United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Roaming Finance and HR Specialist

Overview:

War Child works with children who, as a result of conflict, live with a combination of poverty, exclusion and insecurity. These children might include street children, child headed households, children conscripted into armed groups, and children who have been put in prison. Our mission is to support and improve the care and protection of children and young people who live with a combination of insecurity, poverty and exclusion in some of the worse conflict-affected places. We look forward to a world in which the lives of children are no longer torn apart by war. This is a vision that can only be realised through the collective actions of children themselves, communities and their leaders, organisations like War Child, governments and key decision makers. War Child’s strategic plan anticipates significant growth in the number of children we support and the funding we need to make that happen. The Roaming Finance Specialist is essential to support that growth and to help War Child operate more efficiently. We currently work in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Jordan in response to the Syria crisis. The UK finance team comprises a UK Finance Adviser and a UK Finance Assistant while the international team includes a Senior Programme Finance Adviser, two Programme Finance Advisers and the Roaming Finance Specialist. The finance team is led by the Head of Finance. The UK HR team is made up of the HR/Office Assistant, HR Officer, Office Manager, UK HR Advisor and International HR Advisor. The HR team is led by the Head of Achievement and Development.

Purpose of Post:

The role provides technical support in accounting, compliance and reporting as well as capacity building for in-country finance leadership and finance teams to ensure quality financial and administrative management. Ensuring compliance with internal and donor regulations and procedures will be central to this role. The role will travel up to 75% of the year, with each mission typically lasting around 3 months. Each assignment will typically focus on one of the follow support functions:

• Providing support to the Finance and HR Manager or Country Director when a country program requires additional external support

• Acting Finance Manager to support staffing gaps

• Acting as an in-country mentor and trainer to newly recruited Finance Managers The role works closely with the finance, HR and programme teams; and is key in embedding and enhancing quality during a period of exceptional growth and continuous improvement in War Child.

A)JOB SPECIFICATION: TASK AND RESPONSIBILITES:

Financial control and reporting

• Support the Country Directors and Finance Managers in the preparation and presentation of multi-currency budgets, forecasts and cash-flows.
• Support the review of restricted income and expenditure against programme implementation to ensure timely spend in line with donor regulations.
• Preparation and/or analysis and follow up of monthly financial reporting packs, including review of balance sheet reconciliations, restricted & unrestricted expenditure, foreign exchange and intercompany transactions.
• Support team in the Development and Reforecast process for the Annual Country Budget.
• Provide technical support & troubleshooting to country finance teams with respect to War Child’s finance system, manuals, procedures and other items such as archiving.
• Ensure accounts are accurate, meaningful (according to donor requirements and relevant to Programmes) and prepared on a timely basis, with correct coding.
• Coordinate action plans following internal and external audits, ensuring the recommendations are adopted and improvements documented.

Human Resources

• Support the Country Director and Country HR teams, in the implementation of War Child's HR policies and processes; in line with local operating procedures.

Capacity Building

• Support leadership and direction to the finance teams.
• Carry out training for finance and as required for HR staff.
• Provide ongoing technical support and coaching to country Finance Manager, finance team, and Country Directors regarding accounting financial matters, and grant management.
• Support the Finance Managers in the evaluations and ongoing development of the incountry finance teams.

Other

• Support the Senior Programme Finance Adviser in providing adequate finance inductions to any new member of the international programmes team to enable them to carry out all financial management elements of their role.
• Perform other duties as required from time to time by the Senior Programme Finance Adviser in order to support delivery of the wider organisational strategy.

B)PERSON SPECIFICATION – ESSENTIAL CRITERIA: War Child’s office is a lively and fast-paced environment made up of a growing team of extremely dedicated staff & volunteers. We’re looking for someone who can fit in well and bring their personality, creativity and professionalism to our finance and HR team, and the wider charity.

Experience and mandatory criteria:

• Minimum 3 years’ financial management experience in an NGO organisation
• Experienced in multi-currency accounting and reporting
• CCAB qualification or equivalent (part qualified will be considered)
• Experience of grant management and working with donor institutions
• Fluency in English

Technical Skills/Expertise:

• Experienced in financial capacity building
• Strong accounting skills and experience, including management of the general ledger, journal entries, payroll, payables and the balance sheet
• Proven financial analysis and forecasting ability with high attention to detail
• Familiar with a range of computerised accounts packages and a highly experienced and competent user of MS Excel and other MS Office packages

Competencies (Soft Skills):

• A results oriented and problem solving approach to work and challenges
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to deal with a variety of internal and external stakeholders and the ability to build effective working relationships, particularly in multi-cultural environments
• Good organisational skills with the ability to plan ahead, to work well under pressure and manage priorities to meet deadlines in a changing and challenging environment whilst making effective decisions
• Flexibility to change and create for continuous improvement and to contribute towards a culture of innovation along with knowledge impact
• Ability to collaborate and form effective partnerships with internal and external stakeholders
• Commitment to War Child’s aims, values and mission

Desirable Criteria:

• Working knowledge of current charity accounting requirements and practice
• Experience of working with donor institutions such as DfID, UNICEF, EU and major trusts such as Comic Relief
• Experience of working with PS Financials accounts package
• HR related certificate or diploma.
• Ability to communicate in either French or Arabic

C)CONTRACT TERMS

• Working Hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week)
• Probation: 6 months
• Start date: As soon as possible
• Location: Any War Child country office or Homebased, with travel to War Child’s country programme location (approx. 75%)
• Salary: £ 45,281 per annum Plus, In-country allowance (Per Diem/Daily living allowance), if eligible, and when deployed
• R&R Allowance: If meeting eligibility criteria in country location. Deployments not meeting the R&R criteria will have pro-rata arrangements made.
• Leave: 30 days’ pa pro-rata
• Pension: Matching contribution of 5% of gross salary from War Child to your private pension or the Long Term Savings Deposit plan (if eligible) with a minimum contribution of 3% of gross salary.
• Other: As defined in standard War Child contract terms

• Download and complete War Child Application Form. All applications must be sent to recruitment@warchild.org.uk or the War Child office by 11:59pm on Monday 12th of June 2017. Please note CVs will not be accepted.
• Due to limited resources War Child HR will contact only the shortlisted candidates.
• First round interviews will be held on the 26th June 2017.
• Second round interviews may also take place if necessary.
• Any offer made post the second interview will be conditional on receipt of 3 favourable written references, (from your most recent employer, any other previous employer and a character reference). War Child reserves the right to call the referees, in case clarification is required post the receipt of complete reference forms.
• The successful applicant will be expected to undergo a DBS Police check and/or international police check, a medical check for overseas travel purposes, be compliant and sign up to War Child’s Child Safeguarding Policy prior to a final offer being made