working closely with executive leadership, project teams, consultants, contractors, external advisors, and funding counterparties.

Key Responsibilities:

Financial Planning and Control

• Lead integrated financial planning across project phases, ensuring that budget, forecast, and funding
• assumptions remain aligned as the project evolves across multiple project entities
• Develop and maintain medium-term and long-term liquidity projections to support strategic decision-making and delivery planning
• Lead the preparation and maintenance of the overall project budget
• Develop cost forecasts, cash flow projections, and financial scenarios
• Monitor actual spend against approved budgets and committed costs
• Identify variances, cost pressures, and financial risks; recommend corrective action
• Maintain accurate forecasts of final project cost and funding requirements

Project Finance and Funding

• Oversee project cash flow and liquidity planning
• Coordinate funding requests, drawdowns, and supporting financial documentation
• Monitor payment schedules, contractual obligations, retention balances, and approvals
• Ensure timely and accurate processing of project-related financial commitments
• Act as a key finance contact in relation to lenders and other funding stakeholders
• Monitor compliance with funding requirements, reporting obligations, and approval conditions
• Support the financial structuring of project phases and the alignment of funding availability with delivery milestones, including contribution to funding strategy

Procurement and Contract Support

• Support procurement activity through financial analysis of tenders, pricing, and commercial terms
• Review the financial implications of contractor and consultant appointments
• Assess variations, claims, change orders, and other cost events in coordination with project and legal teams
• Maintain oversight of committed costs and future financial exposure
• Provide financial input into major procurement and contracting decisions, with particular focus on affordability, risk allocation, payment structures, and long-term cost exposure

Governance, Reporting, and Compliance

• Establish and maintain strong financial controls across the project and across relevant entities
• Ensure compliance with company policies, approval procedures, and relevant statutory
• requirements
• Prepare regular financial reports for senior leadership, committees, and other stakeholders
• Support audit activity and maintain clear, accurate, and complete financial records
• Contribute to financial decision-making by providing clear analysis and recommendations.
• Support a demanding governance framework through high-quality reporting, decision papers, and financial analysis for senior internal stakeholders and external parties.
• Ensure that financial oversight keeps pace with project complexity, programme phasing, and evolving investment requirements

Stakeholder Management

• Act as the principal finance contact for the project.
• Work closely with internal stakeholders, external consultants, contractors, and advisors.
• Support leadership discussions on affordability, cost risk, contingency use, and funding sufficiency.
• Work closely with executive stakeholders on project affordability, funding strategy, liquidity risk, and financial implications of major delivery decisions.
• Coordinate effectively across multiple workstreams and stakeholders to ensure consistent financial information, reporting, and control.
• Coordinate effectively across multiple entities and multidisciplinary teams finance, accounting, legal, administrative.

Professional Qualifications and Experience:

• Professional accounting or finance qualification such as ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CPA, or equivalent
• Significant senior-level finance experience in construction, infrastructure, real estate development, or major capital projects
• Strong experience in budgeting, forecasting, cash flow management, cost control, and financial reporting
• Knowledge of Greek regulatory, tax, and reporting requirements relevant to capital projects
• Experience supporting procurement, contract management, and commercial decision-making
• Strong understanding of financial governance, internal controls, audit, and compliance
• Proven experience in large, high-value, multi-phase capital programmes
• Experience operating within multi-entity project structures
• Strong experience in liquidity planning, funding coordination, and financially supporting projects operating within complex governance frameworks
• Experience engaging with lenders, external funding parties, or similarly demanding financial counterparties
• Ability to operate credibly at executive level and provide financial leadership in a complex, evolving project environment
• Ability to work effectively with senior stakeholders and multidisciplinary project teams
• Ability to coordinate and influence multidisciplinary teams in a non-standalone role
• Excellent written and spoken Greek and English

Personal Attributes:

• Ability to manage financial complexity while maintaining clarity, control, and delivery focus
• Strong judgement in balancing project needs, funding constraints, governance requirements, and commercial risk
• High level of integrity and accountability
• Clear and concise reporting skills
• Strong analytical capability
• Effective stakeholder management
• Ability to operate confidently in a complex project environment
• Strong organisational and problem-solving skills

Application Procedure:

Interested candidates are invited to apply by submitting the following documents:

• Cover Letter: Describe your interest in the position and how your background aligns with the role.
• Curriculum Vitae (CV): Detailed CV highlighting relevant experience and achievements.
• References: Contact information for at least two professional references.

For further assistance regarding the application procedure, you may contact Ms Irene Koliandri ([email protected])

About the University of Nicosia:

The University of Nicosia (UNIC) is one of the leading comprehensive research-oriented universities in the Mediterranean region, committed to teaching, research and innovation, sustainability, societal engagement and contribution to culture.

The University offers more than 100 conventional face-to-face (on campus) and distance learning online programmes at the Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degree level, hosting more than 11,700 students from over 100 countries.

UNIC conducts extensive, high-quality, basic, applied, and interdisciplinary research that benefits society on a national and global scale. Our teaching and research staff excel in many academic disciplines and are acknowledged for their contribution to the creation and advancement of knowledge and technology transfer, with a particular focus on emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and their impact on society.