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Candidate Brief

Senior Contract & Finance Officer

July 2020

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Dear Candidate,

Thank you for the interest you have shown in the role of Senior Contract and Finance

Officer, within our Programme Management Team at CARE International UK.

The Programme Management Team is at the very centre of CIUK’s new strategy for the

delivery of high quality and impactful programming within CARE. The team shapes and

delivers our institutional programme portfolio in line with the CARE International 2020

Programme Strategy and ensures that our programmes save lives and bring lasting change

through consistent and high standards of programme design, quality delivery and learning.

The Global Programmes and Strategic Partnerships team is currently managing a portfolio of

projects funded by institutional donors (DFID, EC and JOAC) with a value of over £20 million.

The Senior Contract and Finance Officer will provide integrated contract, financial and

compliance support on a portfolio of CARE UK funded contracts. The post holder will support

the end to end programme management cycle, from pre-positioning with partners, proposal

and commercial bid development, monitoring and interim reporting, through to final donor

reporting and project close-out.

The Senior Contract and Finance Officer will lead the financial aspects of design and

management of commercial contracts and complex grants – including managing finances in

consortia. We have a dynamic team with diverse expertise and knowledge. You will be

closely working with Programme management coordinators, funding coordinators,

accountants and Technical advisors.

We look forward to receiving your application.

Srikaran Srivivekanandarajah

Head of Global Programme and Strategic Partnerships team

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Background Information

CARE International – a global organisation fighting global poverty

CARE International operates in more than 90 countries around the world. We run poverty-

fighting programmes and deliver life-saving aid in 79 developing countries. This work is

supported by global policy and advocacy work, fundraising, and programme management

provided by CARE offices in countries like the USA and the UK.

CARE International UK

CARE International UK founded in 1985, and we are one of 14 full members of the global

CARE International federation. We employ 120 staff and generate around £50 million a year

for CARE’s poverty-fighting work.

As well as supporting CARE’s humanitarian and development work around the world, CARE

International UK provides specific expertise in the areas of women’s economic

empowerment, inclusive governance, humanitarian response (particularly shelter, and

gender in emergencies), and engaging with the private sector. We also play a key role in

CARE’s work engaging with and influencing policy-makers and decision-makers to tackle the

structural causes of poverty and social injustice.

CARE’s programmes are implemented through CARE country offices which are supported

with technical assistance and programme management by CARE members (including CARE

International UK). We work in partnership with local organisations to deliver many of our

programmes.

CARE is non-religious and non-political, allowing us to deliver humanitarian and

development assistance to anyone in need regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, age,

religion, political view or sexual orientation.

You can find out more about our current strategy here

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Background to the job/the team

Programme Management Team

Team Mission

The Programme Management Team is at the very centre of CIUK’s new strategy as it is the

engine room for our programme impact and a centre of excellence within CARE for

programme quality. This team shapes and delivers our institutional programme portfolio in

line with the CARE International 2020 Programme Strategy and ensures that our

programmes bring lasting change through consistent and high standards of programme

quality.

The team is responsible for delivering on the full promise of the Global Programme Strategy by building a portfolio that aligns with the Global Outcome Areas and which embeds the agreed approach around tackling gender inequalities and strengthening women’s voice; promoting inclusive governance and increasing resilience across our programmes. The team’s output underpins CIUK’s ability to multiply impact by providing the necessary basis for evidence, learning and scale up. The team leads CIUK’s relationships with Country Offices and Regions and develops close partnerships to help us achieve long term and effective programming across the humanitarian and development arena. It brings together both humanitarian and development programming around programme management, bidding and finance/compliance activities in one focused team and this ‘end to end’ approach will bring increased knowledge, efficiency and ultimately impact. Through this consistent approach to programme quality, the team ensures that CARE provides and is recognised by donors for offering excellent value for money and real impact for its programme participants.

The Programme Management team is made up of three sub-teams who will all work closely together to deliver impact and excellence across our development and humanitarian programme portfolio. Within each sub-team, the head of the team will manage a highly skilled team of programme management, contracts & finance, and fundraising staff who will work together to achieve shared goals to build our portfolio, effectiveness, innovation and impact. Specialist skills will be respected and treated equally, and there will be clear lines of responsibilities, but a shared overall strategy and approach will be a fundamental ingredient in delivering increased impact and effectiveness.

