Senior Finance Officer, RLO Granting at World University Service of Canada

The Senior Finance Officer, RLO Granting, provides technical support for the financial management and capacity strengthening components of the project’s granting mechanism supporting more than 60 Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) across the African continent. Working closely with Finance, Operations, and Program teams, the role supports the effective administration of grants while strengthening the financial management capacities of RLO partners to ensure accountable, compliant, and impactful use of funds.

Responsibilities:

• Support the financial administration of the project’s RLO granting mechanism, including grant allocation, disbursements, and financial monitoring for over 60 RLO partners across Africa.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of streamlined financial processes and reporting systems that ensure compliance while minimizing administrative burden on RLO partners.
• Provide demand driven technical assistance to RLO partners on financial management, budgeting, reporting, and financial sustainability.
• Deliver financial capacity strengthening support to help RLOs strengthen financial systems, enhance accountability, and become increasingly “funding ready” for larger and more diverse funding opportunities.
• Work closely with program teams to provide practical financial guidance to RLO partners to support effective grant implementation.
• Ensure all RLO grant expenditures and activities comply with WUSC and donor financial policies and requirements.
• Conduct site visits to RLO partners, where relevant, to support financial training, monitoring, and compliance activities.
• Liaise with the Head of Finance to provide timely and accurate financial reports on the performance of RLO grants.
• Support financial planning and reporting processes, including contributing to annual budgeting, financial forecasting, and preparation of regular financial reports such as Budget vs. Actual (BVA) reports.
• Monitor budget adherence, flagging significant variances and supporting corrective action where needed.

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field preferred.
• A professional qualification in Accounting (e.g. CPA, ACCA or equivalent qualification)
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in accounting or financial administration, ideally within a nonprofit or development organization;
• Strong knowledge of accounting software (e.g., Sage) and Microsoft Office, especially Excel. Previous experience with Netsuite a desirable asset;
• Proven experience in grants management, financial oversight, or fund management, preferably within a non-profit or development context.
• Demonstrated experience in capacity strengthening or providing technical assistance to local partner organizations on financial or organizational management.
• Demonstrated experience in providing coaching and mentoring support to project colleagues on effective financial management.
• Superior cross cultural and cross-functional collaboration skills, including providing mentoring and coaching support remotely;
• Strong analytical, communication and problem solving skills;
• Fluent in English; French language skills are highly desirable.