Job Role:
- Support and drive the business area in maximising impact for the young through delivery of effective and efficient financial performance
- Drive strong financial control and advocate financial priorities to the business
- Work with and influence the Area Portfolio Head managing an expenditure budget of over £30m-£70m across an area of significant variability
- Provide strategic and financial decision support to the Humanitarian and Programme Partnerships teams and country finance staff where appropriate for an area programme to underpin strong financial performance
- Prepare monthly reporting for, and lead monthly business reviews with the assigned teams and communicate understanding of financial performance
- Prepare, consolidate and report financial plans for the Humanitarian and Programme Partnerships teams for an Area programme. Analyse and comment on proposed financial plans, support budget holders and pro-actively challenge them during the process
- Focus on strategic Finance requirements of the business, understanding the business model and what this means for Finance. Communicate and advocate these priorities to the wider Finance team
- Act as Finance counterpart to budget holders, working as an equal, and develop the financial acumen of budget holders
- Assist award leads in the creation and review of donor budgets, ensuring Cost Recovery is adequately included (UK Direct, Non-Thematics & Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR)), and liaise with the Direct Spend BP team to ensure any UK Direct (TA/ERP/HQ) costs are correctly factored into donor budgets
- Review Fund Summaries
- Support and drive the business to ensure donor billing and cash collection targets are met
- Line-manage Finance ERPs
- Identify and evaluate financial risks and opportunities in the department; identify actions to mitigate the risks and exploit the opportunities
- Liaise closely with Area Portfolio Team Administrator and country offices to ensure quality of finance and award data in our systems
- Work with Finance Operations to ensure operation of an effective internal control framework; Financial Reporting & Controls to ensure statutory accounting, tax, and legal requirements are fulfilled; Business Partnering to ensure consistency of processes and sharing of best practice
- Identify areas where processes could be improved and collaboratively work with other teams to implement relevant changes where appropriate, while maximising consistency between areas
- Undertake specific project work and carry out other tasks as required
- Provide cover for other Business Partners as required
Essential Technical Skills:
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; ability to develop awareness of commercial issues and expertise in relevant departments’ specific issues
- Experience of and ability to understand the interrelationship between different IT systems, and strong Excel skills
Essential Personal Skills:
- Excellent communication, influencing and relationship skills
- Able to develop and maintain effective working relations at all levels both within and outside the department and understand and present issues and solutions succinctly and confidently.
- Ability to challenge and influence assertively and cooperatively
- Strong customer and quality orientation; solution-focused and confident in operating in a changing environment
- Self-motivated with good time-management skills, an ability to plan, manage and prioritise a varied workload and to take responsibility for queries until fully-resolved
- An energetic, flexible and proactive approach with the ability to work both independently, with a high degree of self-sufficiency, and co-operatively within a team setting
- Demonstrable ability to use own initiative to drive improvements to systems and processes, and to take responsibility for issues and proposals until fully-resolved
- Ability to work flexibly if required due to urgent business needs
- Ability and willingness to travel sometimes at short notice (with less than 2 weeks’ notice) occasionally to remote locations (10%-20%)
- Previous effective leadership, management and motivation of a team (desirable)
- Relevant language skills (desirable)
Education / Professional Experience:
- Experience in the preparation of management accounts and involvement in financial planning and budgeting processes
- Solid experience of providing strategic and finance business partnering support across the organisation at all levels up to at least Senior Manager level, within a complex multi-site organisation with a UK and international focus
- Holder of a recognised accounting qualification (desirable)
- Knowledge of awards management regulations and reporting requirements of major international donors such as CIDA, USAID, ECHO, or DFID and experience managing awards and cooperative agreements, including budget and financial report preparation (desirable)
- Experience of working in the field (desirable)
