Finance and Administration Director, LHSS Nigeria at ABT Associates

Opportunity

The Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) Project is a 5-year, $209 million global task order that works to strengthen health systems as a means to achieve universal health coverage and improve population health and well-being. Interventions will focus on reducing financial barriers, holding health services accountable for meeting all clients’ needs and making sure that the care patients receive meets minimum standards. LHSS’s Nigeria activity will support the Government of Nigeria to support targeted states to expand sustainable pro-poor health financing options to reduce health inequalities, improve access to essential health services for the most vulnerable populations, and increase government expenditure on health services for greater sustainability of health service delivery. The activity tentatively has five main objectives:

1. Financial risk protection
2. Increased health coverage
3. Increase number of fully functional facilities
4. Increase utilization of state health insurance schemes
5. Increase government funding for HIV/AIDs and TB services

Key Roles and Responsibilities

The F&A Director will have the following duties and responsibilities:

• Ensure rapid startup of operational and finance activities, including recruitment of Operations, Finance, and Grants Officers.
• Provide managerial and operational support and advice to the Chief of Party by overseeing project finance and accounting, operations, grants management, IT and human resources, and ensuring compliance with USAID regulations.
• Lead and oversee development of annual budgets, financial reports, compliance documentation, and other deliverables, ensuring all are on time and of high quality.
• Prepare annual site office revenue projections and work with supportive staff to update budget tracker forecast on a monthly basis. Track actuals, accruals, and commitments against approved budgets to ensure project activities remain on budget. Advise COP and home office of any changes in projected spending.
• Oversees the recording of expenditures, income, and any other related transactions in the company accounting software;
• Ensure preparation of accurate financial reports, and monthly cash funds request in close coordination with the Chief of Party and technical team.
• Oversee all procurement and inventory tracking, establish country-specific procurement guidelines and standard operating procedures.
• Perform random audits of inventory to make sure inventory reports prepared by the operations team are always accurate and up to date.
• Oversees the preparation of payroll and other regular payments with due consideration to deductions (for advances, taxes, etc), and manages the review of monthly payroll for accuracy;
• Tracks and records all site office fringe benefits;
• Ensures that government taxes, pension funds, and other local statutory requirements are paid on time;
• Manage and supervise project financial, grants, administration, and operations personnel.
• Troubleshoot to prevent and resolve potential problems related to operations and finance, and review outputs for quality control.
• Manage the financial operations and financial reporting of the country program, providing guidance, training, and technical assistance to financial and non-financial management personnel.
• Provide ongoing financial administration to the project, ensuring headquarters approvals are in place for all applicable procurements, consultant agreements, and vendor invoices.
• Manage the timely submission of the monthly field expenses (ROV) to the headquarters office.
• Serve as the project’s contact with the client on finance and administrative issues, participating in discussions on contract issues and actions, and following up on client requests and concerns.
• Support the development, execution, and management of subcontractor, consultant, and grant agreements.
• Inform and provide updates on all contractual, financial, and legal issues to the Project Manager Officer and Finance Manager at Headquarters.
• In coordination with the Home Office, facilitates tax exemption processes with local government entities as applicable.
• Oversee Human Resource activities affecting the project including but not limited to the hiring, termination, benefit tracking, and legal disputes affecting current and former site office personnel.
• Other duties as assigned.

Within the LHSS project, the F&A Director will be supported by LHSS home office-based operations, finance, and technical expertise and will report to the Chief of Party.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Public or Business Administration, Finance, or a related field.
• At least 10 years of experience managing grants or contracts for the private sector, universities, international NGOs, or other organizations with similar scopes of work.
• Experience and knowledge in fiscally and operationally managing all aspects of at least one large multi-million US dollar contract funded by an international donor required, USAID experience highly preferred.
• Demonstrated skills in organizing, tracking, and monitoring resources and establishing priorities.
• Strong oral and written communication skills in English are required; Portuguese preferred but not required.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree + Twelve years of relevant experience, or Master’s Degree + Ten years of relevant experience, or PhD+ Eight years of relevant experience

Abt Associates is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse workforce. Abt Associates provides market-competitive salaries and comprehensive employee benefits. Local candidates strongly encouraged to apply.