Finance and Grants Manager at American Institutes for Research

Responsibilities

The responsibilities for the position include:

Overall, the Finance and Grants Manager will be responsible for all budgeting, financial, and administrative management aspects of the project, as well as the issuance and management of multiple, simultaneous grants. This is a full-time project position collaborating as a core member of the project team, including Technical Directors, Project Associates, other AIR home office personnel and implementing partner organizations. They will also:

Finance:

• Monitor day-to-day finances and administration and ensure compliance with USAID’s regulations and AIR’s internal procedures.
• Provide oversight on operational activities such as start-up, mobilization, demobilization, and activity-specific procurements.
• Lead the activity's financial reviews and reporting, analyzing and troubleshooting issues, and prepare quarterly finance projections and reports.
• Ensure accuracy of activity’s financial transactions and monthly activity invoices.
• Manage all project financial performance targets and monitor accuracy of activity budget and provides analysis and solutions.
• Proactively identify and analyze areas of risk and advise on possible solutions and preventive measures.
• Ensure compliance with internal and external audit findings.
• Support other deliverables as required. 

Grants:

• Manage the solicitation, selection, and award processes, in coordination with project team members.
• Oversee the development of requests for applications and the review of grant applications for responsibility, cost-reasonableness and realism, regulatory compliance, sustainability, and risk analysis and mitigation.
• Ensure alignment of grants with host country laws, including labor policies, tax reporting and regulations.
• Manage compliance of multiple, simultaneous sub-awardees for their duration by tracking project activities and grantees’ work against timelines, budgets, objectives, and deliverables.
• Maintain and manage records of sub-awardee agreements, including an inventory of sub-awards, and a schedule of dates and deadlines relevant to those sub-awards.
• Provide guidance and training to grantees on management and compliance points.
• Some travel may be required to provide face-to-face support to grantees.

Qualifications

Education, Knowledge, and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, commerce, finance, management, business administration or similar field.
• At least 5 years of experience managing/supervising financial operations and managing full-cycle contracts and compliance of donor-funded projects.
• Experience administering grants under contract.
• Substantial knowledge in utilizing US government rules and regulations governing contractual and financial management (e.g., ADS, FAR, AIDAR).
• Previous experience working in USAID-funded programs.
• Proven project management and leadership skills, such as: collaborating with team members and partners towards common goals; negotiating and problem solving; training, informing and building capacity; and holding oneself and others accountable.