Senior Finance and Grants Officer

2 September 2024

ORGANIZATION SUMMARY:
With over 1900 members in nearly 130 countries, Climate Action Network (CAN) is one of the largest civil society movements fighting for climate justice. Climate justice cannot be separated from social and racial justice, and this forms the basis of our work. We hold governments and leaders accountable to their climate pledges and demand putting people and the planet first.
Resolving the climate crisis requires urgent transformational change.
CAN International (CAN-I) is the International Secretariat of the global network. We are committed to justice, equity, decoloniality, inclusion, diversity, bottom-up participatory processes, and transparency. The CAN team is made up of individuals with passion, hope, and drive to work for a better world for our current and future generations, guided by the principles of climate justice.

ABOUT THE ROLE:
As the Senior Finance and Grants Officer you will work as part of a small Finance team, directly supporting and reporting to the Head of Finance. You will ensure a smooth flow of financial management, including Accounting, payments management, grants management, and financial
administration. This job is an opportunity for a talented and dedicated individual with experience and interest in financial management to work in a remote position, yet in a close-knit team, contributing to creating and maintaining the administrative foundation of an organization that aims to
make a contribution to a more just and sustainable world.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

Finance:

• Implement processes and tools for managing membership contributions
• Ensure the organizational financial records are always up to date
• Support in the development, monitoring, and revision of internal organizational budgets
• Process reimbursement and payment requests and support team to ensure all requests are submitted accurately, and on time, that the team’s thorough understanding of all requirements is ensured on a continuous basis, and works with the team to resolve issues surrounding reimbursement and payment process
• Enforce financial management including financial reporting and allocation of expenses to funders
• Actively contribute to various project, organizational, and annual accounts auditing processes
• Implement the financial accounting, monitoring, and reporting systems and procedures
• Monitor cash flows and advise accordingly
• Implement financial management mechanisms that minimize financial risk
• Keep abreast of changes in relevant financial regulations regarding law and legislation relevant to CAN

Grants Management:

• Implementation of viable regranting models and tools within the finance unit
• Actively contribute to institutional reporting, including meeting internal and external reporting deadlines, identifying reporting components, compiling required documents, ensuring report completeness, and facilitating final submission
• Ensure compliance with internal and external reporting requirements, including budgets and financial reports
• Prepare budgets for grant proposals
• Work closely with program teams to build and execute plans and processes, strengthen capacity for grants management, and ensure transparency and accountability
• Participate in relevant meetings relating to the grants and their respective management
• Implementation of a robust internal Grants Management System that will have sufficient capabilities for management reports e.g. grant overview allocations, grant reporting schedule, earmarked activities list, and burn rate

Administration:

• Maintain both electronic and physical filing systems; including expense tracking, maintaining financial records, filing and archiving of receipts, invoices, managing accounts receivable, etc.
• Maintains, configures, and updates internal CAN databases and online tools as needed
• Develop and deliver trainings for new and existing team members and consultants
• Assists them with finance and administration questions to ensure they are properly informed of all requirements
• Actively contributes to reporting, knowledge management and monitoring, evaluation, innovating, and learning efforts of CAN
• Assists the Operations department in the organization of events, on the financial side
• Other Duties as assigned

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

The job holder must possess the following requirements with or without a reasonable accommodation:

Education and Professional Qualifications:

• University degree in business, finance, accounting, or a related field is desirable
• Certified Public Accountant or equivalent professional experience in a relevant field

Job-Related Experience & Knowledge:

• Previous professional experience working with Excel, Quickbooks online (or equivalent accounting system)
• Previous experience in financial management in an international organization or a non-governmental association-previous experience with tax-exempt non-profits a plus
• Experience managing finances and accounting
• Experience working with European and German donors is an asset

Job-Related Skills/Abilities:

• Ability to work independently and in a remote office environment
• Comfortable communicating over email, Slack, and other online management tools
• Extremely detail-oriented
• Outstanding organizational and time management skills
• Ability to meet competing deadlines and work in a fast-paced high-pressure environment
• Strong interpersonal skills, and trustworthiness
• Proven understanding of the challenges in communication, resource constraints, and other unique circumstances found in NGOs, including a keen sense of contextual and cultural differences of different geographies
• Strong knowledge of ethics and compliance standards for non-profits
• Cross-cultural sensitivity and ability to work effectively in different socio-cultural contexts

IT Skills:

• Ability to coordinate and administer meetings using digital communication platform applications, such as Slack and Zoom, and Project Management Software
• Highly experienced in MS Suite, electronic filing, and electronic systems development
• Excellent computer skills, including word processing, and accounting software – preferably experience with Quickbooks Online and/or DATEV

Language Ability:

• Ability to effectively communicate in written and spoken English. Fluency in German and other languages is an asset

Travel:

• Ability to travel internationally up to 20% of the time, incl. ability and availability to travel for 2-3 weeks at a time.

To apply:

• Please complete this application form to submit your application.
• Recruitment deadline: 15th Sept 2024
• Remuneration Range: EUR 46,800 – 55,200
• Location: Flexible
• Capacity: Full-time
• Please note, no telephone or email inquiries. Based on the expected large interest in this position and with limited capacity, only candidates chosen for interviews will be contacted
• CAN is an equal-opportunity employer. We strive to make positions accessible to all regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, age, disability, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation or identity, religion, marital or parental status, etc.