Head of Budgeting, Planning, and Reporting- National - Damascus

TITLE: Head of Budgeting Planning and Reporting- Damascus - National
TEAM/PROGRAMME: FinanceLOCATION: Damascus

GRADE: 2
CHILD SAFEGUARDING:
Level 3: the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Head of Budgeting Planning and Reporting will be supporting setting and developing the financial management of SRO and supporting the Finance Director in area of budgeting planning reporting and staff recruitment with a particular focus on providing excellent financial business partnering services to ESMT Field Managers and budget holders. He/she will also be responsible for ensuring best in class financial management both at the CO and field offices level including leadership in respect to capacity building; establishing and implementing efficient & effective processes; improving and ensuring financial planning and reporting. The Head of Budgeting Planning and Reporting will be supporting CO and FOs in Financial setup budgeting and reporting team focuses on providing support throughout the lifecycle of awards by ensuring that the financial component of projects are successfully implemented. These includes providing technical support from proposal budgeting BvA donor financial reporting & closeout master budgeting and gap analysis forecasting & KPIs and Partner finance support and reconciliations.
SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Finance and IT Director

Staff reporting to this post:
Budgeting and Reporting Manager.
Budgeting and Reporting Coordinator

Budget Responsibilities: None

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Budgeting Financial Planning and Reporting

Act as the key strategic Finance Business Partner to the Finance Director and Program Implementation team to support the growing response in terms of budgeting reporting and build the capacity of the team. A member of the ESMT and represent the FD in the SMT during his absence.
Ownership of the master budget process at Country Office and Field levels ensuring proactive decision making the efficient and effective allocation of resources.
Provide financial expertise to the donor budget proposal process to ensure proposals are: high quality full cost recovery and reflect the needs on the ground; include the necessary shared costs and PSC rates.
Working with the program implementation team on award review meetings realignments N/CE
Providing high quality donor ready financial reports that meets with the optimum qualities and strive consistent green reporting KPI.
Mitigate the risk of donor disallowances by ensuring that awards are proactively managed and closed out effectively from a financial perspective
Ensure budget holders understand their responsibilities (e.g. through training and capacity building).
Gifts-in-Kind: work closely with budget holders and the Supply Chain team to ensure high quality financial management and reporting.
Identify and effectively manage all key risks especially financial related to delivering the Country Office program. These includes compliance to local laws such as taxation and social security.
Provide value added ad hoc financial analysis to budget holders to inform decision making
Monitor and follow up the implementation of the agreed work plan and budget to ensure that the programme objectives are being realized in accordance to the programme and partnership agreement and take the necessary actions for any identified deviations.
Participate in the development of finance policies and procedures to be able to maintain a well-financially controlled environment in both development and emergency contexts.
Support Finance and IT Director ensuring that effective systems are put in place and regularly reviewed to allow adequate financial management and control.
Lead improvements in financial planning systems and processes ensuring efficiency and accuracy

Staff Leadership Mentorship and Development
Ensure appropriate staffing and efficient & effective organisation design within the Budgeting & Reporting teams.
Ensure that staff understand and are empowered to perform their role especially the budgeting and reporting team.
Manage team; define expectations provide leadership and technical support as needed and evaluate direct reports regularly.
Recruitment training and professional development of team as part of the wider staff development strategy.
Performance Management :
oEffective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of clear measureable objectives; ongoing feedback; periodic reviews; and fair and unbiased evaluations;
oCoaching mentoring and other developmental opportunities;
oRecognition and rewards for outstanding performance;
oDocumentation of performance that is less than satisfactory with appropriate performance improvements/ work plans

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)
Accountability:
Holds self-accountable for making decisions managing resources efficiently achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.
Ambition:
Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children engages and motivates others.
Future orientated thinks strategically and on a global scale.
Collaboration:
Builds and maintains effective relationships with their team colleagues Members and external partners and supporters.
Values diversity sees it as a source of competitive strength.
Approachable good listener easy to talk to.

Creativity:
Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions.
Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:
Honest encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.
QUALIFICATIONS

BA Degree in Finance and Accounting Business Administration or other relevant discipline.
Chartered Accountant (CPA ACMA ACA and ACCA) strongly recommended.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
Essential
Minimum of 7 years management experience in a corporate or an NGO environment of which three at a management level within a finance department
Strategic mindset with the ability to lead inspire and achieve results in a challenging context
Strong team player
Excellent inter-personal skills and able to communicate with diverse set of stakeholders
Strong analytical decision making and strategic planning skills with the ability articulate complex information in an easy to understand manner
Solutions focused with ability to identify weaknesses and drive continuous improvement
Ability to prioritise plan ahead and manage a complex and diverse workload with tight deadlines
Ability to coach mentor delegate appropriately and provide developmental guidance to supervised staff.
Self starter who is willing to go the extra mile to get the job done
Excellent understanding of business and financial planning including strategic modelling.
Excellent understanding of budgeting and budget management.
Excellent understanding of financial systems and procedures.
Excellent understanding of computerised accounts packages Excel PowerPoint and Word
A full appreciation of the value of co-operation both internationally and within a team environment.
Understanding of Save the Childrens vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives and values.
Written and verbal fluency in English

Desirable
4 years within the NGO / charities sector
Experience of working in an emergency context.
Understanding of major donor compliance regulations.
Additional job responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.
Equal Opportunities
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.
Child Safeguarding:
We need to keep children safe so our selection process which includes rigorous background checks reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.