The International Rescue Committee (IRC) began its operations in Afghanistan in 1988, launching relief programs for individuals displaced by the Soviet invasion. Currently, the IRC is active in eleven provinces, providing essential life-saving services as well as long-term development and resilience programs. These efforts focus on several key areas: Education, Economic Recovery and Development (ERD), Emergency Response, Health and Nutrition, Integrated Protection, and Environmental Health. 
IRC's Education programmes have benefited over 77,000 learners in 2023. The organization is strategically positioned within the education sector in Afghanistan, where it coordinates and co-leads several strategic technical working groups, participates in the EdSTWG, and implements for key donors including GPE. 
Scope of work
The IRC is seeking a Finance and Operations Director for an upcoming FCDO Education activity in Afghanistan titled ‘Health and Education in Afghanistan - Response and Transition (HEART)’. This recruitment focuses on the Education component, which aims to protect and enhance access to quality and equitable primary education (including both public education and CBE), as well as to improve teaching and learning outcomes, particularly in foundational skills.
The Finance and Operations Director will provide leadership and direction on all aspects of finance, grant, procurement, administration, contracting and resource and risk management to the HEART Education component team. The Finance and Operations Director is responsible to ensure compliance with FCDO and IRC requirements across all financial and operational functions of the project. To ensure that the program management system is sufficiently robust to support the technical team in achieving program objectives, the Finance and Operations Director will ensure the program complies with FCDO financial rules and regulations and the host country’s labor, tax, and other relevant laws. S/he will contribute to developing the project’s strategic and operational plans and will be responsible for ensuring and monitoring delivery against the agreed financial targets. S/he will have line management responsibilities to finance support staff and directly report to the Team Lead as part of the programme Senior Management team.   Please note that recruitment is contingent upon the successful award of the programme, and the selection of final applicants is subject to FCDO’s approval.
Responsibilities • Establishes the project’s finance management and risk management policies, systems and procedures, and leads their development, documentation, and implementation. • Leads the design of appropriate procurement processes in line with IRC and FCDO requirements. • Works in collaboration with the program team to develop and agree on the fund operating procedures and standards of financial management within the overall framework of HEART financial systems and procedures. • Ensures consortium partners and other relevant stakeholders meet the procurement provisions of the FCDO’s rules and follow best practice, both externally and internally. • Manages project finance activities and schedules to meet the financial reporting requirements and deadlines specified by the HEART technical education team and FCDO.• Prepares quarterly accrual reports, expenditure reporting, and burn rate projections. • Provides project management and program staff with monthly actual-to-budget expenditure reports and project fund analysis and facilitates review and discussion. • Directs the preparation and approval of all FCDO financial reports regarding accounting, legal, and contractual requirements and ensures the review of such reports by the Team Lead and HQ prior to submission. • Enforces internal control policies and procedures and identifies potential risks and develops mitigation strategies to ensure project success • Maintains current knowledge of local government requirements related to financial matters and ensures compliance with tax regulations and other legal requirements.   • Manages the allocation of resources, including personnel, materials, and equipment, to optimize project performance. • Develops, updates and implements programme wide administrative systems to corporate and programme standards, that increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the HEART Education operation. • Ensuring that the programme’s procurement processes are fit for purpose, compliant with corporate, client and statutory standards. • Ensuring the application of appropriate risk management measures. • Ensuring timely and effective programme support services to facilitate efficient and effective program delivery. • Posses strong knowledge of Afghan local tax law and working with relevant governmental departments for reporting while ensuring IRC and donor compliance requirements are met  • Work with country office finance team on project related finance functions and facilitate and engage in the audit requirements. • Ensure project cycle meetings will be conducted timely and action plans are followed and acted on. • Ensure project spending forecast/pipeline analysis will be developed as required. 
Requirements • A bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in Accounting, Business Administration, Commerce or Finance with a recognized professional certificate in accounting such as CPA, or a master’s degree in accounting.  • A minimum of 10 years in a similar financial, compliance, or operational role supporting FCDO commercial contracts and other international donor projects in similar contexts. • Experience of designing, implementing and managing financial and procurement management systems and controls. • Experience with budgeting and financial reporting requirements on multimillion pound (GBP), multi-year, FCDO commercial contracts. • Experience with financial management and reporting on projects with substantial sub-awards. • Strong knowledge of generally accepted accounting practices, financial reporting standards, financial management processes and procedures. • Extensive experience in working with ERP system, PBI or computerized accounting systems, standard spreadsheets and database programmes.  • Must have a proven track record of proactively identifying and communicating potential problems and proposing solutions. • Excellent interpersonal communication skills and professional patience and be able to interact, partner and thrive in a diverse environment.  • Experience in management of staff performance gaps and provision of additional training or managing a performance improvement plan. • Knowledge and experience with Afghan’s labor, tax, and other relevant laws • Fluency in English required. 
Please note that the JD is high level and indicative only at this stage and may be subject to change once the Terms of Reference for the programme is released and as the opportunity develops. This position will be contingent on the outcome of the bid.#li-6