Senior Finance Business Partner

Location

Global

Department

Business Support services

Reports to (Line Manager)

Head of Finance

About HelpAge

HelpAge International works with partners and a diverse global network of more than 170 organisations over 90 countries, supporting millions of older people to live safe, dignified, and healthy lives. Through our partnership and collaborations, we work to ensure the inclusion of older people across society and strive to deliver a just and fair world for everyone, whatever their age.

Our work is driven by our desire to deliver real impact for older people, to be inclusive, to work in partnership and to learn from our shared experience. Our 2030 strategy Ageing in a Just World sets out how we will work together to shape the future we all share. By ensuring that all our work promotes wellbeing, dignity and voice, we can be a positive influence in the lives of current and future older people.

HelpAge International is entering into an exciting phase of its evolution as we fundamentally transform what we do, how we do it and how we are organised. Driven by our commitment to the localization agenda, we are evolving the way we partner and deliver value at the country and local level. In the coming 3 years, we will localize our country offices and programmes, and develop new and diverse forms of partnerships globally. We seek to give primacy to local agents for change. To this end, we will replace all programmes delivered by HelpAge staff and resources on the ground with implementation by partners. This will apply across all our work -humanitarian and long-term development. Going forward, our value is framed around supporting, convening and thought leadership. A key way of creating value and bringing impact is collaborating across boundaries and by bringing different perspectives, skills and talent together. We will deliver our work through agile teams and a global operating model, with regional roots, to focus on impact and maintain the relationships at the national level to help build collaborations and support others to set their own agendas.

About the Job

We are seeking a passionate, professional and experienced candidate who will explore new opportunities to create value, to find new avenues, unique ways and novel partnership and collaborations to reach our shared goals. We are looking for talent which thrives in collaborating with others (inside HelpAge International and beyond) and who can work in agile ways and across boundaries. We are seeking individuals, with an entrepreneurial mindset, who can work across diverse areas of our work, who can leverage both their unique expertise and deploy a wider range of experiences and competencies.

Department information

The role of the Business Partner Services Department is to:

• Establish and provide an efficient (internal) client focused services that allows HelpAge’s teams and partners to deliver on the 2030 strategy.
• Provide professional business support services to portfolios, projects, and teams across the organization.
• The Department includes finance, human resources, operations and internal audit functions.

Team info

The Finance team has the following remits –

• Develop and continuously improve on providing a secure and compliant financial servicethat can respond to both traditional and nontraditional programmatic opportunities.
• Support the Business Development & Transformation team with the development of Income generating models and initiatives. In addition, continuously ensure the financial safety and security of HelpAge’s assets.
• Support the partner-led programming approach through combined development of systems with Global Impact and Business Development and Transformation teams to operationalise an effective partnership approach.
• Provide the oversight of risk management, and audit of HelpAge and partners work to the Directors and the board to meet legal and best practice requirements
• In collaboration with other departments, the development of global operations protocol, facilitating the rollout, implementation and monitoring of these at the various levels that we would be engaging in at any given time.

Key areas for impact/influence and responsibilities

These outline the broad areas of responsibility in the role, but in collaboration with your colleagues you will be able to shape and design specific activities that are relevant at any point in time. We want you to work creatively to deliver impact and respond to relevant opportunities.

With your colleagues, you will develop your teamwork plan to drive initiatives, develop ideas, as well ensure there is space for cross organisational working and short-term tasks. From this, you will devise your individual work plan that will form the basis of your day to any activities, and your performance reviews.

Finance Business Partners will be engaging with 50-60 active implementing partners, implementing 90-100 projects against 50-60 contracts from different bilateral and multilateral donors, totally £13-15m of restricted funding.

As a senior Finance Business Partner you will:

• Support the Finance team in developing and assessing donor funded project proposals and developing new products and funding.
• Ensure appropriate resources are budgeted for full cost recovery, prefinancing and Co-funding is closely monitored and managed and claims against the projects are promptly submitted and followed with the donors.
• In collaboration with Humanitarian team, assess implementing partner capacity. Support implementing partners remotely and through visits in improving areas highlighted in partner assessments, partners audits or identified during project implementation.
• Supporting implementing partners to have effective fraud and bribery mechanisms in place and follow up on incidents fraud and bribery.
• Build the financial capacity of implementing partners and national offices as part of the localisation plan.
• Review and process monthly or quarterly accounts of the implementing partners andproduce and analyse financial progress reports.
• Produce donor financial reports and arrange, coordinate, and follow up on project and partner audits. Develop expertise (Champion role) in one of the following areas, e.g. commercial contracting, donor compliance requirements or financial policies and use this expertise to improve HelpAge’s relevant financial practices.
• Manage Projects Accountants for restricted funded projects that require. Additional financial support other than Finance Business Partner.
• Share monthly management accounts with budget holders for their inputs and appropriate action as per HelpAge International monthly financial cycle.
• Highlight to the budget holders project financial issues which require immediate attention/action.
• Support partner cash flow forecast, partner cash transfers and external party transfers for smooth flow of operations

Skills and experience required

You will be someone with:

• A part or full qualification with one of the major accounting bodies
• Strong hands-on experiences in working with implementing partners in complex international projects and settings.
• Experience in developing budget proposals, managing donor contracts, preparing, and reviewing donor financial reports, coordinating project and partners audits.
• Experience of working and supporting non-finance staff and managers in reviewing financial information.
• Ability to work at a strategic level in terms of funding, identifying gaps and risks and providing appropriate solutions.
• Experience supervising teams
• Experience in humanitarian response finance management
• Good mastery of the English. Spanish language is desired.
• Experience with the SUNS system
• Ability and willingness to travel overseas, including at short notice.

Key Behavioural Competencies

At HelpAge International, we believe in the importance of empowering our people to be change makers and leaders at all levels. We expect our people to embrace and live our values, challenging themselves every day to identify issues that are most important to older persons and their communities, and to make an impact that matters.

In addition, as an HelpAge employee you are expected to:

Competencies

Description

Working Collaboratively with Others

Work collaboratively, building mutual trust and respect, with external organizations and partners to achieve our strategic aims and objectives; being accountable for the work we do together.

Adaptability and Flexibility

Adapt to new directions or opportunities arising within the organisation and in our work area; being flexible in our role, constantly using the feedback to learn more and evolve further.

Supporting and Facilitating Change

Lead behavioural and cultural change through embracing a supportive, collaborative and highly inclusive environment where everybody feels supported, respected and engaged.

Extend HelpAge’s Reach and Impact

Extend HelpAge’s reach and impact by creating and identifying new business development opportunities and building relationships with new partners.

Diversity and Inclusion

Lead and promote a culture of including the voices of older people across our support, convening and thought leadership roles, in a way that is transformative, empowering and highly inclusive of those marginalised by gender, economic status, disability and other factors of discrimination.

Leading Others (for managers)

Demonstrate strong leadership to own unit/department and manage people in a well and reputable manner. Create an atmosphere of trust and an enabling environment where staff can contribute their best and develop their potential.

Safeguarding

HelpAge International is committed to safeguarding the communities with which we work, our partners, staff and any others who we come into contact with. The post holder will also be responsible for:

• Preventing harm and abuse from our people, operations and programmes to anyone that encounters our work.
• Reporting all safeguarding incidents you see, hear, hear about or suspect, using our internal reporting mechanism.
• Complying with all safeguarding framework policies and practices.
• Completing mandatory training courses relating to our safeguarding policy framework and complying with HR vetting procedures.