***Due to the urgency to fill this role, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Kindly note that the position might be filled before the vacancy announcement is closed; therefore, early applications are encouraged.***

The Opportunity – Senior Finance Budgeting Manager

Post location: Country Office- Ramallah

Contract Duration and Level of Effort: 1 year.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Senior Finance Budgeting Manager will, as part of the Finance and IT team, and expert in financial planning analysis and cost modelling. They will lead on budgeting development for new proposals and the annual Master Budget for the whole Country office. The post holder is a budgeting/costing specialist that will ensure accurate and sustainable financial planning for the Country’s strategy and for donor specific requirements. They will be providing timely and effective guidance through the budgeting development process and maintain a cost coverage tracker for staff and for general non staff related shared costs. They provide analysis on financial gaps, financial sustainability risks, and cost review for SMT informed decision. They will ensure budgets development are in line with SCI coding methodology and standards, and develop and improve budgeting processes to improve efficiency and accuracy.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: oPt Finance Director

Staff reporting to this post: 1x Finance Budgeting Coordinator
Budget Responsibilities: NA

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Master Budgeting, reforecast and revision.

• Responsible for the development of the annual master budget and the quarterly reforecast.
• Prepare detailed deadline schedule and deliverable for all functions’ contributions, consolidate under the SC template
• Review all Project and Award phasing, ensuring consistency with donor requirement and CO strategy, provide feed back and corrective action as needed to ensure realistic planning
• Ensure all Project and Awards are including the appropriate cost coverage for staff and non-staff support costs as per cost tracker maintained with HR and Finance Reporting Manager
• Work closely with Business development team for the review of the Pipeline and overlay, and ensure estimates budget and phasing are realistic and in line with the CO strategy
• Review the Consolidation file summary and provide analysis and commentary on cost ratio, monthly spent forecast, financial gap and Pipeline, for SMT review
• Ensure any SMT, RO, SC Member feed-back and comment are addressed, relevant changes included in master file and appropriate commentary and explanation provided
• Responsible for appropriate upload of the Approved Master budget in System
• Coordinate with Finance reporting Manger all the relevant SOF load in the System

Donor Budgets proposal

• Thoroughly review solicitations/calls that provide opportunities for funding, ensuring that donor requirements for budgeting, cost eligibility, payment terms and conditions, and other financial compliance related requirements are well understood by the full proposal team and inform go/no-go decisions taken by the senior management team(SMT).
• Develop budgets for donor proposal in coordination with relevant functions, (Business Development, Technical Advisors, HR and Supply chain) ensuring compliance with SCI and Donor requirement, as well as in line with oPt cost coverage
• Lead in setting up budget template, develop the budget allocations per each sectors as per proposal priority as well as SCI Standards in relation to critical program share costs as Safeguarding, MEAL
• Prepare the draft for support costs share in line with the Master budget, country strategy and financial gap analysis to ensure correct cost recovery is included in each proposal
• Support all programs and technical team in appropriate costing of all activities
• Ensure that realistic, comprehensive, and accurate donor-compliant budgets accompany all proposals.
• Make appropriate estimation/projection of foreign exchange rates to be applied in proposal budgeting, taking into consideration, annual inflationary adjustments.
• In coordination with proposal and operation team, review partner budgets as part of the proposal and revision phase.
• Coordinate with HR and Finance Reporting manager for the maintenance of the CO staff planning and cost coverage to ensure appropriate costs are included in any new proposal
• Maintain updated the Cost allocation calculator
• Ensure adequate shared and standard direct SCI costs are built in all budget proposals and revisions before submission to donors.
• Lead on following up on SC member or donor feedback with budget implication

Staff Development and Training

• Improve and maintain budgeting tools and processes as well develop a guidance for budget development within the oPt CO, in line with Save the Children International and donor guidance.
• Build capacity of finance and non-finance staff involved in the budgeting process on the use of SCI tools and standard budgeting policy and donor compliance
• Ensure to provide induction and proper budgeting process onboarding for any new staff member

In order to be successful, you will bring/have:

QUALIFICATIONS

Master’s Degree in accounting/finance or equivalent, CPA/ACCA preferred

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• At least +8 years of experience within the finance department of a national or international organization including experience with financial planning and analysis.
• Excellent analytical skills – the ability to analyze complex financial data and design and produce effective management information.
• Excellent experience of computerized accounts packages and in particular of complex spreadsheets, Excel, Power Point and Words.
• Proven experience in strategic cost modelling.
• Experience and knowledge of awards applications, requirements and constraints
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies in a diverse community.
• The highest level of integrity and commitment to preventing corruption.
• Ability to gather facts and data, scrutinize with ease, determine a logical solution and resolve issues with minimal supervision.
• Ability to manage a complex and diverse workload and to work to meet tight deadlines.
• Ability to contribute to team, motivating staff and working collaboratively with colleagues and providing support and advice as necessary.
• Willingness and ability to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies.
• A full appreciation of the value of co-operation, both internationally and within a team environment.
• Understanding of Save the Children’s vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives.
• Commitment to Save the Children values.
• Fluent in both Arabic and English, written and spoken.

We offer a competitive package in the context of the sector. This role is offered on the basis of national terms and conditions. Application will be reviewed and selected on a rolling basis.

Save the Children promotes a diverse and inclusive work environment, women and people with different abilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Organisation

Save the Children works in development and humanitarian contexts with children and partners to help families, communities, and governments identify and use innovations to ensure all children survive, learn and are protected.

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realize the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.