The Senior Portfolio Finance Manager is a key member of the SRHR team, playing an important role primarily supporting the SRHR team and / or the Portfolio Director to ensure CIFF’s programmes are structured and managed optimally from a financial perspective and are therefore cost effective. This includes providing advice and recommendations to ensure programmes not only have the intended impact but are also financially sustainable in the long term and at scale. A priority for CIFF’s Board is taking commercial approaches to the design and management of its programmes, with a view to their successful outcomes being sustainable without philanthropic financial support for the long term, for example through adoption by governments that are fiscally stretched. CIFF’s goal is to solve problems, not make grants. This role will be part of the team delivering programme investment proposals to the Board and its Committees and will principally ensure that those presentations address the Board’s requirements in this respect.

As a Senior Portfolio Finance Manager at CIFF, you will support the Portfolio Finance Director in providing commercial input to the design and management of CIFF’s program investments. This includes analysing target costs, developing cost benchmarks, and applying knowledge and results from all programs across the portfolio.

The Senior Portfolio Finance Manager will also work on an ad hoc basis with other Portfolio Finance colleagues from other teams across CIFF to ensure that the most recent learnings and approaches are shared for the benefit of the organisation as a whole.

At a more general level, the Senior Portfolio Finance Manager will play an important role in supporting the Portfolio Director and Executive Director in developing annual business plan proposals and managing those plans, while ensuring there is financial rigor and working collaboratively with the CAO, CFO and central Finance team to ensure the team is prudently and properly using and managing CIFF’s charitable funds.

The Senior Portfolio Finance Manager will support the team in ensuring compliance with CIFF’s finance policies and managing risks within the portfolio to safeguard CIFF’s charitable funds.

The Senior Portfolio Finance Manager will work across the global portfolio of SRHR activities managed from London which focuses on improving sexual & reproductive health and rights, and empowering millions with the opportunities to prevent unplanned pregnancy, HIV and make an informed choice on family size through demand generation, product development, SRHR commodity access and security and behaviour change.

Requirements

Strategy & planning

•  Using broad and specialised technical expertise and input to the development of strategic approaches using financial models to ensure long-term sustainability and scalability of programme investments.

• Lead on the design and development of identified strategies within the SRHR Team, working with the Portfolio Director & Executive Director for collaboration and strategic alignment to other teams.

Programme development, delivery & performance

•  Manage, co-ordinate and execute the collection of financial data which contributes to the dynamic management of programmes to ensure financial sustainability and alignment with strategic objectives for medium-term goals.
• Proactively share financial insights and guidance on key considerations for programme integration, scalability, and commercial viability, providing a comprehensive view of impact and learnings, tailoring approach for the audiences.
• Support and coach the Programme Managers on budgeting and forecasting for programme investments, developing operational initiatives to inform and deliver tactical results.
• Support the Programme Team on review of deliverables from grantees and providing technical insights on related grant payment decisions.
• Play an integral role, using specialist knowledge to input and provide expert knowledge to support programme design and management based on trends across the sector and partners.
• Provide ongoing active diligence of the progress and performance of programmes under delivery to identify problems and delays, and work with partners to using judgement to devise and develop effective solutions (escalating to more senior colleagues for support and intervention, where required).
• Work as part of a team to shape and implement plans for scaling up, replicating or leveraging additional support for successful programmes and initiatives, in accordance with agreed priorities.
• Proactively identify opportunities and using judgement, devise solutions to improve processes, procedures and programme management approaches within (and beyond) the team, to support increased organisational efficiency and effectiveness.

Sector knowledge and profile-building

•  Using technical expertise with a broad understanding of the subject area, work as a partner to the team, providing expert input and guidance on all financial areas of the programme.
• Keep abreast of developments within the sector and grantee ecosystem and international development sectors, establishing appropriate information gathering networks and channels to deepen professional knowledge and skills.

