Lead Regional Finance Director: LAC

Job Brief:

Position Summary:

The Lead Regional Finance Director (Lead RFD) fulfills the responsibilities of the Regional Finance Director (RFD) for a small portfolio of country/projects. In addition, s/he serves as the primary partner to the Managing Director for the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Program Business Unit in terms of financial planning and analysis needs for the regional portfolio and manages a small team of RFDs with portfolios in the same region. The designated RFD for any given portfolio is responsible for that assigned country's portfolio's financial and administrative performance whereas the Lead RFD is responsible for the overall regional coordination and strategic support to the Managing Director.

In their RDF role, s/he is responsible for the financial and administrative performance of country programs in their designated region through supervision of Country Finance and Administration Officers and Managers (CFAO/Ms) and Country Finance Directors (CFDs). The RFD leads the accurate setup of financial systems, exercises internal financial controls, guides financial risk management, maintains the quality of Corus and donor-level financial compliance requirements, supports business development and grants management, and verifies production of accurate financial budgets and reports - all in alignment with standard accounting practices, internal policies and procedures, local regulations, and donor rules and regulations. The RFD works closely with Country Directors and CFAO/Ms and CFDs, as well as the headquarters staff with operations responsibilities, to properly manage the business aspect of operations.

The Lead RFD reports to the Senior Director, International Programs Finance and strong matrixed reporting to the Managing Director and their deputies.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Lead regional finance team

• Provide effective leadership and management to staff, ensuring clear communication, goal setting, and performance management.
• Foster a culture of learning, mentorship, and career growth, providing coaching and professional development opportunities.
• Partner with the Managing Director and their team to provide timely financial planning and analysis support, including leading regular regional financial reviews of the portfolio.
• Lead agency-wide financial activities such as budgeting for their Business Unit by managing communication, coordination, and quality control through their assigned RFDs and country-level finance staff.
• Monitor key financial challenges and risks within region, work with direct reports to ensure escalation of such issues to management as necessary.

Financial management of country offices

• Supervise country finance and administration and country operations staff in the implementation of agency and donor policies and procedures as well as local government regulations related to finance, administration, procurement, taxation, and others related to finance and operations.
• For countries with small finance teams: support finance, administration, and operations functions in the segregation of duties such as serving as reviewer of transactions.
• Lead financial reviews of country offices (inclusive of a sampling of project or subrecipient finance and administration systems and documents) to determine robustness of financial management systems and to align with donor requirements, and/or international accounting standards.
• Supervise country finance staff on country-level internal and external audit preparation.
• Support the Senior Director for International Programs Finance in the timely design and implementation of corrective action plans to internal and external agency-wide audits; and supervise implementation of corrective actions related to financial and administrative systems at the country-level.
• Lead accurate annual budgeting and forecasting exercises for the assigned portfolio.
• Supervise the country finance staff produce an accurate and timely month-end/year-end close, financial performance reporting, invoicing and funder reporting in compliance with the Overseas Finance and Administration Manual and donor requirements.
• Approve and process monthly country office cash requests.
• Execute payments made through HQ on behalf of projects and/or country programs by:
  • Reviewing expense reports, consultant invoices, and procurement requests to ensure invoice is valid, support is complete, and coding is correct.
  • Reviewing sub-recipient's financial reports for accuracy and compliance following award approval and ensuring timely payment to the partner and monitoring advances (if applicable) and ensuring timely liquidation an