Finance Manager - Mercy Corps

Job Description

Please note that this vacancy will be open to applications only till 30th January 2015.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY

The Finance Manager is a member of the senior management team and part of the Mercy Corps Finance Department, and as such is responsible for all aspects of financial management of the country programs, working collaboratively to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps internal policies and procedures as well as donor regulations. S/he works under the direction of the Country Director and is responsible for all financial functions in Kenya, including accounting, payments and banking, payroll, budgeting, financial reporting and grant financial management and compliance.  The Finance Manager, in support of the Program Department, provides timely reports and assistance to the Country Director and the Program team to ensure that financial resources are used efficiently and effectively.  This is a 6-9 month position focused on building the technical capacity of a Kenyan Senior Finance Officer, and equipping him with all the skills needed to take on the full breadth of the finance manager position after the expatriate Finance Manager completes his/her duties by the end of 2015.

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY

Mercy Corps has been present in Kenya since 2009, focusing on conflict management, youth empowerment and building resilience for families in Kenya’s arid lands to better withstand shocks.  With funding from a diversity of donors, Mercy Corps has been able to work together with Kenyan communities to respond to pressing and emerging needs that bring benefit to more than 1,500,000 individuals. 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Strategy and Vision
• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment of empowerment.
• Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions and resources to achieve objectives and contribute to country-wide strategy development. 

Personal Leadership

• Consistently demonstrate flexibility, resilience and ability to maintain positive relationships and composure, even under difficult circumstances.
• Maintain high ethical standards and treat people with respect and dignity.
• Demonstrate an awareness of his/her own strengths and development needs. 

Representation

• Interface with the donor representatives to convey information about programs accurately and as appropriate.
• Communicate with our donors and partners to verify their systems and that they understand and follow all appropriate procedures and archiving.
• Participate in sharing best practices with NGOs and governmental agencies. 

Team Management

Create a sustainable work environment of mutual respect that attracts motivated, skilled and effective team members and enables them individually and collectively to strive to achieve excellence.

Supervise and lead a diverse team of direct and indirect reports in field offices.

Contribute to country team-building efforts; build constructive internal relationships; help team members identify problem solving options and ensure integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.

Operations – Financial

Ensure effective, transparent use of financial resources in compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures.

Maintain banking relations and plan and monitor country cash flow requirements to ensure the smooth implementation of Mercy Corps programs.

Maintain appropriate local insurance coverage in coordination with the Admin. Department, to protect Mercy Corps.

Provide monthly standard accounting submissions to Mercy Corps Headquarters, including general ledger files, account reconciliations, expenditures by cost center/project, required subgrantee reporting, as well as other financial information in a timely and accurate manner.

Ensure effective subgrant management, monitoring and capacity building for all MC Kenya subgrantees/partners (feel free to reword this as necessary).

Provide monthly management reports to the Country Director and Program Managers, including expenditures by cost center/project, subgrantee reporting and other financial information, in a timely and accurate manner.

Develop annual fiscal year budgets with the Country Director and develop and implement grant budgeting and forecasting systems with Program Managers.

Training to Finance Team Members

Analyze training needs of finance team members, particularly Sr. Finance Officer, to develop and enhance their technical skills. Ensure the Sr. Finance Officer is capable of handling all functions of the finance department on his own prior to the end of 2015. 

Conduct or arrange for ongoing technical training and personal development training for finance staff members.

Plan, develop, and provide training and staff development programs, using knowledge of the effectiveness of methods such as demonstrations, on-the-job training, meetings, conferences, and workshops.

Conduct orientation sessions and arrange on-the-job training for new hires.

Ensure that the new finance department staffing structure is in place and all team members are fully trained in their new roles and the finance team is a high performing department by end of September 2015.

Accountability:  Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Organizational Learning:  As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve - we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: Supervise 1 Sr. Finance Officer, Subgrant Officers and provide support, training and mentoring as required to the  8 finance staff members in Nairobi and four field offices (Wajir, Thika, Eldoret and Lodwar).

ACCOUNTABILITY

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Country Director

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: HQ Regional Finance Officer (with authority for technical financial matters); members of Operations, Program Managers, TSU team members, and others.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

• A BA/S or equivalent in accounting or finance required; advanced degree preferred.
• At least 5 years) of progressive financial management experience, including supervisory experience required.
• Previous Mercy Corps experience strongly required
• At least 4 years’ experience in grants management is required.
• Understanding of diverse donors regulations (e.g. USAID, EC, DFID) is strongly preferred
• At least 3 years’ international experience required; international NGO/PVO field office experience is preferred.   
• Demonstrated experience and skill with budget preparation and analysis, financial reporting preparation and presentation and the proven ability to translate technical financial data into informative reports. 
• Strong accounting skills and experience, including management of the general ledger, journal entries, payroll, payables and balance sheet.
• Demonstrated training skills and interest in grooming national staff to take on additional supervisory skills is required.
• Prior management experience and strong organizational skills.
• Advanced computer skills in MS Office programs, particularly Excel.
• Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational and prioritization skills.
• Excellent oral and written English skills required.
• Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
• Interest and ability to travel to remote and sometime insecure environment is required. 

SUCCESS FACTORS

The successful candidate will have an ability to interact effectively across international and national program and finance teams successfully, both in a managerial as well as training capacity. S/he has strong training skills and interest in grooming sr. finance staff to take on additional responsibilities.  S/he will be able to support programmatic objectives with timely and meaningful financial information, have a demonstrated ability to multi-task, meet deadlines and process information in support of changing program activities. An impeccable professional standard of finance and procurement ethics and the willingness and ability to enforce compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures is essential. The Finance Manager must be willing to travel regularly to Mercy Corps field offices and project sites. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations. 

LIVING CONDITIONS

The Finance Manager will be will based in Nairobi, Kenya. The location is accompanied. Housing is individual accommodation with unlimited freedom of movement beyond the house/office. Staff have access to a full range of medical, electricity, water, etc). This position requires (35% travel to field offices in insecure and secure environments. 

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.