Key Team Responsibilities

• Lead the shaping, development and delivery of CIUK’s Programme Portfolio so that

we meet our agreed strategic plan objectives.

• Deliver programme quality consistently throughout our portfolio and embed the

Program Strategy approach across our output so that we are generating learning and

multiplying impact opportunities as standard.

• Manage risk and finances in our programme operations so that we are efficient and

effective.

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Job Description

1. Overview

Post Title:

Senior Contracts and Finance Officer

Directorate:

Programme and Policy

Team:

Programme Management

Responsible to:

Head of Global programmes and Strategic

Partnerships

Accountable to:

Director Programme Quality and

safeguarding

Base Location: London

CARE International UK reserves the right in consultation with employees to change base

location according to organisational and departmental requirements.

Line Management Responsibility: None

Budgetary Responsibility: N/A

Key External and Internal Contacts and Relationships

External Contacts Internal Contacts

• Programme Managers and other

operational contacts at our key

donors - DfID, EU, ECHO, Comic

Relief, Big Lottery Fund and DEC.

• Partners including other INGOs,

local

NGOs, Academic Institutions, Private

Sector Fund Managers and

Consultants.

• Dept. Humanitarian team leader –

contracts and finance.

• Key Country Offices and Regional staff.

• Strategic Funding & Partnerships team.

• Shared Service Centre and Finance team.

• WEE; Governance; Gender in

Emergencies/Shelter teams plus other

key outcome/approach teams across the

CARE Confederation.

• Senior Management team.

• Leadership team.

• Programme management leads

• Finance department

• Private sector engagement team

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The above list is provided for guidance only and is not an exhaustive list of all the contacts

with whom the post holder may be required to liaise.

2. Job Summary

To provide integrated contract, financial and compliance support on a portfolio of CARE UK funded contracts. The post holder will support the end to end programme management cycle, from pre-positioning with partners, funding proposals, monitoring and interim reporting, through to final donor reporting and project close-out.

At this grade senior contract and finance officers are expected to be able to lead the financial aspects of design and management of commercial contracts and complex grants – including managing finances in consortia, supporting the creation of value for money assessments, working with the requirements of open book accounting, working with funding coordinators and others to design payment by results systems that ensure that we win work, but don’t make losses and providing advice and ensuring compliance against complex grant and commercial contracts.

As a member of a Centre of Excellence for UK donors, provide knowledge and expertise on key European donors, work with Contract Management colleagues to develop tools, templates and guidance, and deliver training/capacity building. SCFOs are required to be proactive in their own learning and also provide support to CFOs to support their continued professional development.

This role is also a key interface with CIUK Finance team, providing key project information to support UK financial processes, monitoring against financial indicators and providing financial monitoring reports to the programme coordinators.

Key requirements include providing support, guidance & advice on:

• Pre-qualification information for proposals and bids

Donor rules & compliance

• Key donor requirements including Value for Money, International Aid Transparency

Initiative and a range of contractual and billing mechanisms

As the Senior Contracts & Finance resource in the team, provide support and mentoring to Contracts & Finance Officers; lead the development of process improvements and new tools with Contract Finance & Compliance Manager, and develop guidance and training to support roll out; manage a portfolio of more complex, higher risk or large scale projects (including Commercial Contracts, DFID fund-managed grants, contracts with specific payment mechanisms such as PBR and milestone payments, funding from new donors), and act as a primary interface with finance on cross-departmental matters (processes for budgeting, reporting, statutory and donor audits)

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The portfolio of contracts assigned to the Senior Contract Finance Officer will be based on

the sub-team the position is located within (Development or Humanitarian) and will be

cover all the geographical regions. Flexibility is required to take on other contracts to

balance workloads across the two Senior Contracts & Finance Officer positions.

3. Specific Areas of Responsibility

Proposal Management and Contract Start-Up

• Proposals & Bids: provide analysis for Go/No-Go decision-making process;

consortium teaming agreements; advise on budget approaches and support the

development of proposal budgets compliant with donor requirements

• Commercial Contracts: Lead and advise on all contractual, compliance and finance

issues of complex grants and commercial contracts – design and management. To

include but not limited to; o Set up and management of consortiums o Payment by

results systems – not least the risk associated with this. o Value for money

frameworks.

Cashflow and borrowing.

