Chief, Finance Branch, Division for Management Services (DMS)
Organizational Context
The Chief, Finance Branch leads global finance operations, policies, and accounting for UNFPA, reporting to the Comptroller and Director, Division for Management Services. This role is crucial for ensuring financial sustainability and effective resource management in a decentralized organization operating in challenging environments. UNFPA's mandate focuses on reproductive health, rights, and achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
Job Purpose
The Chief, Finance Branch is responsible for leading, coordinating, and overseeing UNFPA’s global financial management. This involves promoting clear accountability across financial operations and reporting, establishing work priorities, and guiding a team of approximately twenty-eight professionals. The primary goal is to enable UNFPA to manage its financial resources and operations effectively and efficiently, ensuring the agency's financial sustainability to support its mission as a global champion of reproductive health and rights.
Responsibilities
The Chief, Finance Branch maintains UNFPA's financial framework, including regulations, rules, policies, and procedures, and supports the update of the internal control framework. Responsibilities include enhancing financial management processes for efficiency and effectiveness, ensuring robust first and second-line controls, and providing expert advice to senior management. The role oversees transaction processing, cash and bank management, investment portfolios, and currency risk in coordination with UNDP Treasury. It also manages the annual financial closure process, prepares statutory and donor financial reports according to IPSAS, and approves exceptions to financial policies. The Chief provides support to field offices and HQ units, leads innovations in business efficiency, supports resource mobilization, and ensures adequate responses to auditor findings. Representation at inter-agency meetings and continuous staff development are also key duties.
Work Experience
Requires at least 15 years of progressive experience in financial management or accounting at multinational organizations, with a minimum of 10 years in supervisory roles. Experience with IPSAS or IFRS, internal control and risk management frameworks, UN financial processes, and ERP systems is essential. Experience with Oracle Cloud ERP implementations and corporate change management is advantageous.
Skills
Core competencies include integrity, commitment, cultural diversity, embracing change, achieving results, accountability, professional expertise, analytical and strategic thinking, teamwork, and communication. Functional skills involve managing financial resources, strengthening financial management capacity, ensuring compliance, analyzing complex financial issues, and managing diverse teams. Managerial skills include strategic focus, stakeholder engagement, change management, people development, performance culture, decision-making, and judgment.