Senior Programme Finance Specialist

Key Responsibilities

Unit-Wide Functional Support

Reporting & Analytics 

• Consolidate programme finance data, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of unit-wide reports and dashboards.
• Translate detailed financial data into insights that inform Manager decisions and support overall reporting.
• Maintain standard reporting methodologies, templates, and analytical tools across all portfolios.

Systems & Process Improvement

• Lead operationalisation of the unit's automation and workflow efficiency projects, aligned to SFA Foundation's enterprise systems.
• Develop, update, and enforce Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the grant's lifecycle
• Champion continuous process improvement, benchmarking against international best practice in grant finance
• Provide technical leadership on dashboard design, burn-rate analysis, and cost recovery tracking.

Compliance & Quality Assurance 

• Conduct quality assurance reviews on a rotating sample of grant files, reports, and transactions across all portfolios. 
• Ensures adherence to funder rules and regulations.
• Supports fraud/risk investigations and complex compliance issues.

Capacity Building & Risk/Audit Coordination

• Coordinates internal, funder audit and helps coordinate unit inputs and ensures audit readiness.
• Maintain the unit's risk register and track the implementation of audit recommendations. 
• Maintains the standard capacity building records for grantees done by the Programme Finance specialists.

Expert-Level Support

• Provide authoritative guidance to Programme Finance Specialists on complex funder requirements and financial structuring.
• Draft high-quality responses to funder queries and due diligence requests, escalating to the Manager as needed.
• Support the Manager in funder engagement by modelling financial implications of compliance scenarios and funding changes.
• Mentor and build the technical capacity of Programme Finance Specialists, promoting consistency and peer learning.

Portfolio Management

Directly manage a selected portfolio of grants, delivering the full grants finance lifecycle:

• Pre-award due diligence and budgeting.
• Awarding and contracting.
• Implementation monitoring, financial analysis, and compliance oversight.
• Reporting, audit, and close-out.
• Ensure strong business partnering with programme teams and grantees to align financial delivery with programme objectives.
• Support institutional efforts to strengthen African research ecosystems through sound financial stewardship and capacity building of grantees.

Academic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in finance, Accounting, or a related field.
• Master's degree desirable.

Professional Qualifications

• Full professional qualification in CPA-K or ACCA

Experience

• Minimum of 7 years relevant experience in financial management, with at least 5 years in programme finance/grants accounting or funded projects.
• Proven track record in science funding institutions, research consortia, or ecosystem-strengthening programmes.
• Proven experience in sub-grantee management, capacity building, and financial reporting.
• Strong working knowledge of financial management systems and grants accounting.
• Experience working with grant systems with a passion for exploring and optimising their functionality.
• Proven ability to manage compliance with major funders (e.g., Wellcome, Gates, FCDO, Mastercard Foundation).
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and financial analysis tools, dashboards.

Knowledge, Skills and Attributes

• In-depth knowledge of funder regulations and grant compliance frameworks.
• Strong analytical and systems skills; proven ability to lead process improvements.
• Excellent problem-solving, advisory skills, and communication abilities.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to guide peers.
• High integrity, accuracy, and ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Ability to mentor and promote knowledge sharing within teams.

Leadership Competencies

• Technical authority in grants finance and compliance, with contextual understanding of science funding.
• Ability to influence peers and promote consistency across portfolios.
• Strong problem-solving, judgement, and advisory capacity.
• Systems thinker with the ability to integrate tools and processes.
• Commitment to values-based leadership (Respect, Accountability, DE&I, Excellence).

Organisational Values

All SFA Foundation staff are expected to uphold and demonstrate the organisation's core values in the execution of their duties:

• Respect: Demonstrates cultural sensitivity and professionalism in all interactions.
• Accountability: Takes ownership of responsibilities and follows through on commitments.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Committed to inclusive practices and equitable decision-making.
• Excellence: Strives for continuous improvement and consistently delivers high-quality outputs.