Deputy Finance Director, Ukraine Country Office

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Deputy Finance Director will be supporting setting and developing the financial management of Ukraine CO/ FOs and supporting the Finance Director in area of budgeting, treasury & reporting, partners, and staff recruitment with a particular focus on providing excellent financial business partnering services to ESMT, Area Directors and budget holders. He/she will also be responsible for ensuring best in class financial management both at the CO and field offices level – including leadership in respect to capacity building; establishing and implementing efficient & effective processes; improving and ensuring compliance with internal control systems. The Deputy Finance Director will be supporting CO and FOs in Financial setup, budgeting and reporting team focuses on providing support throughout the lifecycle of awards by ensuring that the financial component of projects are successfully implemented. These includes providing technical support from proposal budgeting, BvA, donor financial reporting & closeout, master budgeting and gap analysis, forecasting & KPIs and Partner finance support and reconciliations. He/she will be providing technical support to Financial Accounting team including taxation and better KPI management..

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Finance Director

Staff reporting to this post:

• Finance and Reporting Manager, Finance and Treasury Manager, Finance Partnership Manager.
• Technical supervision of Area/ Field-based finance staff.

Budget Responsibilities: None

Role Dimensions: Ukraine CO operates in an armed and highly complex context with multi-member interest. The CO annual budget could reach more than $100m, and more than 700 staff. The Ukraine CO is undergoing a large transition from a small to medium size country office to a large country program

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Budgeting & Reporting

• Act as the key strategic Finance Business Partner to the Finance Director and Program Implementation team to support the growing response in terms of budgeting, reporting and build the capacity of the team. A member of the ESMT and represent the FD in the SMT during his absence.
• Ownership of the master budget process at Country Office and Field levels – ensuring proactive decision making, the efficient and effective allocation of resources.
• Provide financial expertise to the donor budget proposal process to ensure proposals are: high quality, full cost recovery and reflect the needs on the ground; include the necessary shared costs and NTC rates.
• Working with the program implementation team on award review meetings, realignments, N/CE
• Providing high quality donor ready financial reports that meets with the optimum qualities and strive consistent green reporting KPI.
• Mitigate the risk of donor disallowances by ensuring that awards are proactively managed and closed out effectively from a financial perspective
• Ensure budget holders understand their responsibilities (e.g., through training and capacity building).
• Gifts-in-Kind: work closely with budget holders and the Supply Chain team to ensure high quality financial management and reporting.
• Identify and effectively manage all key risks, especially financial, related to delivering the Country Office program. These includes compliance to local laws such as taxation and social security.
• Provide value added ad hoc financial analysis to budget holders to inform decision making

Partnership Development and Management

• Undertaking capacity assessment of partners’ organisation in order to identify capacity gaps and areas of support that the partners will require for effective implementation of the programme financial management requirements. The finance folk for the localisation strategy and its implementation.
• Undertake regular support visits to the partners organizations to discuss financial and operational issues/progress and identify ways in which SCI SS can provide the needed support.
• Support the development of partners’ project budgets, work plan, cash transfer plans and procurement plans.
• Support partners external audit exercise and follow up to ensure that the auditors’ recommendations are followed up and implemented.
• Monitor and follow up the implementation of the agreed work plan and budget to ensure that the programme objectives are being realized in accordance to the programme and partnership agreement and take the necessary actions for any identified deviations.

Field Operations Finance

• Ensuring best in class financial management at field office level – including leadership in respect to recruitment and succession planning; capacity building; implementing efficient & effective processes and accounting systems; improving and ensuring compliance with internal controls. This should include regular visits to the field locations

Staff Leadership, Mentorship, and Development

• Ensure appropriate staffing and efficient & effective organisation design within the Budgeting & Reporting teams.
• Ensure that staff understand and are empowered to perform their role especially the budgeting and reporting team.
• Manage team; define expectations, provide leadership and technical support as needed, and evaluate direct reports regularly.
• Recruitment, training, and professional development of team as part of the wider staff development strategy.
• Performance Management :
  • Effective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of clear, measureable objectives; ongoing feedback; periodic reviews; and fair and unbiased evaluations;
  • Coaching, mentoring and other developmental opportunities;
  • Recognition and rewards for outstanding performance;
  • Documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance improvements/ work plans

COMPETENCIES FOR THIS ROLE:

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, 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 personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others.
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, 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.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential

• BA Degree in Finance and Accounting, Business Administration, or other relevant discipline.

• Chartered Accountant (CPA, ACMA, ACA, and ACCA) strongly recommended.

• Minimum of 5 years management experience in a corporate or an NGO environment, of which three at a management level within a finance department

• Strategic mindset with the ability to lead, inspire and achieve results in a challenging context

• Strong team player

• Excellent inter-personal skills and able to communicate with diverse set of stakeholders

• Strong analytical, decision making and strategic planning skills with the ability articulate complex information in an easy to understand manner

• Solutions focused with ability to identify weaknesses and drive continuous improvement

• Ability to prioritise, plan ahead, and manage a complex and diverse workload with tight deadlines

• Ability to coach, mentor, delegate appropriately and provide developmental guidance to supervised staff.

• Self starter who is willing to go the extra mile to get the job done

• Excellent understanding of business and financial planning including strategic modelling.

• Excellent understanding of budgeting and budget management.

• Excellent understanding of financial systems and procedures.

• Excellent understanding of computerised accounts packages, Excel, PowerPoint and Word

• A full appreciation of the value of co-operation, both internationally and within a team environment.

• Understanding of Save the Children’s vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives and values.

• Written and verbal fluency in English

Desirable

• 4 years within the NGO / charities sector
• Experience of working in an emergency context.
• Understanding of major donor compliance regulation

In the case of a Category 1 and Category 2 response, the candidate must reflect the experience and qualifications of a Grade 2. This must include the following proven behaviour/experience:

• Demonstrate leadership and management skills in a complex international setting.

Previous experience as member of Senior Management Team.

We offer a competitive package in the context of the sector. This Role is offered on the basis of International terms and conditions. Also, interviews will be held on ongoing basis, adverts will be closed once a person is identified.

For non- EU citizens; Visa is to be obtained.

The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information:

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/careers

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.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.