Deputy Director Finance – Readvertised at IRC | July 2024

Background/IRC Summary:

Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to serious humanitarian crises around the world and helps victims to survive and rebuild their lives.

For over half a century, Tanzania has been a country of asylum, hosting one of the largest refugee populations in Africa.  Currently, the country hosts approximately 287,903 Burundian and Congolese refugees, many of whom arrived in 2015 as the crisis in Burundi increased. To date, refugees continue to co-exist with the host communities in Kigoma region expressing multiple reasons and needs. Within this context, IRC provides protection and basic assistance in the areas of Safety (comprises of Protection and Rule of Law, Women Protection and Empowerment, and Child Protection), Health (mental health and psychosocial support services and reproductive health), and Education.

Job Overview: 

As a key member of the Senior Management Team (SMT), the Deputy Director Finance (DDF) provides financial leadership and management necessary to ensure that the Tanzania Country Program has the appropriate financial infrastructure and systems in place to support the strategic vision and mission of the organization.

They will play an active role in the formulation of strategic and operational plans for the country programs, taking ownership of ensuring and monitoring the delivery of financial plans through detailed financial analysis. The DDF holds overall responsibility for establishing policies and leading the financial and accounting aspects of the Tanzania Country Program. The focus will be on implementing financial management policies, practices, and systems that align with local laws, US regulations, and donor requirements, while also facilitating the efficient execution of country programs. They will collaborate closely with the Deputy Directors of Programs and Operations to ensure acceptable levels of performance of cross departmental business policies and procedures and collectively troubleshoot and develop solutions. 

They will act as the principal finance business partner to the SMT and Country Director (CD), Regional staff as well as conforming to IRCs financial control environment and CFO standards and objectives.

Based in Dar es Salaam, the DDF will have dual reporting to the Country Director and the Regional Finance Director, including straight-line accountability to the Global Chief Finance Officer.

Major Responsibilities

Strategic Planning & Analysis

• Provides financial information which supports the CD, and SMT in making business decisions in line with IRC, Regional & Country Program strategies.
• Provides strategic analysis on the overall financial health of the country program to the Country Director and SMT.
• Contributes actively and offers feedback in the development of Country Programs Strategic Annual Plan.

Controllership

• Ensures compliance with IRC and donor policies and procedures within the country, leading all aspects of in-country practices.
• Develops in-country finance procedures to complement global policies as needed.
• Reviews financial activities closely and shares insights with the Country Director on the financial performance of the office, issues with internal controls, or financial management.
• Ensures timely completion of monthly financial reports.
• Ensure timely implementation of internal and external audit recommendations related to the Finance Department.
• Manages activities and schedules of the finance department to meet the financial reporting requirements and timeframes set by headquarters and donors.
• Identifies reporting format requirements and develops formats to facilitate the management of country operations and grant expenditures.
• Lead the preparation and approval of all donors’ financial reports, ensuring compliance with accounting, legal, and contractual requirements, with review by the CD and Regional Controller prior to submission.
• Conducts regular internal control reviews of operations in the country.

• Facilitates external, internal, donor, or government audits.
• Oversees the protection of the country’s assets (cash, inventory, fixed assets) through the enforcement of internal control policies and procedures.
• Stays updated on local government requirements related to finance, ensuring adherence to
• tax and other legal obligations.
• Serves as the primary liaison with IRC HQ on all finance, accounting, grant budget management, and cash management.

Treasury

• Provides supervision for all country program bank relationships and activities related to bank accounts, including the negotiation of fees, interest rates, and currency exchange rates.
• Oversees the review and approval of all monthly bank account and cash reconciliations.
• Maintains up-to-date and accurate cash forecasts to effectively plan for future spending, including commitments that entail future spending obligations for the IRC.
• Ensures the maintenance of appropriate balances to support grant implementation and regular withdrawal of cash held at headquarters.
• Ensures the development and implementation of a plan to minimize the country’s foreign exchange exposure to currency gains and losses.
• Supervises the collection of contractual and other receivables.

Budget/Forecast

• Oversees the preparation and revision of grant proposal budgets and finance reports; supports programs by offering guidance on costing and contributing to the creation of budgets for submission.
• Prepares and maintains the country’s annual operating budget, ensuring adequate coverage for in-country operational expenses and regularly updating the budget.
• Presents and facilitates the review of actual budget expenditures with the CD and program managers.

People Management

• Establishes a matrix outlining roles and responsibilities within the finance department, ensuring that staff job descriptions are current. Provide guidance and supervision to the finance team to discuss job expectations, set objectives, and provide appropriate and timely feedback on the performance of direct reports.
• Recruits and retains qualified personnel capable of carrying out finance-related tasks.
• Ensures that comprehensive and meaningful performance reviews are completed annually and implements career planning and development plans for all finance staff.
• Designs and implements a training program specifically tailored to improve the skills of the country’s finance staff.
• Provides oversight for finance training and technical support to non-finance staff, aiming to improve their proficiencies in accounting, reporting, and internal control.
• Create an inclusive team climate focused on the achievement of team and individual results, and that emphasizes the importance of mutual respect, trust, listening, ownership, learning, productivity, accountability, and openness.
• Adhere to IRC’s performance management system, providing regular, timely, and thoughtful coaching, feedback, performance assessment, and professional development for all direct reports, while making sure that they do the same for their direct reports.
• Hold high-quality meetings with each direct report on a regular and predictable basis, focusing equally on interpersonal exchange, as well as work.
• Promote and monitor staff care and well-being and ensure to create systems and practices where work supports life and continuously role model such practices.

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: Country Director and the Regional Finance Director
• Position directly supervises: Senior Finance Managers
• Other Internal and/or external contacts: Country Director and Country Management Colleagues, Local and HQ Finance teams.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in accounting, Business Administration, Commerce or Finance required and recognized professional certificate in accounting such as CPA.
• Extensive experience working in development or humanitarian response, including proven ability to live and work in the relevant field in developing and transitioning countries.
• Minimum of five years of managerial experience in finance.
• Requires extensive experience in working with computerized accounting systems, standard spreadsheet, and database programs (Integra).
• Good written and verbal skills in the English language

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

• Must be comfortable in being a proactive member of the senior management team.  Must have a proven track-record of proactively identifying and communicating potential problems and proposing solutions.
• Requires the ability to function effectively in a complex work environment, setting appropriate priorities, and handling competing demands and pressure.
• Ability to carry out responsibilities independently with minimal technical support.
• Must have excellent interpersonal communication skills and professional patience and be able to interact, partner and thrive in a diverse environment.
• Committed to staff training and development and effective at facilitation.

Working Environment: Security level yellow – The situation in most of the country is calm. Some parts of Kigoma region experience insecurity-highway banditry.

Partnership: The IRC is committed to working with partners as our preferred operating model and adhering to our six partnership principles: equality, complementarity, mutuality, solidarity, results orientation, and humility.

Commitment to Client Responsiveness: By committing to Client-Centered Programming, at the IRC Tanzania, we place the people we serve – our clients – at the center of our programming and services. The IRC Tanzania Staff have an important role to play in supporting the implementation of client-responsive programming through raising awareness to the community and clients about expected staff behavior, project information, the existing feedback mechanisms and how to use them including the response processes, access, and eligibility to services, and contribute to building an institutional culture that prompts staff to listen to clients and to communicate and respond to their requests, feedback, and complaints.

Professional Standards: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation. 

 Commitment to Diversity and Inclusivity: IRC is committed to building a diverse organization and a climate of inclusivity.  We strongly encourage applications from candidates who can demonstrate that they can contribute to this goal. 

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer: We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.