• Cost Recovery: Ensure that all we are charging competitively but also cost recovering

for country offices, technical teams and CIUK.

• Contracting & sub-contracting: prepare IPIAs, advice on consortium/partner

agreements, ensuring compliance with UK donor requirements and management of

risk; develop template agreements compliant with new donor requirements and

provide training.

Grant Management and Compliance: Risk Management

• Review of contractual performance of projects with Project Lead, proactively

working to address financial/compliance issues

Compliance review of all donor financial reports, including proactively flagging up

issues that relate to financial and compliance related risk; expenditure rate, cost

recovery, PBR, V4M, in our or our partners parts of programmes (where we are the

lead).

• Support project close-out, including reconciliation of project closing financial

position.

• Prepare for and respond to queries arising from audits of projects (donor audits and

CIUK internal and annual audits)

• Lead on UK-based donor audits, coordinating with partners and liaising directly with

the appointed auditors

• Work closely with the project coordinator on issues of payment by results.

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Cashflow:

• Proactively think through cashflow and borrowing implications of new bids.

• Manage the process for Donor Call Forwards (drawdown of funds from donors)

• Verify requests for transfers to country offices, ensuring sufficient cashflow for

projects, including CIUK pre-financing

Internal monitoring, data management and record-keeping:

• Provide the required inputs on restricted grants and commercial contracts for the

CIUK annual budgeting process

• Spend Rate monitoring & re-forecasting

• Manage updates to Programme Information Database (PIDB) on the signature of

contracts and amendments; update Excel trackers as required

• Set up grant in the financial system (PeopleSoft) and maintain a mapping between

Country Office and UK coding structures

• Record keeping for audit purposes: ensure all key documents are centrally filed

(proposals, contracts, sub-contracts etc.)

• Monitor trends in value for money - over time and across projects. Drive forward

action to lower key cost drivers and improve performance on value for money

targets.

Capacity support

• Provide support to Contracts & Finance Officers as required.

• Develop guidance and templates for new CIUK donors, and develop training

materials for dissemination

• Provide remote support to CARE country programmes on financial proposal

development, donor compliance and reporting, in particular in relation to new donor

trends, new contractual and funding mechanisms

Travel to CARE Country Offices to provide capacity support and training, and at short

notice for specific funding proposals, financial reports or audits.

Be an effective team member

• Contribute towards the development of the team’s annual operating plan and

develop an annual individual operating plan.

• Contribute to annual budget development and regular reviews of team income and

expenditure levels.

• Contribute to team and departmental meetings, ensuring that information on

specific funding opportunities are proactively shared, and opportunities for greater

CIUK engagement are known.

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• Line manage / proactively support CFOs. Support and provide cover for fellow team

members as and when needed.

• Commitment to own and direct reports continued professional development.

• Promote, support and follow the CARE International Protection from Sexual

Exploitation and Abuse and Child Protection policy (PSEA) with direct reports, the

team and in day to day practice.

Targets

• CIUK compliance monitoring: sub-contract issuance and fund transfers

1. Any additional duties as may be reasonably required by a senior manager within the

scope of the above.

2. This document forms part of the post holder’s contractual terms and conditions of

employment.

3. The document is not an exhaustive list of core elements of the role. This job

description is a working document and may be amended from time to time by mutual

agreement.

Data Protection

The post holder hereby agrees not to disclose any confidential or sensitive information to a

third party or outside organisation except where required to do so by law.

Health and Safety

The post holder agrees to abide by CIUK’s Health and Safety principles and code of conduct

and to take all reasonable steps to ensure both their own safety in the work place as well as

that of their colleagues.

Equal Opportunities

The post holder agrees to promote and uphold the principles of equal opportunities by

CIUK’s Equal Opportunities Statement and all related policies.

Diversity and Inclusion Statement The post holder agrees to promote and uphold the principles of diversity and inclusion

and treat everyone fairly and value the opinions of others in accordance with CIUK’s

values and all related policies. CARE International is committed to creating a diverse

environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants

will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion,

gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics,

disability or age status.

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Safeguarding

CARE International UK has a zero-tolerance approach to any harm to, or exploitation of, a

vulnerable adult or a child by any of our staff, representatives or partners. Recruitment to all

jobs in CARE International UK includes, in particular, criminal record checks and the

collection of relevant references. Safeguarding our beneficiaries is our top priority in

everything we do.

