Project Finance and Risk Advisor

About the role
Project Finance and Risk Advisors at Sightsavers specialise in support and advice of project financial management and donor compliance to key stakeholders across the organisation. They offer support and advice across the key stages of Sightsavers projects life cycle: design, launch, implementation and close-out. They ensure that project financial planning, monitoring and reporting are delivered on time and to a high standard.
A typical day could include:

Calling a country office finance manager to discuss pending issues in the financial report
Noticing an area for improvement in our review process. Making a note of it to bring up in our team meeting next week
Dealing with ad-hoc requests about exchange rates and budget flexibility from various country office and global contacts
Attending a meeting with stakeholders across the organisation to kick-start a proposal application
Working on a payroll journal that charges staff time to donors for this month
Pausing your work on the payroll journal to review and sign-off that project financial report that just came in your inbox.

About you
This job may be for you if you are:

proactive by nature and have initiative
comfortable taking decisions and have a good sense of when to escalate issues
quick to notice irregularities, yet you do not lose sight of the bigger picture
good at solving problems and have a keen eye for improvement
confident holding close working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders

Jobholder Requirements
Essential:

Able to demonstrate finance and accountancy experience or excellent numerical skills
Awareness of overseas development context gained through working in the INGO sector
Extensive experience of institutional donor project financial management
Excellent numerical skills
Advanced Proficiency with Microsoft Excel
Good English language skills and experience working in English
Good communication and stakeholder management skills
Well organised with an appreciation of meeting reporting commitments
Ability to work independently and manage a portfolio of projects, acting as a point of reference
Strong attention to detail with a willingness to follow issues through to resolution
Continuous improvement mindset, seeking ways to improve processes and mitigate risk
Willingness to continuously develop skills and knowledge to remain current with donor funding developments

Desirable:

Proven experience of USAID, EC and FCDO project financial management
Proven experience of financial training to finance staff
Experience of a computer-based accounting system
Any knowledge of languages aside for English (notable focus on French, Portuguese, Wolof, Swahili)
High level of programmatic and financial understanding of the project cycle
Able to explain financial issues and procedures to a non-financial audience.

Apply via :

jobs.sightsavers.org