Director of Operations

Description

• TechnoServe seeks a highly qualified Director of Operations to ensure efficient operations and compliance of the TechnoServe Mozambique platform. S/he will be responsible for overall management of finance as well as compliance with donor regulations, policies, and local law. The Finance and Compliance Director will be responsible for ensuring efficient finance operations and control
• Supervised by and reporting to the Country Director, The Director of Operations is a key member of the TechnoServe national management team and is responsible for the procurement, grants and sub awards, budgeting, procurement, internal control and administration of the country office and TechnoServe Mozambique projects and provides support to the administration, procurement and finance teams of the country projects ensuring the effective and complaint use of donor resources to meet project goals

Duties

Goals

• Develop a plan to improve internal control adherence for the country office
• Direct supervision of the country support staff in finance, procurement, and admin
• Setting a documented and working strategy to improve the support offered by the departments under their supervision
• Ensuring compliance to donor agreements, and management of sub awards
• Maintain procurement templates and ensure best practices are known and used throughout the program, keeping up to date with TechnoServe’s procurement policies
• Ensure all procurements are in line with TNS and Donor policies, through controls put in place to review procurement packs before they are finalized
• Review monthly and quarterly financial progress and status reports to the country Management and identity and report potential budget, admin and compliance risks
• Assure and control liquidity management of the country office and small projects
• Strengthen the finance teams at the country office and across the projects and help address systemic challenges and opportunities for the program as a member of the Senior Management Team
• Assure timely monthly closure of the financial administration of country office and projects
• Integrity of financial systems, data, policies and reports
• Production of accurate and timely financial reports for government, donors and TNS management
• Collaborate with the regional and global TechnoServe finance teams
• Under leadership of the Country Director, assure close collaboration of the Mozambique Finance, procurement and admin team with the global Finance and procurement team as well as the Mozambique Senior Management Team
• Propose and implement efficiency and effectiveness improvement measures for TechnoServe Mozambique and its projects
• Budget development and budget control
• Support new business initiatives with budgeting, and advice on organizational, admin and financial matters

Overall back-office leadership and management

• Manage and supervise the country office finance team, ensuring timely closure of the monthly financials
• Assure the development, introduction and compliance of country administrative and human resource management policies and procedures
• Establish and implement short- and long-range departmental goals, objectives, policies, and operating procedures
• Develop, implement & evaluate sound financial management system for the country platform and for each project
• Agree with the CD and SMT on the key strategic decisions (org structure, new investments in programs and platform, funding pipeline, etc) that require financial data then design Management Information (MI) tools to simply and clearly synthesize the data to focus the SMT on making good decisions
• Leads the overall accounting software maintenance and data integrity
• Develop a cadence of MI reviews with Finance, the SMT, and Southern Africa’s SMT to ensure Mozambique stays aligned with management, escalates challenges in advance, and achieve set goals
• Develop and utilize forecasting, and financial analyses to inform planning and operational decision-making
• Follow up the liquidity position of the country office cash position so that business cash flow adequately supports project activities
• Support Program Managers with annual and mid-year budgeting processes and budget monitoring
• Coordinate country office financial planning and budgeting functions
• Through effective working relationships with financial team and Regional Financial Analyst (RFA), ensure timely, accurate, and useful financial and management reporting for multiple audiences, including Country
• Director and Program Directors, and donors/funding sources
• Oversee preparation and communication of monthly and annual financial closes

Finance Administration

• Support project finance managers and directors to implementing grant tracking/monitoring system, monitoring grant expenditures
• Analyze business performance/results by budget, fund codes, task codes, location/branch offices, and other cost centers as required
• Oversee the overall financial services of the organization for efficient and effective service delivery
• Oversee appropriate internal controls, financial procedures, and accurate accounting for TechnoServe’s time, facilities, travel, and procurement expenses

Grants Management

• Organize project staff to conduct and document ongoing monitoring of grantee performance, capacity building that target grantee needs, to ensure proper and efficient use of donor resources
• Tailor existing tools to create a project in-kind grant covering all procedures from announcement and intake through analysis and final selection
• Draft requests for grant applications targeting promising small and medium-sized businesses
• Assist short-listed applicants to refine their application working in coordination with technical team colleagues to develop a technically sound approach to upgrading production capacity
• Analyze and evaluate grant submissions for technical and budget soundness and compliance with donor regulations, recommending award actions to the project team
• Prepare all grant-related donor approval requests and promptly respond to all grant-related donor requests
• Coordinate the issuance of grants under contract and maintain documentation through the development and upkeep of TechnoServe grants database and document management system
• Provide direct technical support to potential local partners
• Coordinate closely with the Project Directors/Managers and technical team to ensure grants fit within the overall program goals and objectives

