Senior Programme Finance Manager

About the Programme

Africas population is growing rapidly with young people forming an increasing share of the workforce. Yet job creation has not kept pace leaving millions - particularly young women - without access to stable dignified livelihoods due to barriers such as limited education social norms and unpaid care responsibilities.

At the same time Africas health sector is expanding and presents a powerful opportunity to create sustainable livelihood pathways. This programme focuses on transforming community-based health work into respected viable career pathways for young people especially women. Starting in Kenya Ethiopia Burkina Faso Tanzania and Malawi the programme aims to professionalise community health workers create dignified employment and strengthen systems - contributing to both youth livelihoods and healthier communities.

Position Summary

The Senior Programme Finance Manager is responsible for translating the programmes strategic priorities into disciplined practical financial execution under the guidance of the Programme Director. This role ensures that financial planning controls and decisions enable programme delivery and innovation support execution and realization of impact at scale.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic financial enablement: Translate the Programme strategy and priorities into clear regional financial plans budgets and forecasts; provide timely financial insight to support programme-level decisions on scale trade-offs and investment choices; ensure financial considerations are integrated early into programme planning and adaptation; and flag risks and constraints proactively with options and recommendations with clear and practical solutions in mind.
2. Financial planning and performance:  Lead regional budgeting forecasting and financial performance tracking across programme countries; monitor burn rates variances and cost drivers and support corrective action in line with programme priorities; ensure programmatic financial reporting is accurate timely and decision-useful for the Programme Director and wider leadership team.
3. Donor Compliance Grants and Risk Management: Ensure consistent application of donor financial requirements across the regional portfolio; work closely with Grants and Programme teams to embed financial compliance into delivery workflows; maintain audit readiness and support audits with confidence and professionalism; and balance compliance with pragmatism avoiding unnecessary financial bottlenecks.
4. Entrepreneurial financial leadership and delivery enablement: Apply an entrepreneurial and agile approach to financial leadership enabling timely decision-making that supports programme delivery while maintaining strong governance accountability and compliance; anticipate and respond rapidly to emerging financial risks constraints or opportunities providing practical options and solutions that allow programme teams to maintain momentum; ensure financial controls protect the programme without creating unnecessary bottlenecks that delay delivery or innovation.
5. Country finance support & capacity Building: Support effective financial coordination across countries recognising differences in regulatory fiscal and operating contexts while maintaining consistent regional standards and accountability; strengthen financial management capability across country teams in line with regional standards; provide coaching and guidance to country finance staff to support sound judgment and accountability; ensure consistency of controls while respecting local operating contexts.          
6. Stakeholder engagement and management: Coordinate with key government and relevant regional bodies donors consortium and implementing partners to facilitate programme delivery; exercise judgment and diplomacy to manage competing expectations while safeguarding programme integrity and delivery outcomes; and build financial understanding and trust among non-finance stakeholders translating financial requirements into practical guidance that enables effective collaboration and problem-solving.
7. Strategic cost insight & value for money: Provide strategic leadership on function-level costing across the regional programme by designing robust cost models and interrogating key cost drivers; generate high-value cost insights that strengthen understanding of unit costs efficiency and value for money; and support executive decision-making on programme design delivery models and resource allocation.

Key Performance Indicators (Success Measures) Building the right platform and creating lasting impact

1. Financial enablement of programme delivery: Actively partner with Programme leaders to ensure finance is not a checkpoint after programmatic decision-making and focus on enabling timely delivery of key programme priorities.
2. Financial discipline that supports impact: Ensure resources are allocated monitored and adjusted to maximize impact and value for money and not just the accuracy of spending; use robust function- and unit-cost insight to understand key cost drivers and efficiency trends; and financial planning controls and reporting to enable timely programme delivery actively.
3. Adaptive financial decision-making: Enable programme adaptation through sound and practical financial advice in response to changing delivery regulatory or funding conditions; proactively use budget reallocations re-forecasting and scenario analyses to support decision-making; programme leadership views finance as a trusted delivery partner that enables informed choices; maintain agreed upon turnaround times even in ambiguous or fast-changing situations.
4. Donor confidence and risk stewardship: Ensure donors experience the programme as financially credible predictable and well-governed; ensure on-time quality financial reports clean audits and proactive issue management; ensure no financial surprises arise late or without options arising from the risk register.
5. Financial support for innovation and adoption: Own innovation adoption and scale that is practical enable responsible experimentation by working with the Programme Director Grants Manager and consortium and implementing partners to understand where flexibility exists and where controls are non-negotiable.
6. Building country programme capability: Build finance country capability where finance teams operate with consistent standards sound judgement and confidence; reducing dependency at the HQ level.

