Job Description

Job Title: Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Grant Finance Officer

Job Location: Haywards Heath

Reports to: Operational Planning Team (Senior Grants Finance Officer) / NTDs Operational Director

Job Holder: Vacant

Department: NTD

Job Purpose:

Sitting within the NTD Grant Finance team, the NTD Grant Finance Officer plays a key role in monitoring and managing the financial aspects of key grant funded projects and all related partner contracts. This role will involve close liaison with the Institutional Funding team, which has overall responsibility for the funding, as well as the project teams, overseeing the day to day management of global NTD elimination grants and ensuring all financial requirements of the project are fully met.

In particular, the NTD Grant Finance Officer will help define budget and reporting templates, oversee project financial planning, monitoring and reporting, help implement a reporting portal for financial submissions from partners, manage all aspects of project cash flow, produce internal and external analysis and reports to influence project decision making, oversee project control frameworks and help support partners undertake their work effectively.

Key tasks include:

  • Review and amend coordinating partner contracts and budgets to enable project delivery.
  • Analysis across data sets using Excel to identify cost drivers and performance across countries.
  • Undertake ongoing financial monitoring of projects (including donor financial reporting).
  • Ensure that grant income and expenditure is correctly reflected in the accounting system.
  • Check, review and process partner expenditure claims and project related claims from consultants and coalition partners, and support with other day to day finance and administration tasks on the projects.
  • Integrate work-streams with other related directorates.

Principal Accountabilities:

1. Support the partner agencies in each of the NTD grant recipient countries to submit revised detailed budgets, detailing costs by region, intervention component and analysis of varying unit costs across countries. Support reviews of expenditure vs budget for all countries, both implementing and coordinating agencies. (35%)

2. Support the maintenance of the CLAIMS financial system to manage the implementing partners’ budgets. Ensure coding structures are in place and adhered to. Work with each country to ensure contracting and financial standards agreed with implementing and coordinating partners are appropriate and are being implemented (10%)

3. Ongoing financial monitoring of projects to determine whether adequate progress is being made and to support Sightsavers offices/partners to comply with rules and regulations. Review, update and report on to the Project Director, risk logs at all levels. (20%)

4. Prepare financial reports for donors, reconciling these to the accounting system and supporting donor audit requirements. (15%)

5. Support project start up activities to ensure that the projects are managed in accordance with the funding terms and conditions. (10%)

6. Check, review and process partner expenditure claims and support with other day to day finance and administration tasks on the projects, including fund management and linking into procurement. (10%)

Jobholder Entry Requirements - the essential knowledge, skills and behaviours required

Knowledge (Education & Related Experience):

  • Able to demonstrate finance and accountancy experience. Qualified or part-qualified accountant an advantage.
  • Awareness of overseas development context gained through working in the INGO sector is preferable but not essential.
  • Experience of institutional donor or large scale contract management preferable, especially EC, USAID and DFID funding.
  • Experience of analysing cost drivers and unit costs across programmes, partners and countries.

Skills (Special Training or Competence):

  • Excellent numerical skills.
  • Proficiency with Excel (pivot tables) is required and experience of a computer based accounting system is desirable.
  • Strong attention to detail with a willingness to follow issues through to resolution.
  • Well organised with an appreciation of meeting reporting commitments.
  • Continuous improvement mind-set, seeking ways to improve processes and mitigate risk.
  • Willingness to continuously develop skills and knowledge to remain current with donor funding developments.
  • Any knowledge of languages (French, Portuguese) is an advantage.
  • Ability to communicate effectively and professionally across a variety of cultures
  • Ability to prioritise and manage demanding workloads

Core Behaviours:

  • Communicating & Influencing
  • Change & Improvement
  • Decision Making
  • Team Working
  • Planning & Organising
  • Delivery & Implementation

Key Relationships

Internal

NTD Directorate

PPR Team

FP Management Team

Regional and Country Directors for NTD projects

Institutional Funding Team

UK and programme finance teams

External

Key contacts for partners involved on significant the NTD projects

Date as of: October 2014

1