Finance Manager At Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DND*i*) is an international, not-for-profit research and development (R&D) organization that develops and delivers new treatments for neglected diseases that affect millions of the world’s poorest people.

Together with more than 200 public research and industry allies worldwide, we use the power of partnership, innovation, open science, and advocacy to find solutions to a great injustice: the lack of medicines for life-threatening diseases that disproportionately impact poor and marginalized people. Driven by collaboration, not competition, and by patients’ needs, not profits, we promote equitable access, foster inclusive and sustainable solutions, and advocate for a more effective global biomedical R&D system that meets the needs of neglected patients.

Since our inception, DND*i* has delivered nine new treatments for people with sleeping sickness, visceral leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, HIV, hepatitis C, and malaria that have saved millions of lives. We now aim to deliver an additional 15-18 new treatments by 2028 – addressing R&D gaps for neglected tropical diseases and viral infections, including new pandemic-prone diseases (such as COVID19) and climate-sensitive diseases (such as dengue) with a focus on the needs of patients in low- and middle-income countries.

With 250 employees of 37 nationalities located in nine offices on four continents, DND*i* is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion as essential parts of our culture and key drivers of our success. We encourage candidates of diverse profiles and backgrounds to apply.

Counting Brazil’s Fiocruz as a founding member and numerous collaborations with science and access leaders in Latin American region, DNDi established itself in Rio de Janeiro in 2004. An integral part of DNDi’s global network, DNDi Latin America nurtures R&D and access partnerships in the broad region eco-systems, including for Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, hepatitis C and dengue, while contributing to DNDi’s global strategy. It also undertakes advocacy in support of neglected patients and leads capacity-building projects through multi-country clinical research and drug discovery platforms, including the Chagas Clinical Research Platform and RedeLEISH and the Lead Optimization Latin America (LOLA).

Purpose of the position

The Finance manager is responsible for leading LATAM Budgets processes, grant management for projects in the region, financial records, reports, and any other financial process of LATAM entities, including accounting and bookkeeping of all current vouchers in Navision. The position is key in ensuring finance routine activities occur smoothly, accurately and on time in respect of DNDi’s policies, regulations, and local/regional laws.

As part of the global finance team, the person will engage in global projects and will also play a coordinating role in Internal control review (ICR) function.

Overall, the person is expected to act as the finance business partner for DNDi in the region, ensuring confidentiality in guaranteeing resources are spent adequately as well as respect of DNDi’s overall policies and the national/regional legislation.

Specific Job Responsibilities

1^st area – Budget

• Leads the process of the initial budget and its revisions for LATAM and NA offices and is responsible to conduct budget meetings for some projects outside the region.

• Responsible to lead Kick off and debriefing meetings to take place before and after budget exercises with budget managers in the region.

• Alerts project managers on budget over or underspending trend and/or high unforeseen expenses.

• Ensures a bi-monthly dashboard is prepared and communicated to relevant stakeholders.

2^nd area – Accountancy and Treasury

• Validates all transactions in Navision on a weekly basis, respecting projects, and donor codes, and proper costs’ repartition in budgets. Also ensures proper documentations are storage in SharePoint latest the 15th of the subsequent month.

• Together with the Procurement Manager and other related staff, ensures a good relationship with vendors aiming on best suitable solutions for DNDi in terms of financial conditions (payment delay, invoicing regularity, payment method, etc.);

• Ensure all payments are done according to DNDi’s financial policies and on due dates.

• Validates payments on banking system respecting LATAM signature policy thresholds.

• Approves Cash requests and Grant award calculations, which should be revised after budget exercises.

• Ensure partners financial reports are submitted according to contracts.

3^rd area – Year-end and midyear closing

• Ensure year end and midyear closing are properly done in respect of HQ deadline.

• Leads within the Finance LATAM team the collection of the in-kind contributions from relevant stakeholders (working close with project teams to respect deadlines).

• Ensure all partners´ financial reports are submitted on time.

• Ensure statutory audit reports are submitted on time.

• Support Senior Accounting Officer during statutory audit planning and fieldwork.

*4^th area – Internal Control

• Coordinates the process of standardization, from a finance and accounting perspective of DNDi Latin America, through consistent deliveries, aligned with the organization’s strategies and action plans, with the objective of creating instruments to ensure compliance with the policies and guidelines of the Organization.

• Actively contributes to ICS design and implementation in LATAM.

• Contributes to internal controls review (ICR) exercises on an annual basis.

Additional Responsibilities

Fundraising

· Responsible for creating and monitoring donors and partners budgets for projects in the Region.

· Responsible for the grant management related to projects in the region (from LOI to Donor reporting)

· Review donor contracts before signature to clearly understand financial management requirements and disseminate these to the relevant teams (R&D and non-R&D) including external partners involved in the grants.

· Provide excellent financial monitoring and advisory support to the DNDi program teams and partners to appropriately manage the grant funding over its life cycle.

· Prepare intermediate and final financial reports for donor submissions in collaboration with R&D and External Relations teams, ensuring compliance with the grant’s legal, procurement and financial requirements.

Team Management

· Support the Senior Accounting Officer in his/her roles & responsibilities.

· Support Operations intern in his/her roles & responsibilities related to finance.

Reporting line

• The Finance Manager reports to the Senior Regional Operations Manager

• Working closely with the finance team in HQ and NY Office.

Interactions

• Works with finance team in the operations department and Budget managers in the Region and HQ

• The incumbent has a representational role through the promotion of programs and maintain productive relationships by projecting the image of a credible partner.

Job Requirements

Skills and Attributes

· Strong ability to use initiative, prioritize, multi-task, and work well under pressure to meet deadlines.

· Clear and systematic thinking that demonstrates good judgment and problem-solving competencies.

· Strong communication skills in multicultural, multi-lingual environments

· Strong ability to work effectively as part of a multicultural team.

· Well organized and structured

· Strong analytical skills

· Strong ability to provide high level support in project/program delivery.

· Strong ability to manage medium/large projects with budget management.

· Strategic thinking and leadership abilities

· Strong management, negotiation, and advocacy skills