Stakeholder and partner management

•  Represent CIFF with a variety of external audiences, develop and maintain strong partnerships and act as a knowledgeable resource about CIFF’s programmes and priority areas.
• As part of the team, work alongside senior colleagues to help develop a deep, collaborative relationship with grantees, funders and other key partners the team is working with and provide insights about how a grantee or group of grantees may be managed more effectively from a financial and operational perspective (e.g. how updated financial management systems or collaboration amongst grantees in the same area might increase effectiveness and address risk).
• Develop a strong and close working relationship with CIFF’s Organisational Development team and Chief Ecosystem Development Office to proactively collaborate and share insights on CIFF’s programmes to inform decision making.
• Keep abreast of the operating environment in which the team is developing and managing programmes (e.g. from a regulatory, market, political perspective) and work with the Portfolio Director to share inputs to support the team in navigating those issues from a commercial and risk-based perspective.

Membership and leadership of the team

•  Be a role model to less experienced team members, demonstrating CIFF’s leadership behaviours and providing mentorship to aid their growth.
• Adopt a coaching approach with colleagues which instills a culture of openness and trust, embraces diverse thinking, and encourages continuous improvement and learning.

 Principal Accountabilities

Supporting the Portfolio Director and other team members on:

• The financial structure and business model of grant proposals
• Programme investments meeting financial sustainability target outcomes
• Portfolio benchmark and target cost metrics
• Financial know-how and development for the team
• Annual team budgets prudently managed and adhered to
• Accuracy of team financial reporting information on CIFF’s systems
• CIFF financial policies complied with

Key Tasks

• Supporting the Portfolio Director and senior colleagues by providing commercially focused financial advice on the design and ongoing management of programme investments.
• Performing financial analysis and, as required, building financial models to support strategic portfolio management focused on financial sustainability of programmes
• Providing input and insights into finance sections of programme investment proposals and relevant portfolio reports
• Work with Portfolio Director to establish benchmarks for relevant costs, monitoring/updating as required and sharing with the team
• Support the Portfolio Director in building financial capacity of programme team members including development and delivery of training materials or otherwise
• Supporting the Programme Managers on grantee due diligence in accordance with CIFF’s policies, and understanding grantee business models where required
• Supporting review of programme budgets and forecasts
• Supporting the Programme Manager on the review of deliverables as they relate to meeting grant payment requirements and supporting on payment processes
• Supporting the central Finance team in planning, implementing and monitoring the general grantee audit plan
• Conduct programme reviews with the Programme Manager
• Work with the Portfolio Finance Director on Supporting the Executive Director and Portfolio Director to prepare annual business plan proposals
• Support the Portfolio Finance Director in monitoring team business plan implementation through PowerBI and providing regular updates to the Portfolio Director and Executive Director
• Collating and sharing portfolio and team financial information with the CAO, CFO and central Finance team where requested (e.g. for monthly management reporting)
• Regular meetings with and presentations to other Portfolio Finance colleagues throughout CIFF to share learnings and best practice
• Where applicable, management and development of more junior SRHR portfolio finance team members to optimise potential of individuals and continuity of high-quality support to the team
• Provide financial input into internal / external projects as required to support the delivery of CIFF’s missions

Benefits

The starting salary for this role is £80,000.

CIFF operates a hybrid work policy across all locations, which means employees can work some of the time from home . We are happy to provide more information on this as part of the recruitment process.

Alongside a competitive salary, we offer a generous benefits package here at CIFF that includes, but is not limited to the following. All these will be prorated to the fixed term.

• Annual leave – 25 days per annum. Increasing by 1 day after each year of service to a maximum of 30 days.
• Bonus – CIFF currently operates a discretionary bonus scheme.
• Training allowance
• Wellbeing allowance
• Life insurance
• Medical insurance

Please submit your application on or before 10th July 2024. CIFF reserves the right to close the job advert early if we receive a high number of suitable applications.