Finance Director

IRC Background:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933, the IRC is at work today in more than 40 countries and in 26 U.S. cities. The IRC’s Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration (RAI) department creates opportunities for refugees and other vulnerable migrants to survive and thrive in the US. RAI serves nearly 50,000 individuals each year in the US through a diverse portfolio of programs aimed at achieving outcomes in five impact areas: Health, Safety, Economic Wellbeing, Education, and Power.

Our strength and success lie within our core values of Service, Accountability, Equality, and Integrity. We are strongly motivated by our clients and are dedicated to delivering high-impact and quality programs.

Job Summary:

The Finance Director (FD) for Arizona provides leadership and management necessary to ensure that the Arizona offices have the appropriate financial infrastructure and systems in place to support the strategic vision and mission of Arizona and the wider organization. The FD will contribute to the development of RAI program strategic and operational plans and be accountable for ensuring and monitoring delivery against the financial plans through targeted and comprehensive financial analytical review. The FD is responsible for overseeing the financial and accounting management of Arizona programs offices. Emphasis will be placed on maintaining financial management practices and systems that are compliant with US and state laws as well as donor requirements but are also conducive to effective implementation of Arizona offices.

The FD will have responsibility for all aspects of strategic and operational finance across the Arizona offices, acting as the principal finance business partner to the Executive Director, as well as conforming to IRCs financial control environment and CFO standards and objectives.

Major Responsibilities:

Strategic Planning & Analysis:

• Provide financial information to support the Executive Director and Arizona senior leadership team in making business decisions in line with IRC, Regional, and Arizona offices’ program strategies.
• Continuously analyze the overall financial health of the Arizona offices and inform the Executive Director of potential risks and priorities to address.
• Compile and provide feedback on annual operating and grant budgets across all offices to create Arizona budgets and ensure financial health.
• Conduct periodic support visits to Arizona offices to provide direct support and engage with office-level staff.
• Respond to ad hoc requests made by the Executive Director, RAI regional and/or HQ management, or Arizona offices.
• Share monthly reviews of the financial health and risk identification with the Executive Director for action.
• Proactively identify potential risks and develop mitigation strategies in conjunction with the Executive Director.

Controllership:

• Ensure that all Arizona offices’ financial practices are in line with IRC and donor policies.
• Establish finance procedures to supplement global policies as needed.
• Closely monitor financial activities and advise the Executive Director on financial performance of the office, issues with internal controls or financial management.
• Monitor the office disbursements, all financial activities and fiscal reporting to ensure proper allocation of funding sources and compliance with donor requirements, limitations, and IRC control policies.
• Monitor the office banking transactions and agreements.
• Manage the finance department activities and schedules to meet the financial reporting requirements and deadlines specified by headquarters and donors.
• Ensure the correctness of all transactional accounting before finalizing monthly, quarterly, and yearly closing benchmarks.
• Oversees the protection of the Arizona offices’ assets (cash, inventory, fixed assets) through the enforcement of internal control policies and procedures.
• Facilitate internal, external, donor and government audits.
• Serve as the principal liaison with IRC HQ on all finance, accounting, grant budget management, and cash management.
• Provide Internal/External Audit closure and corrective action plan development and tracking.
• Attend all audit opening and exit meetings for audits conducted in region.

Training & Staff Management

• Establish finance department roles and responsibilities org chart; ensure staff job descriptions are current; recruits, maintains, empowers, and delegates to qualified staff to perform finance functions.
• Oversee finance training and technical support to non-finance staff for skills improvement in the areas of accounting, reporting, and internal control.
• Supervise the finance team and support their professional growth through effective performance management.

Reporting, Budgets, and Forecasting:

• Administer and oversee the offices budget(s) and budgeting processes, reporting and contract/grant compliance in the financial area; follow IRC’s accounting policies vis-à-vis fund accounting as noted in IRC’s finance manual and generally accepted accounting principles.
• Prepare and revise grant proposal budgets; support programs with guidance on costing and inputs in creating budgets for submission; provide solutions to budget challenges and strategically utilize financial expertise to ensure maximum leverage of available funds.
• Prepare and submit donor reports and billing in accordance with IRC and donor requirements.
• Prepare and maintain the Arizona office’s annual operating budget; ensure cost coverage for Arizona offices operating costs and update the operating budget as needed.
• Prepare, present, and facilitate the review of actual to budget expenditures with the Executive Director, Site Directors, and program leads.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Executive Director
Position directly supervises: Finance Manager and Senior Finance Coordinators

Indirect Reporting: Deputy Regional Director, Finance

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: HQ Finance and Budget team; Program Managers, Program staff, Senior Management team

External: Vendors; Financial Institutions; Grant Funders/Auditors; Financial Auditors

Job Requirements:

• Undergraduate degree in related field such as Finance, Accounting, Business Administration; graduate degree preferred.
• 5+ years finance, budgeting, accounting practices experience required; preferably in a grant-driven non-profit or social services environment.
• 4+ years direct staff supervision.
• Advanced computer proficiency with an emphasis on Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Teams, Outlook). Proven experience in web-based data entry systems, with both data extraction and design preferred.
• Highly organized self-starter with proven success prioritizing multiple tasks, making critical decisions, and delivering results in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines.
• Must be comfortable in being a proactive member of the senior leadership team, with a proven track-record of proactively identifying and communicating potential problems and proposing solutions.
• Ability to carry out responsibilities independently with minimal technical support.
• Fluent in English, both spoken and written; ability to communicate in a refugee language strongly preferred.
• Excellent written and oral and communication skills, conscientious, organized, self-directed and thorough in working with accounting procedures, data entry/record keeping.
• Must have a valid driver’s license, active insurance policy, access to reliable transportation and the ability to travel regularly throughout the service delivery area.
• In accordance with Arizona State Law, must possess or be eligible to receive a fingerprint clearance card.

Working Environment:**

• Covid-impacted remote work, option to be partially remote post-covid, but with travel to Arizona offices as required on ad hoc basis.
• Standard office work environment with considerable time at a computer terminal.
• Occasional evening and weekend hours as required by the work.
• Occasional domestic travel.

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement: In accordance with IRC’s duty to provide and maintain a workplace that is free of known hazards and our commitment to safeguard the health of our employees, clients, and communities, IRC requires new hires to furnish proof of vaccination against COVID-19 in order to be considered for any in-office or hybrid positions. All IRC US offices require full vaccination to attend any in-office functions (e.g., meetings, trainings).

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusivity: IRC is committed to building a diverse organization and a climate of inclusivity. We strongly encourage applications from candidates who can demonstrate that they can contribute to this goal.

Equal Opportunity Employer: We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

US Benefits: We offer a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. In the US, these include: 10 sick days, 10 US holidays, 20-25 paid time off days depending on role and tenure, medical insurance starting at $120 per month, dental starting at $7 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with immediately vested matching, disability & life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support counseling and care in times of crisis and mental health struggles.