The Finance, Planning and Analysis team is seeking an energetic, collaborative Finance Associate to provide business and financial analysis support to Program Strategy Teams (PSTs). Key responsibilities include partnering with the program team in grantee financial assessment and grant investment structuring, including complex transactions. Other key responsibilities include supporting the Program CFO and Finance Managers in annual budget and financial planning, resource allocation and ad hoc projects.
Critical skills for success include solution-orientation and an action-oriented attitude. Experience using financial/data analysis and modeling skills in an advisory role are necessary in building strong relationships with key partners, including the education leadership team.
The Finance Associate must be effective at influencing with exceptional partnership and communication skills. Most importantly, s/he must be passionate about the foundation’s mission, particularly in addressing the educational inequities that exist today.
Strategy and Financial Planning (15%)
- Support budgeting and financial planning.
- Produce detailed, dynamic 5-year investment forecasts, including risk assessment and scenario modeling.
Pipeline Management (15%)
- Monitor actuals and forecasts against budget, with risk assessment, and produce variance analysis.
- Build tools and reports to plan and monitor workflow, as input to and check on forecasting.
Investment Analysis (60%)
- Ensure grantee financial performance, e.g., perform new grant and annual progress report budget reviews, conduct financial diligence, review grant proposal summaries, evaluate budget forecasts, and assess the financial health of organizations to ensure potential funding meets the Foundation's grant-seeker requirements, strategic goals, and programmatic missions.
- Provide analytical support on complex analysis with a financial component and for complex financial transactions, including PRIs.
- Support the analysis of the financial health of organizations through market research, financial statement review and discussions with key finance members of the organization under review.
Cross-Foundational / Project based (10%)
- Participate in PST-related and cross-foundation projects to develop tools and best practices in support of effective investment-making, pipeline management and operational excellence.
- Respond to internal and external portfolio data requests and analysis.
This role is responsible for high quality interactions and clear and consistent communications with grantees and partners in the field.
- Broad knowledge of finance (corporate, global markets)
- Project management
- Knowledge of program issues and international development industry
- Knowledge of developing country economics and dynamics
- Strong analytics (especially financial modeling, investment/deal structuring)
- Financial and strategic planning; analytical, numerical and financial modeling skills
- Ability to build and manage relationships within and outside the organization
- Business plan development and evaluation
- Project management skills (basic)
- Ability to translate data into user friendly tools/resources
- Ability to communicate complex financial issues in non-financial terms
- Intellectual curiosity
- Ability to absorb / quickly distill significant amounts of information
- Ability to influence without formal authority
- Negotiation skills
- Solution and action orientation
- Advanced excel (pivot tables, VB Scripts, SQL)
- Ability to read and analyze financial statements
- Ability to manage multiple projects and activities