Regional Finance Director, Africa

Role Overview

This role is a senior finance leadership position embedded in both the International Finance team and the Africa regional office. You will be responsible for overseeing the financial health of a multi-country portfolio, ensuring donor compliance, and guiding country teams through the full project lifecycle—from budget design to audit closure. Your work directly enables program teams across Africa to deliver humanitarian and development impact by turning financial data into strategic insight and safeguarding the integrity of millions of dollars in donor funding.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead regional financial oversight by monitoring portfolio performance, identifying risks and opportunities, and presenting monthly health and risk summaries to regional and headquarters leadership.
• Deploy to country offices across Africa to provide hands-on support during complex events such as emergency scale-up, office start-up, or program closeout, ensuring financial systems are strong under pressure.
• Advise country finance teams on budget versus actual analysis, forecasting, master budget development, and subaward financial monitoring, tailoring tools to each program's context.
• Review cost proposals and perform the final financial clearance for donor submissions, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and alignment with internal policies.
• Partner with the Regional Controller to close audit findings, develop corrective action plans, and track implementation across country programs.
• Deliver financial analysis and strategic guidance to regional senior management, helping translate complex financial information into clear decisions for non-finance leaders.
• Recruit, mentor, and manage a regional finance team, while also building finance capacity among country program staff through training, coaching, and structured development plans.
• Stay current on donor rules—particularly US Government and European Union regulations—and provide expert guidance to ensure every project remains fully compliant.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance; a Master’s degree, CPA, or equivalent professional certification is strongly preferred.
• At least 10 years of progressive financial management experience at the field or overseas level, with a minimum of several years in an international NGO or similar humanitarian context.
• Proven supervisory experience, including direct management of finance analysts and managers across multiple locations.
• Demonstrated ability to work in complex, fast-paced, and often emergency settings, with willingness to travel frequently—up to 25% of the time—to field offices and crisis locations.
• Strong working knowledge of US Government and European Union donor regulations, including familiarity with US Government contracting mechanisms.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in both English and French; fluency in a relevant regional African language is an added advantage.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Commitment to humanitarian principles and the ability to build trust across diverse teams, partners, and government stakeholders.