The Coordinator, Awards and Budget Management, is a key member of the Program Development Management which resides within the Department of Education and Child Protection (DECP). This position has two main areas of responsibility 1) monitoring a caseload of low to medium risk awards within DECP’s portfolio and 2) providing budget support for specific programs and funding sources not directly managed within the DECP team.
The primary responsibility under awards management is to ensure donor compliance on small to medium sized corporate and foundation funded education and child protection projects. S/he will facilitate communication and oversight of the awards, serving as a liaison between fundraisers, donors, internal teams and country office (CO) staff. This person will be accountable for meeting award management targets and metrics of their awards, working closely with the home office technical teams to ensure timely implementation, effective flow of information and resources to Save the Children International (SCI) and other Save the Children (SC) members in education and child protection technical sectors. The Coordinator problem-solves to ensure health of the caseload of awards, escalating to the Sr. manager as needed.
The Coordinator will also be responsible for developing and providing timely financial management reports for specific awards and projects to allow department senior management to make strategic decisions on work planning and staffing. The Coordinator will work with DECP technical teams and his/her manager to establish annual budgets against which (s)he will generate monthly reports comparing actual expenses to approved budgets. The Coordinator will then flag any material variances within the plans to relevant stakeholders to allow for timely decisions on course corrections.
S/he will contribute to continuous improvement, recommending process improvements for the team’s senior management consideration.
This is a dynamic position which requires strong organizational skills and logic since attention will be divided between awards management and budget management.
Essential duties for managing the award portfolio include a monthly review of financial transactions to ensure charges are appropriate, monitor SC’s Award Management System record for each award in the portfolio ensuring it accurately reflects all donor reporting, agreements and internal approvals, work with country offices and home office staff to ensure they understand the award budgets, and donor expectations.
Essential budget support duties include reaching out to relevant technical staff to gather updated information on available funding sources and spending plans, monthly review of actual spending rates based on general ledger data, preparing financial reports and sharing with department’s senior management.
Essential Duties, Responsibilities and Impact
- Assist in providing input to their function’s strategic and operational plan
- Assist in developing short-term plans and organizes resources to achieve results
- Accountable for day to day decisions around execution of job, and for setting clear objectives and measures for self
- Require little or no supervision on routine work assignments, but may require supervision to review work progress and results on non-routine work assignments
Monitor Award Portfolio (focus on corporate and foundation donors) - 45%
- Work collaboratively with country offices, other SC members, technical teams and relevant partners to ensure proper stewardship of donor funding.
- Serve as the main point of contact on assigned awards for COs and SCUS stakeholders (i.e., technical assistance (TA) providers, program officers, other Business Teams, Finance, Grants and Contracts, HR, and Fundraiser staff)
- Work with finance staff and relevant technical leads to monitor rate of spending in COs and home office charges such as personnel, travel, consultancy, sub-grant agreements. Troubleshoot and escalate as needed
- Work with COs and Finance to ensure expense charges are allowable, allocable and reasonable; and follow up to ensure errors are corrected in a timely manner
- Assist with budget planning and monitor monthly budget versus actual expenditures; compile and analyze annual budget submissions
- Ensure all donor communications, requests, amendments, etc. are communicated effectively and quickly to the relevant SCI offices and recorded/stored for future reference
- Track and monitor project-specific level of effort (LOE) reporting as needed for awards in his/her portfolio and/or departmental sharing of LOE as directed
- Support the department/agency to maintain knowledge management systems (ensuring award files are kept up to date in consistent manner to support backstopping and handover)
- Monitor award implementation, reporting and procurements to ensure donor compliance and appropriate completion
- Work with COs and Finance to monitor match reporting when and if required by donor
- Support the development of and manage sub-award agreements to SC Member countries or partners as needed, including wire transfers and ad hoc support and closeout
- Set up new awards assigned within SC’s financial systems and facilitate timely close out when awards assigned have ended
Budget and Award Management for Heart programming - 40%
- Work with DECP’s Sr. Director, Child Protection and Director, Finance and Portfolio Management to provide regular financial reporting and financial oversight for funding sources directly supporting the Healing and Education through the Arts (HEART) program. Based on input from the technical team, assist in preparing annual budget projections aggregating all HEART funding and reporting out on actual spend on a monthly basis.
- Prepare financial reports for various HEART related awards and budget allocations from private funding sources including the Heart Endowment, funding from corporate and private donors including awards and contributions.
- Flag any variances from the plan to the relevant Sr. Director and work with stakeholders to help ensure maximum budget utilization.
Budget Management – other - 10%
- Work closely with Education in Emergency and Child Protection in Emergency teams to track budget availability and spending rates on a monthly basis.
- Work with Director, Finance and Portfolio Management, to create budget-monitoring reports as needed for the department across various funding sources.
- Provide analysis of spending trends within department
- Serve as back up support for finance coordinator on timesheet coordination, payments, travel expense reports and monthly transaction reviews.
Support New Business Development –5%
- Facilitate the internal approval process for concept notes and proposals within SC’s Award Management System (AMS).
- Support the development of concept notes; provide feedback to COs; incorporate reviewer feedback into concept notes
- Support the process of developing and submitting proposals in collaboration with SCI and relevant partners for private donors. Share budget templates with COs, technical teams and fundraisers and help establish proposal calendars for proposals assigned.
- Support the department to maintain knowledge management systems around resource development by ensuring AMS is kept up to date, including documents posted and current status and start dates are reflected, based on input provided, updating internal trackers for proposals and portfolio assignments.
- Support team’s proposal tracking based on information provided by the team, to ensure the most up to date data is being reflected.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum 2-3 years' work experience in area of expertise in finance or budget management
- Knowledge and technical skills to support semi-complex tasks
- Professional level of specialized knowledge, technical/functional skills and attention to detail to manage complex tasks, programs or projects
- Ability to work in a fast pace environment
- Self-Starter, independent worker
- Flexible, Adaptable, Team Player
- Excel skills and interest in financial management
- Problem-solving skills
- Cross-cultural understanding and experience working in an international environment
- Enthusiasm and desire to learn and achieve results
- Strong Communication skills
- Attention to detail, ability to manage complete tasks
Preferred Qualifications
- You have 3+ years’ experience in area of expertise
- You have a college/ advanced degree in related area (communications, monitoring & evaluating, global health, international development, etc.)
- Understanding of Awards Management or Financial Management Systems
- Understanding of the international development/international education
- Meaningful work, with a knowledge that you are changing the lives of children all around the world
- A family friendly work environment
- Highly collaborative and innovative teams
- Generous paid vacation days, holidays, family leave days, and sick time
- Healthcare plans including medical, dental, and life insurance
- Retirement savings account with matching company contributions
- Structured and formalized management development and coaching programs for mid and senior level managers
- Extensive e-learning opportunities on a variety of topics offered through our affiliation with several prestigious universities, as well as language learning opportunities