Senior Officer at International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies

Background

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with 192 member National Societies. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, our work is guided by seven fundamental principles; humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality.

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 192-member National Societies. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” The IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises. The IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of the IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. The IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The Headquarters are organized into three main Divisions: (i) National Society Development and Operations Coordination; (ii) Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization; and (iii) Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services. The IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The IFRC also has country cluster delegation and country delegations throughout the world. Together, the Geneva Headquarters and the field structure (regional, cluster and country) comprise the IFRC Secretariat. The Finance and Administration department sits within the Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services Division and is responsible for managing the overall budgeting, accounting, treasury, assets, financial reporting and financial services operations of the Secretariat including managing internal controls, preparing statutory accounts in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, safeguarding the assets of the IFRC to minimize risk of financial loss; and developing and maintaining costing systems and reporting tools to provide high-quality financial information and analysis that supports management decision-making. The Finance and Administration Department’s role includes providing advice and support on financial matters including financial policies and procedures to other business units at the Secretariat Headquarters in Geneva and Region and Country offices strategically located around the world. The Finance and Administration department comprises multiple units, one of which is Finance Processes and Systems unit that has overall responsibility for support, maintenance and development of the Finance Processes and Systems.

Job Purpose

Reporting to Manager, Finance Processes and Systems, the Senior Officer, Finance Processes manages current Finance processes and re-designs and adapts them to be used with the upcoming ERP system to support:

Risk management and internal controls
Budgeting
Financial management and controllership
Analysis
Financial reporting

Job Duties and Responsibilities

I. Finance Processes and Systems

Coordinate the development of the finance systems roadmap in consultation with departmental and other internal stakeholders ensuring prioritization of financial systems and processes in-line with stakeholder needs.
Ensure the development and application of standards, tools, procedures and practices that will result in a stable and effective systems environment.
Design, Implement and monitor systems process flow for interfaces of data from and into the financial systems.
Carry out and assist the finance team with month- and year-end processing of financial data, with the need to work flexibly to achieve this.
Provide support for key finance processes including full management and maintenance of Pledge related processes, Income Deferrals, Program and Services Support Recovery charges, Reporting Fees, In-kind Donations, Payroll etc.
Provide analytical information to auditors.
Promote acceptance and ‘buy-in’ at all stages and ensure smooth implementation of necessary changes to internal business practices, procedures, processes, and systems.
In cooperation with the Manager, Finance Processes and Systems, liaise with the Finance team on all aspects of the financial systems, assisting with ad hoc and planned tasks as required.

II. Team Management and Training

Provide/coordinate training on financial systems and processes matters for various stakeholders as requested/required.
Develop training materials for Finance function in Headquarters, regional and country level for eventual migration from current suite of systems to ERP
Provide remote technical support to finance managers, in regional and country offices.
Engage consultants and oversee their work as required

III. Financial systems support

Provide expertise in the area of finance systems functionality.
Design ERP configuration in line with user and business requirements, ensuring standardisation across Geneva and delegations.

IV. Project Management

Represent the finance user requirements for purposes of IFRC cross-functional information technology projects.
Provide support on use of common enterprise information models and promote their use and enhancement by new projects
Participate in the design and development of related processes and systems in other departments like Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, Programs and Operations, Information Systems in order to support finance and administration activities.

V. Communication

Communicate and promote systems and processes strategy through presentations, meetings, workshops and conferences within the department, the division, within the Movement, with other humanitarian organisations, to donors, with academia and to all external stakeholders and partners
In cooperation with the Manager, Finance Processes and Systems, manage and promote the integration of Finance Processes and Systems into other Federation’s structures and synchronizes activities through cross-functional cooperation
Negotiate and build consensus within Finance and other departments in order to successfully deliver the systems and projects to support the strategy

Education

University degree in finance, accounting or IT related

Degree and/or post graduate qualification in project management or relevant project experience – Preferred

Experience

Minimum 5 years of professional experience in related fields – Required
Experience in designing and implementing large and complex finance processes and systems – Required
Experience in management and configuration of finance applications and related interfaces. – Required
Experience in project management and process improvement projects – Preferred
Experience in working in a multinational, multicultural environment, either in a major commercial company or for an international organisation – Required
Experience working in the RCRC movement – Preferred
Experience in ERP systems and process design; Ability to translate process life cycle requirements into systems roadmap and vice versa – Required
Experience in developing KPIs; monitoring and reporting on KPIs through reporting tools – Required
Experience in project management; ability to evaluate project deliverables and qualify results – Required
Experience in working with teams; ability to communicate and promote teamwork, securing buy-in of system functionality within departments – Required

Knowledge, skills and languages

In-depth understanding of financial systems and processes *- **Required***
Ability to manage and deliver significant IT projects in a challenging environment. – Required
Drive for change and improvement and ability to deliver strategies in a challenging environment – Required
Technical skills; ability to comprehend interfacing, data modelling and analysis – Required
Service mind-set together with effective communication and interpersonal skills – Required
Excellent communication skills and ability to provide authoritative advice – Required
Knowledge of IFRC Secretariat financial systems and software (Unit4 Financials; SAP Business Objects and Apple) or future Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operation – Preferred
Knowledge of Microsoft Office, PowerBI, T-SQL queries – Preferred
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills – Required