Head of Finance, Contracts and Compliance - Middle East Office

Role and responsibilities

The Building for Peace Fund Facility (B4PF) is a Grant Facility that aims to contribute to conflict prevention, peacebuilding and reconstruction in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. B4PF introduces an innovative partnership model forging long-term strategic relationships in fragile contexts with Local Non-Governmental Organisations (LNGOs), centred around quality funding, capacity development and learning. Funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the KfW Development Bank, the Facility will focus its funding on projects that combine infrastructure and service provision with peacebuilding/social cohesion components. The longer-term institutionalisation of the B4P Fund Manager role is being considered by KfW at a later stage. In the interim, NRC has been selected to lead the B4PF for an initial period of 4 years.

The purpose of the Head of Finance, Contracts and Compliance position is to ensure the effective setup, development and management of the B4PF support functions. The position will act as a deputy to the Grant Facility Director as required.

Generic Responsibilities

• Compliance with and adherence to B4P / NRC policies, guidelines/handbooks, donor and audit requirements
• Facilitate the support function’s strategic input to the development of the B4P Facility strategy and action plan
• Responsible for ensuring quality and timely support to project implementation including technical capacity building of the partners’ key support staff
• Facilitate the master budget development including assessing and monitoring costs and resource allocation needs of the Fund Management Unit
• Responsible for the development of relevant finance, procurement, contracting and compliance guidelines and tools incorporating and adopting donor requirements.
• Contribute to the facility’s knowledge management and learning
• Responsible for technical capacity building of relevant staff and implementing partners

Specific Responsibilities

Development and management of systems:

• Responsible for the development of the facility’s support systems.
• Contribute to the development of the Grant Management System (GMS).
• Responsible for the recruitment/procurement and contract management under the Facility (including that of learning partners).
• Recruitment, training and line management of finance and procurement coordinators.
• Management of and reporting on B4PF’s fiduciary and system related risks.
• Responsible for coordination of monitoring activities by the third parties with regard to compliance, accountability and transparency of the facility's use of funds and resources, including regular audits of financial aid.
• Responsible for overseeing the recruitment and procurement under the facility
• Development and management of vetting procedures for the Facility and its partners, in line with donor requirements.

Call for proposals and contract management:

• Contribute to the design of the Call for Proposals (CfP) process with focus on financial and management capacity requirements, in close collaboration with the delivery team
• Lead and coordinate the Call for Proposals process from publication to evaluation of submittals and awarding, working closely with the Country Managers.
• Responsible for the drafting and review of the CfP evaluation report summarizing the CfP process, evaluation and recommendations on awarding.
• Responsible for the Due Diligence checks of partners as part of the partner selection.
• Responsible for partner (grant) contract management (including preparation, review and monitoring).

Partnership support and capacity strengthening:

• Accountable for the management of the B4PF cash flow, payments, and transfers to partners.
• Provide guidance to partners on compliance with developed guidelines (data protection, anti-corruption, vetting, grant management)
• Develop training materials and oversee the training of partners’ relevant staff in support-related thematic areas (HR, procurement, finance, compliance, etc.) (including on the development of partners’ budget).
• Working closely with the Country Managers, acts as a focal point for support functions related inquiries received from implementing partners.
• Responsible for coordination of the support required from NRC regionally and globally to deliver on the facility’s objectives.
• Continuous monitoring and adaptation of the developed support related processes and procedures. Monitor partners’ compliance and expenditure through regular spot checks, expenditure monitoring exercises and field visits.

Critical interfaces

By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:

• Budgets: Partners, Technical Committee, Regional and Global Finance, Country Managers
• Strategy: Grant Facility Director, Partnerships Manager
• Policies and SOPs: Regional Support Director, Regional and Global Compliance, NRC Germany Programmatic operations support: Country Managers, Partners including Learning Partners.

Scale and scope of position

Competencies

Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results. They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following two categories:

1. Professional competencies

These are skills, knowledge and experience that are important for effective performance.

Generic professional competencies for this position:

• Minimum 4 years’ experience from a senior management position/Head of Support/Chief of Party for a humanitarian or development organization
• Prior experience in the oversight of support functions in the context of Fund Management/NGO Grant Facilities is mandatory
• Experience from working in complex and volatile contexts
• Allocation of resources and costs expertise
• Documented results related to the position’s responsibilities
• Knowledge about own leadership skills/profile
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal

Context/Specific skills, knowledge and experience:

• Prior expertise working in the MENA Region (Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Yemen, Libya, Syria) is mandatory.  
• Demonstrated experience in compliance and development of support systems
• Arabic language skills are a strong advantage.
• Specific knowledge about KfW rules and regulations is an advantage.

2. Behavioural competencies (max 6)

These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioural competencies, the following are essential for this position:

• Strategic thinking
• Managing performance and development
• Empowering and building trust
• Managing resources to optimize results
• Handling insecure environments

Performance Management

The employee will be accountable for the responsibilities and the competencies, in accordance with the NRC Performance Management Manual. The following documents will be used for performance reviews:

• The Job Description
• Goals and Performance Plan
• The NRC Competency Framework

What We Offer:

• Reports to: Grant Facility Director
• Salary/benefits: According to NRC’s salary scale and terms and conditions
• Duty station: Amman
• Travel: 30%

Applications will start being reviewed before the deadline-We encourage all qualified candidates to apply as soon as possible