Regulatory & Statutory Compliance

• Ensure compliance with organization’s and donor policies and procedures
• Ensure all taxation and legislative requirements of host government are complied
• Ensures that resources are allocated and used in compliance with contractual requirements, applicable regulations, and appropriate standards and procedures
• Oversee the review of financial reports, whenever applicable, and ensure that expenditures are in line with the budget and in compliance with donor regulations

Asset Management

• Ensure the effective management, monitoring, and tracking of TNS properties
• Ensure TNS properties for all possible risks

Budgeting, monitoring, and reporting

• Lead budgets development for new projects and liaison with Regional and HQ staff on Mozambique specific budgeting for new projects, including the donor requirements
• Create budget tracking tools for each project and have monthly check-in on burn rates, recoveries, spending and identify need for budget realignments
• Ensure that all budgets and expenses are carried out according to donor and TechnoServe’s policies and regulations
• Ensure timely submission of annual and mid-year budgeting processes, in coordination with program directors and program managers
• Lead budget realignments for existing projects in collaboration with project managers and based on the donor requirements
• Conduct creating monthly budget tracking reports and ensure spending is within budget and corrective action taken in case of unfavorable variances
• Manage the annual budget forecasting and midyear budget process for the program
• Provide information to the Program Managers and Country Director regarding burn rates and projected expenditure for budget and cash flow planning

Procurement

• Ensure that all program procurement activities are carried out according to donor and TechnoServe’s policies and regulations
• Review current policies and procedures related to logistics, procurement, vehicle repairs/maintenance and asset management to ensure compliance with donor and corporate requirements and to identify opportunities for improvement, reinforcing appropriate controls, streamlining process, clarifying accountability, making efficient use of resources
• In cooperation with the admin team, strengthen the inventory control management systems for TechnoServe in Mozambique, as appropriate
• Review and ensure quality on procurement processes
• Regularly train program staff on procurement policies and procedures
• Create and manage control system to ensure quality of processes and filing
• Ensure the Admin team has TNS vendor list is up-to-date and coded into NAV with all the relevant dimensions

People Management and Technical Support

• Oversee daily operations of the finance, procurement, administration department
• Complete periodic performance assessment of subordinates as per TNS performance evaluation calendar
• Provide technical support to subordinates and program staffs in financial, grant, and administrative managements
• Travel periodically to sub national offices and support teams with finance needs

Internal audit, Donor audits and Year End Audit

• Coordinate management requirements and response for external, internal and project audits
• Perform periodical internal audit and control of financial and procurement processes and data
• Preparing and maintaining an annual audit field for review by internal and external auditors
• Lead the selection and periodic evaluation of audit firms
• Liaise with External Audit on the implementation of audit recommendations
• Establish process of rigorous control of the platform at year end and perform internal year end audit
• Lead the implementation of Audit findings and sensitize staff on new processes and internal controls designed to implement the Audit recommendations

Requisites

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting and other related field plus 12-15 years’ work experience; (Master’s Degree or ACCA Preferred with 8-10 years’ work experience)
• Minimum of 8 years’ relevant experience in a senior, multi donor financial leadership position in development NGOs or at Development Cooperation missions
• Proven experience with and knowledge of donor (USG, EKN, SDC) compliance rules and regulations and requirements
• Proven experience with solving complex financial, administrative, and budgeting problems, which require use of creativity, ingenuity and innovation. Ensures solutions are consistent with organization objectives
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing
• Basic data entry, record maintenance skill, account balancing and reconciling skills
• Excellent working knowledge of MS Word and Excel as well as ability to use high level accounting software. (better to mention names of TNS systems)
• Ability to work in a team environment
• Preferred Qualifications: Advanced degree MBA, CPA or equivalent preferred
• Fluency in English with excellent oral and written communication skills required
• Proficiency in Portuguese or Spanish
• Detail orientation, including strong organizational, analytical, and quantitative skills
• Excellent computer skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other administrative applications
• Strong private sector market orientation, entrepreneurial and innovative thinker

Notes

• Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted
• Supervisory Responsibilities: Supervise at least 5 mid- and senior-level staff. Experience working with multi-disciplinary teams desired
• Travel: Spend approximately 20% of the time for TechnoServe project office visits