Director of Finance and Operations, USAID/Pakistan Foundational Learning Activity (Anticipated Project)

Save the Children

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Posted date	12th August, 2024	Last date to apply	8th September, 2024
Country	Pakistan	Locations	Islamabad
Category	Finance & Financial Services
Type	Full Time	Position	1
Experience	7 years
Status	Closed

Note: This position is contingent upon donor approval and funding.

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 2: either the post holder will have access to personal data about children and/or young people as part of their work; or the post holder will be working in a ‘regulated’ position (accountant, barrister, solicitor, legal executive); therefore, a police check will be required (at ‘standard’ level in the UK or equivalent in other countries).

ROLE PURPOSE:

Save the Children is seeking a Director of Finance and Operations (DFO) for the anticipated five-year USAID/Pakistan Foundational Learning Activity.The purpose of the Activity is to enhance student learning outcomes in reading and math and to prevent school dropout by enabling teachers, head teachers, and local education administrators to improve the quality of education.

The DFO is responsible for overseeing the financial and compliance delivery of the program.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Country Director

Staff reporting to this post: yes

Budget Responsibilities: yes

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES :

Management & Oversight

Provide day-to-day leadership, management, and oversight of the project’s finance team.

Review and consolidate monthly financial reports to ensure accuracy and to provide regular feedback to senior management.

Ensure all financial plans, invoices, reports, and other financial documents and transactions are accurate, timely, and consistent with Save the Children and USAID guidelines and regulations.

Verify that appropriate segregation of duties exists to ensure effective support of field operations and to protect the integrity of the country office financial and administrative operations.

Has in-depth technical and administrative knowledge and is able to connect financial and non-financial information to generate insights and recommendations for program effectiveness.

Encourage a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.

Budget Management

Prepare and monitor budgets to ascertain that spending occurs as planned and that variances are anticipated, noted, and corrected; ensure that key program personnel are aware of budgetary resources and are able to monitor their budgets respectively.

Perform financial review of purchase requests, purchase orders, and payment requests to ensure compliance with Save the Children’s policies and procedures and the donor’s grants and contracts requirements.

Oversee subgrant monitoring and compliance including organizational assessments, review of financial reports/advance requests, and financial tracking; develop subgrant monitoring plans; and perform and document compliance visits.

Supervise the finance and administrative staff, conducting performance appraisals and revising job descriptions as necessary. Providing capacity development and training opportunities for the team and facilitate their professional growth.

Monitor burn rates, advise on spend projections and maintain and update the status of obligated funds.

Work with operations, budget holders and other business partners to develop realistic and accurate phased budgets in line with the project implementation plans.

Analyze budget variances between planned budgets and actual expenses on monthly basis and report any notable deviations to the Chief of Party.

Financial Reporting

Prepare and revise finance and operations guidelines in order that they adhere to SC and USAID requirements.

Prepare quarterly reports, consolidated annual fiscal report, cumulative life of project report, and any other required donor submissions.

Manage the reporting component of the award including reconciling timesheets with financial reports; oversee administrative duties as needed.

Provide analytical and sound financial advice to the Chief of Party, area management and members of the Country SMT as necessary.

Prepare the monthly pipeline report for the project based on the planned program activities and in collaboration with the Chief of Party and program team.

Ensure audits being conducted are handled smoothly and all issues arising are communicated with the relevant teams on time.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
holds their team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in accordance with the context, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own professional development and encourages their team to do the same
widely shares Save the Children’s vision, and engages and motivates others
future orientated, thinks strategically and on a national and global scale.

Collaboration:

builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, technical advisors and working groups, Members and external partners and supporters.
values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength.
approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

develops and encourages new and innovative solutions.
willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

The post holder must commit to work in an international agency that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion and fights racism, gender inequality and discrimination in all forms; and to model positive behaviour that demonstrate a commitment to equality and respect to all colleagues, partners, and communities.

QUALIFICATION & EXPERIENCE:

Master’s degree in finance, business, accounting or other relevant field from an accredited, recognized university; professional qualification in accounting desired.

At least seven years of experience managing finances for large development programs including working with large donors.
Knowledge of USAID policies and business practices and with direct experience managing the finances and administration of a USAID-funded project is highly preferred.

Experience as a coach/mentor to train staff and develop financial skills of colleagues.

Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, Urdu, and/or other languages spoken in Pakistan.

Expert computer skills in Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Ability and willingness to be very flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes dangerous working circumstances.

Personal commitment to gender equality, child rights, and social inclusion.

KEY COMPETENCIES

Technical competencies:

Strong analytical, leadership and interpersonal skills; demonstrated ability to lead and work effectively in team situations.
Extensive experience with project operations and financial management, including financial controls, accounting, and audits, as well as reporting on accruals, pipeline, and expense validation and reimbursement to service providers.

Generic Competencies

Being the Voice of Children: Promotes evidence-based policy and public engagement that includes the voices of children and their communities.
Advancing Equality & Inclusion: Displays a commitment to ensuring everything we do considers the most deprived and marginalized children.
Building & Strengthening Partnerships: Promotes working with diverse partners as critical to delivery
Child Rights: Promotes the rights of children in own work and in work with colleagues and peers

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

Save the Children holds its Safeguarding principles and policies with high importance and commits to rigorous procedures to ensure all our personnel and programs are safe, particularly for children. All candidates will, therefore, be subject to strict background checks. Qualified candidates from minorities, indigenous groups, women and people with disabilities from local level are highly encouraged to apply.

Only short-listed candidates will be called for the interview.