Job Vacancies at Creative Associates International

Position Summary:

The Procurement Manager will be responsible for reviewing overall procurement processes to ensure compliance with Creative policy and procedures, tracking procurement of goods and services through the procurement cycle, ensuring that adequate competition is achieved for procurements, providing regular procurement mentoring to project staff to support project implementation, and coordinating with Creative HQ Procurement.

Reporting & Supervision:

The Procurement Manager will report to the Senior Manager Operations with a dotted line relationship to Creative HQ Procurement.

Responsibilities

Primary Responsibilities:

• Establish, lead, and implement procurement processes and logistics to support activity implementation for the project, strictly following all rules and regulations including:
• Creative Procurement policies and procedures
• ADS (Automated Directive System)
• FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations)
• CFR (U.S. Code of Federal Regulations)
• AAPD (Acquisition & Assistance Policy Directive)
• Local Nigerian Law
• Manage procurement and logistics team
• Train and mentor staff in procurement policies and process.
• Work with Project Technical team to prepare the annual Project Procurement Plan is to maximize efficiency and coordination in the procurement of goods and services.
• Conduct market research for each type of procurement and maintain a data base of vendors and items commonly needed by the project.
• Determine the most reasonable and expeditious process for procurement in compliance with Creative policies and procedures and USAID regulations.
• Prepare and issue solicitation documents based on approved requisition received.
• Responsible to provide clarifications to all vendors when is required. Also, prepare and issue solicitation modification when is applicable.
• Responsible for ensuring confidentiality throughout procurement and vendor selection process.
• Facilitate the evaluation process for each solicitation according Creative's procurement policy.
• Ensure proper documentation of the selection of vendors using the Creative's official templates.
• Lead negotiations with vendors.
• Responsible for the drafting, negotiating, issuing and management of Purchase Orders, Purchase Order Agreements, Short-term Technical Assistance Consultancy Agreements, Fixed Price Service Agreements, and subcontracts.
• Verify quality and quantity of products according to the agreement and/or needs of the beneficiary, community, and/or Project ensuring proper documentation of the delivery.
• Process requisitions for procurement and invoices in ReQlogic.
• Review all payment requests and make sure that all the required forms are appropriately and consistently filled out and requested before being submitted to finance.
• Ensure procurement files comply with Creative's policies and procedures and uploaded into project database.
• Prepare procurement reports on monthly basis.

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in business management, procurement or logistic; Master's degree preferred;
• At least five years' management experience with project implementation, managing logistics and procurement, preferably in Nigeria; minimum of three years working in international development;
• Solid understanding of donor regulations and procedures pertaining to acquisitions;
• Experience with automated purchasing systems such as ReQlogic;
• Demonstrated ability to perform complex tasks and to prioritize multiple projects;
• Ability to analyze budget line items for compliance with budget guidelines;
• Proven records maintenance and database management skills; and
• Speaking, writing and reading fluency in English required.

Only finalists will be contacted. No phone calls, please.

Creative Associates International Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer (gender/race/disability/veteran) and provides equal opportunity to all individuals regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal, or local law.

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POSITION SUMMARY

The Senior Finance Officer will assist the Director Finance in developing and managing the project's financial systems. S/he will work under the supervision of the Finance Manager and will support him/her in all matters related to financial management, financial reporting, subcontracting. S/he will also assist the Finance Manager in ensuring sufficient funds are available for effective and efficient implementation of project activities and support programs. Specific areas of responsibility include financial report preparation, review and submission to headquarters and cash flow management. Some travel is expected.