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4. Person Specification

Essential Desirable

Education /

Qualifications

• Degree level / finance qualification or equivalent

• Extensive experience of finance and compliance issues

on complex grants and commercial contracts with DFID

and EC.

Skills / Abilities • Excellent financial analysis and monitoring skills; data

analysis and ability to deal with high volume and

complex data, and range of donor budget/reporting

formats; excellent attention to detail

• Excellent budget analysis and monitoring skills, able to

develop budgets to meet new donor requirements;

ability to draft budget notes and prepare financial

proposal narratives for donors

• Experience in cash flow and exchange rate

management, and understanding of tax regulations

relevant to grant management in an international

setting

• Highly competent in Excel, strong understanding of

databases and financial systems

• Team working – able to build strong working

relationships (including remotely) and proactively

contribute to joint objectives

• Mentoring and developing others: ability to mentor

colleagues, experience of capacity building and

developing new tools and materials for training

• Strong communication skills in English, both oral and

written; able to communicate financial and contractual

issues to non-expert colleagues

• Managing Self: Able to work independently, and to

prioritise, meet deadlines and maximise efficiency. Able

to manage a portfolio of complex contracts

Experience of

Oracle PeopleSoft

Experience /

Understanding

• Strong understanding of UK/European donor financial

compliance and contracts requirements

• Strong understanding of new donor funding

mechanisms, inclusing Commercial Contracts, results-

based programming, working through private sector

fund managers.

• Proven experience of;

1. CFO working in the context of consortia

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2. Designing and managing payment by results

systems

3. Cashflow and borrowing

4. Value for money frameworks

Other Commitment to continued professional development for

themselves, staff they manage and staff around them.

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CARE UK competency framework is based on four core behaviours: Responsible Stewardship,

Working with Others, Professional Accountability and Cultivate learning. Whilst every role

might have a different focus in relation to each competency, every employee is expected to

provide evidence against the four indicators for each competency.

The indicators for each competency are as follows:

RESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP

Align performance with CARE strategic goals / Lead with respect /

Take an active approach / Use resources effectively

WORKING WITH OTHERS

Communicate effectively / Express appreciation and empathy /

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Foster internal and external relationships / Provide and receive constructive criticism

PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Commit to equality and diversity / Take responsibility for own words and actions /

Understand our sector / Uphold professional standards

CULTIVATE LEARNING

Be aware of one’s knowledge and skills / Be open to different perspectives and approaches /

Manage uncertainty / Reflect to improve

The competency framework provides a selection of competencies that are important for

performance at CARE UK. All roles, regardless of their seniority, within CARE UK should have

all core 4 competencies identified as essential for effective performance in the job. Having

core competencies defined and applied across all levels allow to ensure a consistent and

transparent standard across the organisation.

We use competencies for recruitment, which ensures that any selection process is focused

on the behaviours that are important for success in that role and organisation overall.

Competencies form the basis of a number of selection tools, for example, competency based

interviews and in-tray exercises. Basing our selection on our competency framework enables

us to engage in objective and standardised selection across the organisation.

A competency based interview is a type of interview used to evaluate a candidate’s

behavioural competence to do a particular role. Each question is targeted at obtaining

behavioural evidence for a specific competency. The candidate is asked to provide concrete

examples, from their previous experience, of when they demonstrated the behaviour in

question. A scoring interview form - is used to assess the candidate’s response for that

competency, enabling the selection panel to apply consistent benchmarks when conducting

interviews.

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WORKED IN THE CIVIL SERVICE?

Are you/have you been a member of the Civil Service in the past two years?

Before accepting any new appointment or employment, whether in the UK or overseas,

which you intend to take up after you have left the Civil Service, you must consider

whether an application under the Business Appointment Rules for Civil Servants is

required.

If it is required, you should not accept or announce a new appointment or offer of

employment before it has been approved. The model application form for this purpose is

available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/492789/C ivil_Servants_Business_Appointments_Application_Form_-_2016.doc and on civil service departmental intranets. This form should be used for all applications under these Rules. Retrospective applications will not normally be accepted.

Please Note:

In accordance with the DfID Code, all applicants shortlisted for recruitment to commercial

contracts will be asked to declare any conflict of interest.

For further information please visit

www.careinternational.org.uk

Twitter: @careintuk