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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