Summary
Date Posted: Tuesday, August 03, 2021 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Job title: Director of Finance and Operations

THE ORGANIZATION
The Water Trust empowers the poorest rural communities to provide their children safe water and a healthy, clean environment to develop to their potential. Since 2008, The Water Trust has partnered with more than 800 communities in Masindi and Kiryandongo, benefitting more than 300,000 people. In 2017, The Water Trust developed an innovative savings group-based approach to increase the sustainability of rural water and the impact of hygiene and sanitation promotion. The organization is currently scaling this novel program across more than 400 communities a year in western Uganda across Ugandan and refugee communities. Over the next three years, The Water Trust aims to scale up its programs through direct implementation and technical assistance partnerships, while continuing to partner with researchers to find new ways to raise the bar for impact and sustainability. This newly-created position will lead our finance and operations (currently all in Uganda) as we aim to reach more than one million people across East Africa by 2025. Learn more about The Water Trust at watertrust.org.

THE OPPORTUNITY
The Water Trust plans to add a Director of Finance and Operations (DFO) position to manage our growth. This position will be a key member of the senior management team, reporting directly to the Executive Director (ED). This position will lead the finance and operations functions of The Water Trust with a broad mandate that will include grant management. The DFO sits in Kampala, and will indirectly or directly manage a Program Manager, Finance Assistant, Field Office Administrator, and Human Resource and Administration Officer. The DFO will work closely with the Uganda Country Director, who will lead external representation, advocacy, and engagement with government and funding entities in the country. We plan to create this new position to help manage an operations portfolio that we anticipate growing in size and geographical footprint. We are looking for a mission-driven leader with strong financial skills, excellent attention to detail, and the acumen and motivation to be a senior cross-functional leader. Programmatic knowledge about water, sanitation, and hygiene is not required, but the ability and passion to work with our team of programmatic experts to plan and implement effectively certainly is. This is a great opportunity for a senior financial leader who is more than capable as a finance manager and who has the motivation and skills to expand beyond accounting and administration to be a cross-functional operational leader.

Primary responsibilities
Finance
• Lead the financial management of The Water Trust, from quality checking book-keeping, inventory management, fleet management, etc., to generating insightful financial reports and analysis to support project management..
• Lead cash flow planning and management, including the anticipation and planning of fixed costs, asset replacement, and program costs.
• Oversee and support the development of operating, project and grant budgets, management within those budgets, and internal and external reporting.
• Implement systematic quality assurance and internal controls practices to ensure the appropriate implementation of internal policies and procedures and grant requirements, and produce recommendations to improve policies and procedures.
• Identify and evaluate key risks and establish and implement risk management procedures and practices based on industry best practice and applicable legal frameworks.
• Produce reliable, high-quality financial reports for grant-funded projects and general operations on a monthly basis.
• Lead audit preparedness and other compliance-related work.
Operations
• Establish, enforce, and continuously improve policies, procedures, and systems across all functional areas that promote the organizational culture, vision, and high performance.
• Oversee operations of The Water Trust and the work of its managers.
• Lead all grant implementation planning, internal quality assurance, and external reporting.
• Lead expansion planning to support proposal development as well as startup of field offices as necessary to implement grants funded by funding agencies such as USAID.
• Lead operational planning and oversight across program, operations, human resources, finance, and information technology, mobilizing the insights and expertise of The Water Trust team and stakeholders into annual and multi-year plans that drive growth.
• Lead design and usage of information technology systems to ensure operational quality is maintained with organizational growth.
• Contribute to strategic planning of the organization and to strategic discussions at the Ugandan country and global level.
• Lead strategic initiatives to help the Country Director and Executive Director to drive business growth, such as expansion to new geographic areas and/or technical assistance partnerships.
• Manage and mentor direct reports to grow as development professionals, and build a culture of continuous improvement and learning across all employees.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
• Ugandan Country National strongly preferred.
• Master's degree in finance, economics, accounting, or related field; CPA certified preferred.
• 10-20 years of experience in Uganda, including at least five years of experience in a senior finance and/or operations leadership position in a high-performing development organization of a similar size, or in a regional leadership position of a larger INGO.
• Demonstrated ability to successfully plan and manage the implementation of large multilateral grants.
• Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills, and an ability to communicate across functional areas and cultural contexts.
• Excellent attention to detail and organizational skills.
• Demonstrated experience using IT to monitor and manage operations at scale.
• Strong analysis, writing, and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage results and developing a high performing team.
• Ability to provide constructive feedback as well as guidance.
• Ability and willingness to travel to rural communities, at times with availability of only very basic amenities.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.
• Desirable: speaks one or more of the following languages: Swahili, Runyoro, Luo, Iteso, Lugbara, Lugisu.

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 120

Level of Education: Postgraduate Degree

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Job application procedure
This is a rolling application process, which means we encourage you to apply early. Last date for applications is August 7, 2021, at 5 p.m. EAT. Incomplete applications will not be considered. No paper copy applications will be considered. Due to the number of applications received, we are not able to respond to each application. Click the link to Apply
The Water Trust does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process nor request any information related to bank accounts.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.
We strive for a gender-balanced workforce. Women are strongly encouraged to apply.

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