Job Title: Head of Finance -WoS
Work Location: Damascus
Contract end date/duration: 31st December 2026
Contract renewable based on Budget and performance
Line Manager: Country Director
*This position is open for National only.
Position Summary
The primary function of the Country Office (CO) Head of Finance is to develop, manage and administer the CO plans for proper recording, documentation, control, monitoring and reporting of financial operations in compliance with the organization and donor rules & regulations. S/He provides oversight of the day-to-day financial operations at the CO level and is accountable for organizing and providing high level quality financial services to CO programs, projects and units staff. S/He works closely with the Shared Services Center (SSC) and Regional Management Unit (RMU) and CO senior management to ensure appropriate financial support and resources are available. S/He ensures a partnership is developed and nurtured between Finance, Program and other program support units in the CO.
The CO Head of Finance profile includes: very strong accounting and financial management knowledge, analytical skills, attention to details, ability to work effectively under time pressure, very strong business partnering skills with ability to influence CO senior staff, team player, proactive individual with ability to offer structured guidance, ability to ensure that the right priorities are set for the CO finance team, proven experience in training finance and non-finance staff, proficiency in English.
The CO Head of Finance position has direct reporting line to the Country Director with dotted lines to SSC (i.e. Finance and Accounting Director or designee) and RMU (i.e. Deputy Regional Director for Program Support). S/He is an integral member of the CO Senior Management Team (SMT).
The employee is also required to;
1. Remain aware of and comply with safety and security regulations/procedures and bear responsibility for personal safety and security while under contract.
2. Comply with the organization Policies which includes but not limited to Safeguarding Policy, Code of Conduct and other organizational and HR policies.
3. the organization has a zero-tolerance approach towards sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, and child abuse towards any person including our staff, representatives, partners, programme participants and members of the community where we work. We expect all staff, partners and related personnel to share this commitment by understanding, abiding by and working within the organization’s International Safeguarding Policy and related framework at all times whilst representing the organization.
4. Ensure that all direct team members are aware of their responsibilities with the CI Safeguarding Policy commitments, including signing of the Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct, and completing induction and refresher trainings;
5. Depending on specific role and responsibilities, may be requested to comply with the terms of additional policies, guidelines and related regulations, as and when necessary.
Key Responsibilities
1.Financial System Operations Management and CO Data Processing: 25%
-Hold the coordination and management role in financial system operations, and ensure the system is functioning properly and is being effectively used by CO staff.
-Provide day-to-day oversight of CO financial operations, ensuring efficient process flows and controls over finance and accounting functions are adequate.
-Ensure financial data are processed in the system accurately and reported to donors, management and other partners timely.
-Lead the PeopleSoft operations, workflows, roles and user management and ensure CO users are setup in the system and trained appropriately
-Ensure workflows are developed and implemented adequately in the CO system budget holders, other users are trained properly in their roles, and the policies, procedures, user manuals and other quick reference guides are available to CO staff and disseminated
-Manage of PeopleSoft chart fields (e.g. fund code and project ID requests, activity ID, category ID, etc.) and other tables (vendor files, cost allocation tables, users table, etc.) are performed timely and satisfactorily, and document system issues experienced by users and escalate to SSC appropriately
-Determine CO short and long terms cash needs and coordinate cash requests and approvals, including the submission of cash flow projections
-Ensure vendors are paid, account receivables are collected timely, staff receive proper training and are effectively using the cash related modules (e.g. Account Payable, Cash Management).
-Ensure journal entries (e.g. payroll, allocation, etc.) are processed timely and accurately, cash receipts are recorded properly, and all modules (e.g. procurement, asset management, etc.) are used by CO staff adequately.
-Accountable for ensuring that the period closing processes defined for Business Units (BUs) are performed timely and adequately, and for the preparation and submission of complete, reliable and timely financial reports to CO managers and donors, local entities and other partners as relevant
-Ensure that reports prepared by SSC (e.g. USG awards) are completed and submitted timely
-Supervise the quality and integrity of financial data and supporting documentation and ensures completeness of data recorded in the system. This includes but not limited to the following transactions: a) Accounts Payable vouchers –e.g. cash disbursements, settlement of cash advances–; b) General Ledger journal entries –e.g. payroll allocation, adjustments, accruals–.; c) Cash Management module –e.g. cash transfer processing and dispatching–.; d) Asset Management entries –e.g. depreciation entries–; e) Account Receivables –e.g. donor receipts; f) Budgeting and Forecasting –e.g. budget data created in Adaptive Planning or other budgeting tool.