REPORTING & SUPERVISION

The Senior Finance Officer reports to the Director Finance in Abuja.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Preparing accurate and timely financial reports in line with USAID and Creative's financial regulations
• Providing and interpreting financial information from Microsoft Dynamics SL and other project source documents
• Ensuring that monthly projections are collated from various components for cash requests and burn rate
• Developing external relationships with appropriate contacts, e.g. bankers and statutory organizations such as the Inland Revenue, NSITF and pension officials.
• Supervising Finance Officers, mentoring and coaching colleagues on policies, procedures, financial regulations etc.
• Keeping abreast of changes in financial regulations and legislations and communicating implications to management as needed
• Maintaining collaborative professional relationships with managerial staff and colleagues in other departments (particularly Grants and Procurement) to support activity clearance, implementation and overall program delivery
• Applying internationally accepted principles and procedures to analyze financial information
• Ensuring appropriate accounting control and procedures in all financial operations
• Monitoring of cash balances, prepare advance account reconciliations and bank reconciliations and respond to inquiries from HQ.
• Monitoring cash balances on dynamics and bank, ensuring that drawdowns from USD to Naira account are done timely as soon as a confirmed exchange rate is received from the bank
• Reviewing local expense reports to ensure accuracy and compliance with USAID and Creative's financial practice before reimbursement
• Coordinating with program and administrative staff to ensure that transactions are properly planned, recorded and coded
• Prepare payroll, send pay slips and make all statutory deductions to the relevant authorities
• Coordinate with the bank for information regarding exchange rate, bank balances, wire transfer etc.
• Interpret financial reports and produce burn rate analyses for management decision making and communicate information in a way that demonstrates a understanding of development assistance work, project priorities and strategy, values and practices.
• Participating in preparation of spontaneous work plan activities and budget for instant intervention in areas that need urgent attention
• Ensure staff have good understanding of policies and procedures and that knowledge is reflected in the day to day financial transactions – avail staff with all relevant policies and procedures, provide on job trainings, as necessary provide feedbacks on irregularities, etc.…
• Initiate and implement a planning and reporting practices for staffs under Finance Manager supervision.

• Support, as needed, in capacity building work of grantees Qualifications

• Minimum of Bachelor degree or its equivalent in accounting or finance

• 5 years of general experience with at least 3 years of experience in accounting and finance work is required.

• Proficiency at using Microsoft office software: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. is required.

• Experience with computerized accounting systems is required.

• Strong analytical skills are required.

• Multi-tasking with positive attitude is required.

• Ability to establish and maintain effective, sustainable relationships with project staff and bank officials, as well as the development community is required.

• Prior experience with international organizations or international-funded projects is highly desirable.

• Experience working in a conflict environment is a plus.

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.

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Reporting & Supervision: The Director of Finance reports to the Chief of Party.

Responsibilities

Primary Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership to the finance team and oversight on the project's accounting and finance functions, including identification of areas for improvement and strategic guidance for financial management
• Ensure accurate and timely information is provided, to assist in the day-to-day management of the project and to drive management, strategic and budgetary decisions
• Establish and maintain financial management and accounting control systems for program expenditures
• Ensure project liquidity and establish appropriate checks and balances to mitigate financial risks and conflicts of interest
• Ensure all financial records are audit ready, establish cost and fiscal controls, and enforce stringent international financial and auditing standards that ensure efficiency, accountability, and compliance
• Lead the development of the annual budget, annual and quarterly forecasts and reforecasts, pipeline analysis, budget realignment, and fund obligation requests

• Support the development of the project annual workplans

• Work closely with field-based implementing partners to ensure budgets, projections, and invoices are completed according to the Creative policies and procedures and USG regulations

• Direct the formation and implementation of financial management and compliance policies and procedures, guiding policy decisions and providing technical expertise

• Verify all project procurements prior to execution and determine source selection methods for complex procurements to ensure compliance with the Creative policies and USG rules and regulations

• Manage finance team and provide financial management and systems training for the staff

• Ensure timely preparation and submission of quarterly and annual financial reports on financial status of project expenses and budget information

• Ensure that the project meets all contractual requirements and complies with the USG regulations**Qualifications**

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• A minimum of 10 years of experience working in senior financial management positions with increasing levels of responsibility for large complex projects, of which at least five years' experience managing multifaceted development programs, with strong experience with funds control, and the ability to monitor fraud and abuse
• Strong knowledge of USAID rules and regulations
• Master's degree in a financerelated field; an additional 2 years of experience may be accepted in lieu of a master's degree
• Experience working in conflict-affected regions; experience specifically in the West Africa region is highly desirable
• Fluency in written and spoken English

Only finalists will be contacted. No phone calls, please.

Creative Associates International Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer (gender/race/disability/veteran) and provides equal opportunity to all individuals regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal, or local law.