Qualifications :

1. Seven (7) to Nine (9) years of relevant experience with at least three (3) years of senior leadership experience in social enterprise international development or mission-driven organisations;
2. Bachelors Degree in Finance Economics Business Administration or a related field. A postgraduate qualification in a related field is an added advantage;
3. CPA ACCA CFA CMI CA or other internationally recognized professional qualification(s) required with proven experience applying professional accounting standards in multi-partner multi-country donor-funded programme environments including practical understanding of country-level financial operations and regulatory contexts;
4. Membership and good standing with professional accounting body;
5. Demonstrable project management skills including budgeting costing planning and attention to operational detail. PMP or PRINCE is an added advantage;
6. Demonstrable experience in managing financial operations across different regulatory tax and banking environments demonstrating practical understanding of how country-level finance realities affect programme delivery; has worked with multiple currencies and fiscal calendars and managed the associated risks and reconciliations;
7. Demonstrable experience managing finances for donor-funded programmes including restricted funding donor-specific cost rules and financial reporting requirements; and
8. Practical experience or leading donor financial audits responding to audit queries and implementing corrective actions where required; and a footprint in supporting supervising and strengthening country-level finance teams providing hands-on guidance coaching and oversight.

Core Competencies

1. Strategic Planning: Obtains and identifies key issues and relationships relevant to achieving long-range goals; commits to a course of action to accomplish a goal after developing alternatives based on logical assumptions facts available resources constraints and programme values.
2. Entrepreneurial mindset: Demonstrates the ability to identify opportunities and challenges collaboratively creates and tests solutions and adapts quickly within a complex multi-country and multi-partner context; applies sound financial and operational judgment to balance an entrepreneurial mindset with accountability - enabling responsible risk-taking to support programme delivery.
3. Facilitating change: Guides teams through financial transitions (e.g. budget realignments funding shifts regulatory changes) with clarity confidence and minimal disruption to delivery; communicates financial change clearly and constructively helping non-finance stakeholders understand impacts trade-offs and decisions; builds financial change capability across country teams and partners enabling them to respond confidently to change rather than escalating by default.
4. Driving results: Sets high goals for personal and team accomplishment; uses measurement methods to monitor progress toward programme goals; tenaciously works to meet or exceed goals while deriving satisfaction from that achievement and continuous achievement.
5. Creating an inclusive environment: Makes decisions and initiates action to ensure that programme policies leverage the capabilities and insights of individuals with diverse backgrounds cultures styles abilities and motivation.
6. Delegation and empowerment: Identifies and leverages opportunities to accelerate results and build capability by assigning tasks to individuals or their own team with clear boundaries expectations support and follow-up with the intent of involving others in agreement for successful outcomes.
7. Innovative leadership: Creating a culture that inspires people to generate novel solutions with measurable impact for existing and potential stakeholders (internal and external); encouraging experimentation with new ways to solve work problems and seize opportunities that result in unique and differential solutions.
8. Proactive Learner: Identifying own strengths and shortcomings that impact organizational and programme results; actively pursuing development experiences that will enhance own impact on long-term organizational outcomes.

Additional Information :

Working at Amref Health Africa

At Amref Health Africa you will lead work that drives lasting health change in Africa. As a Pan-African mission-driven organisation led from the continent Amref empowers senior leaders to shape solutions that strengthen health systems expand opportunity and improve lives at scale.

To support sustained performance Amref provides a competitive and supportive employment offering including comprehensive medical cover a pension plan flexible work arrangements continuous leadership development and staff networks that foster inclusion and belonging.

At Amref you do not simply participate in programmes - you lead change build systems and leave a lasting legacy.

Please include a cover letter that highlights why you believe you are an ideal candidate for this role along with your CV showcasing your relevant skills and experience. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with the application deadline being on Sunday 1st February 2026 (East Africa Time).

Amref Health Africa does not require applicants to pay any money at whatever stage of the recruitment and selection process and has not retained any agent in connection with recruitment. Although Amref may use different job boards from time to time to further spread its reach for applicants all open vacancies are published on our website under the Vacancies page and on our official social media pages. Kindly also note that official emails from Amref Health Africa will arrive from an @ address.

Amref Health Africa is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. Amref Health Africa is is dedicated to diversity and is an equal-opportunity employer with a non-smoking environment policy.

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time