-Ensure all budgets (e.g. project proposal, annual operating budgets, etc.) are prepared with budgeting tool in use by the organization, coordinate and supervise the preparation of CO forecasts and future years budgets, and lead the preparation of the CO shared program cost (SPC) budgets and implements the organization’s policy and guidelines related to fair sharing of support costs
-Supervise the monitoring of actual expenses against budgets and ensure partnership between CO finance staff and budget holders and all managers who make budget decisions in the CO to ensure costs expenses are managed properly within the approved budgets.
2.Staff Management and Development, Talent Management and Capacity Building: 25%
– Responsible for talent management and development of finance staff as well capacity building in financial management for finance and non-finance staff in the country office
– Assess training and development needs of finance and non-finance staff within the CO
– Identify gap in skills, develops training materials and provide training in accounting and financial management as needed
-Participate in the elaboration and lead the implementation of the CO’s Annual Performance Assessment policy and processes to include the preparation and monitoring of Individual Operating Plan (IOPs) for finance staff
-Lead the recruitment of CO finance staff in close coordination with the CD
-Ensure succession plans are developed and implemented for finance staff in a way that assures CO staffs receive high quality support services at all times.
-Works with the Human Resources unit as well as SSC and RMU to develop and manage talent in the Finance team.
3.Quality review and analysis of financial reports to support management decision making in the CO: 25%
-Perform quality reviews and analyse of CO books as well as any financial performance reports and provides feedback to CO management to improve financial management. The reviews and analyses include but are not limited to: bank reconciliation; balance sheet; income statement; grants/contracts reports; unrestricted and private contributions reports; actual expenses vs. budget; shared program costs and cost recovery; payroll allocation and timesheets; etc.
-Take appropriate actions to address all issues noted (e.g. collect receivables; prevent overspending, match funding, etc.).
-Accountable for the overall quality of the CO financial reports and communications of issues to CO management, RMU and SSC.
4.Compliance and Control Functions: 20%
-Ensure CO compliance with the organization’s accounting policy and procedures and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)
-Ensure CO accounting systems and procedures comply with the organization’s global policy and procedures
-Protect the organization assets through internal controls
-Ensure the CO payroll and other non-PeopleSoft systems provide adequate controls
-Review all leases and other contracts that require current and future use of the organization’s assets and make any relevant recommendations to the CD
-Ensure CO compliance with donor rules and regulations
-Ensure CO preparedness for annual financial and donor audits
-Facilitate internal and external audits conducted in the CO
-Assist the CD in preparing CO responses to audit findings as well as planning and implementing audit recommendation
5.OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES AS ASSIGNED: 5%
Required Qualification, Skills and Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance or Business Management or equivalent
- At least 10 years experience in financial, budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, grants / contract management and business management role in an NGO, with a minimum 5 years of senior management role.
- Solid accounting systems experience and thorough understanding of financial accounting, reporting, grants and contract management processes
- Demonstrated coaching, negotiation and facilitation skills to conduct training sessions for small, medium and large sized groups
- Solid analytical skills, problem solving and experience with major donor audits (e.g USAID, EU, etc.)
- Proficiency in using financial software applications
- Fluency in written and spoken English
Desirable:
- Master’s degree in Accounting, Finance or Business Management or equivalent
- Experience with People Soft.
- Fluency in spoken and written Arabic or Kurdish.
Safeguarding Commitments
The organization has a zero-tolerance approach toward sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, and child abuse. We will carefully examine allegations and investigate, and take appropriate disciplinary action where this is needed, taking into consideration the rights and interests of the survivor, consistent with the organization’s survivor-centred approach. We make very clear that sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, and child abuse in any form, perpetrated by our staff, partners or other related personnel, towards anyone, will not be tolerated.
We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, handicap, disability, or marital status.
How to apply
All suitable candidates are required to submit their application through the link below:
https://forms.gle/LRtN8L2k4zJ1ga5k8
The closing date for application is 31st May 2026
At all stage of the recruitment and selection process, the organization will not request for any candidate to provide any financial details, money transfers or payments to be considered for any position or selected for a role.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted