Regional Business Manager at Wildlife Conservation Society

Division: Global Conservation Program, Sudano-Sahel Region

Reports to: Sudano-Sahel Regional Director

Location: Nairobi (Kenya)

Position Type: Fulltime

Organization Background:

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a US non-profit, tax-exempt, private organization established in 1895 that saves wildlife and wild places by understanding critical issues, crafting science-based solutions, and taking conservation actions that benefit nature and humanity. With more than a century of experience, long-term commitments in dozens of landscapes, presence in more than 60 nations, and experience helping to establish over 150 protected areas across the globe, WCS has amassed the biological knowledge, cultural understanding and partnerships to ensure that vibrant, wild places and wildlife thrive alongside local communities. Working with local communities and organizations, that knowledge is applied to address species, habitat and ecosystem management issues critical to improving the quality of life of poor rural people whose livelihoods depend on the direct utilization of natural resources.

The Sudano-Sahel Region presents unparalleled opportunities for WCS to play a direct role in saving some of the last remaining intact wildernesses on the planet and to contribute significantly to the security of people and wildlife. The savannas, forests, and wetlands of the region support key populations of endangered elephant, northern giraffe, lion, eland, chimpanzee, gorilla, bongo, and the second largest antelope migration on the planet. Hundreds of bird species occur in the area, including the shoebill and the crowned crane. Communities also depend on the land for their livelihoods through pastoralism, agriculture, fishing, and hunting. WCS has a significant presence in the Sudano-Sahel region, with a strong conservation history and proven success in protected area management. WCS currently has conservation initiatives in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. We work actively to support protected area management and wildlife law enforcement, local livelihoods, develop conservation-security partnerships, enhance anti-trafficking activities, and to implement our policy and scientific programs.

Job Summary:

The Sudano-Sahel Regional Business Manager oversees the budget and finances of the Sudano-Sahel region, and provides direct support to the Regional Director in managing grants, fund raising and proposal development, and the operations of the Regional Program. The Regional Business Manager will continually assess and document the financial health of the Regional Program, develop both short and long-term financial plans for the Region, and work with the Regional Director, the Regional Grants Manager, Regional Financial Controller, Regional Program Manager, and associated Country Program staff on grant management, operational management, and fundraising. S/he will regularly provide reports for management in the region and headquarters in New York.

The Sudano-Sahel Business Manger reports to the Regional Director of the WCS Sudano-Sahel Region. This position is based out of the WCS office in Nairobi, Kenya and involve regular travel to WCS country offices within the region (including Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia) (approximately 30% of time traveling).

Primary Responsibilities:

• Fundraising: Work with the Regional Director and Country Directors in the region to design, develop and implement the fundraising strategy for the region, including liaising with donors.
• Proposal Review and Development: Work with the Regional Director and in coordination with NY-based departments and country programs, to review and approve all proposal budgets from the countries within the Region and develop proposals. Ensure budgets are covering costs and are contributing to strengthening the Regional Program and delivering effective conservation impact. Ensure budgets are in line with long-term financial plans for the Region. Ensure budgets are developed in compliance with WCS and donor policies and undergo appropriate reviews.
• Grant Management: Ensure regional grant administration is sound and on track. Supervise the review of donor agreements and contracts, in coordination with the grant manager, the program teams and other support departments including Risk Management, and Office of the General Counsel. Provide support in the preparation of work plans, procurement, and review subgrants, subcontracts, and service agreements. Coordinate preparation of reports for regional grants. Supervise the review of grant reports prepared by Country Programs and the grant manager. Support Country Programs in understanding WCS grant management processes, systems, tools and donor compliance requirements. Provide support to the Regional Controller during audits in coordination with the grant manager.
• Personnel Management: Work with the Regional Director to manage regional staffing supporting the recruitment of senior staff. Analyze capacity-building needs and provide capacity building and training to country and regional financial staff on financial management, budgeting, grant management and fundraising as required.
• Financial Management and Planning: Ensure Regional Director has the financial information required to manage and fundraise for the Region. Provide quarterly key performance indicators and reports for each country and all grants. Oversee the budget follow up in each country. Work with Regional Controller to resolve any issues with finances in the Region. Annual presentation of short and long-term financial plans for each country with detailed variance analysis on prior plans. Report regularly to headquarters in NY about the financial state of the Region.
• Budget Leadership: Manage and maintain the Regional Program budget. Lead the annual WCS budgeting process for all countries in the Region. Responsible for working with country teams to understand and report on full program costs. Responsible to manage the region’s unrestricted allocations in consultation with the Regional Director. Serve as the budget lead for regional grants; Review country budget adjustments, support the countries in providing budget to actual reports, and ensure regular and timely budget updates.
• Perform other duties as determined by the Regional Director.

Position Requirements:

The person in this position must have strong interpersonal skills and display evidence of good leadership, business partnering, professional judgment, and influencing skills. S/He must have excellent written and oral communication skills (both French and English fluency) and be comfortable participating both as an effective individual contributor and as a leader and listener in group settings. S/He must have significant attention to detail, be well organized, self-motivated, resourceful, effective and efficient at coordinating multiple resources to get things done; can work on multiple tasks at multiple levels and switch between them; can foresee and plan around obstacles; and available and happy to work unusual hours at times to meet deadlines and urgent needs of the Region.

• Proven financial management and fundraising experience in an international regional organization (5+ years) including staff management, and systems / process development experience.
• Professional experience working and living in Africa (5+ years).
• Experience with grants design, management, budgeting, and grant reporting in a multi-funder environment and involving a large funding portfolio required (i.e., experience with US government funding, EU, KfW, UN, GEF, private foundations and individuals, and others).
• Ability to work on multiple tasks at multiple levels in a fast-paced environment is a necessity.
• Bachelor degree required, Masters in appropriate field (including MBA) preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to work with diverse, multi-cultural teams. Must be solution-oriented, and have strong problem solving and analytical skills and the ability to creatively contribute to thinking on regional issues.
• Excellent computer and systems skills required with respect to MS Office applications (advanced skills in MS Excel required) and major financial accounting and reporting software (SAP or equivalent).
• Self-motivated and organized with attention to detail.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with attention to coaching and mentorship and professional development of finance staff.
• Ability to travel approximately 30% of the time.
• Ability to work after normal business hours as necessary, in order to meet deadlines and / or communicate across various time zones.