Associate Director- Finance and Grant Management at Jhpiego – John Hopkins University

Overview

• Jhpiego seeks Associate Director- Finance and Grant Management.
• He/She will provide strategic leadership and oversight for the overall project’s financial and management functions.
• The role will ensure that project resources are managed efficiently; financial management systems meet Jhpiego, Johns Hopkins University (JHU), donor, and Nigerian legal requirements.
• The Associate Director- Finance and Grant Management is a member of the project senior management team and the principal adviser on financial and operational risk management, and resource stewardship.
• The Associate Director- Finance and Grant Management will oversee budgeting, forecasting, accounting, cash management, financial reporting, internal controls, audit readiness, grant management, sub-awards and contractors.
• The position as key personnel for assigned project, will directly oversee governance and provide strategic financial oversight and reporting.
• He/she will serve as a key liaison with Jhpiego global backstop teams in Baltimore office, the donor, partners, and relevant Nigerian financial and regulatory authorities.
• Reports directly to the Finance and Operations Director as well as indirectly to the Project Director.

Responsibilities
Strategic Financial Leadership:

• Provide overall leadership and oversight for project finance management, including start-up and close-out processes.
• Develop, implement, and strengthen project-specific financial management strategies, standard operating procedures, internal controls, consistent with Jhpiego, JHU, and applicable Nigerian requirements.
• Provide strategic financial, operational, and risk advice to the Project Director, Country office leadership, and project management team.
• Supervise, coach, and develop the capacity of finance and grants management staff, and promote consistent application of policies, controls, and service standards.
• Identify and communicate financial, compliance, and fiduciary risks and ensure practical mitigation actions are implemented and monitored.

Budgeting, Financial Planning, and Milestone Management:

• Lead development and management of active project budgets, work-plan budgets, milestones, projections, scenario analyses, and budget revisions in collaboration with program leadership, technical, procurement, operations, and global project teams.
• Align budgets, expenditures, forecasts, procurement plans, resource allocations, and cash requirements with approved work plans, project milestones, and payment-linked deliverables.
• Monitor burn rates, pipeline, commitments, cash flow, funding balances, and financial performance; explain material variances and recommend corrective action.
• Establish and maintain tracking for payment-linked milestones, including milestone value, expected achievement and verification dates, invoices, payment status, documentation requirements, and cash-flow implications.
• Coordinate financial requirements for milestone verification, invoicing, and payment, ensuring complete, accurate, compliant, and timely supporting documentation.

Financial Systems, Controls, and Reporting:

• Oversee project accounting, bookkeeping, payment processing, payroll interfaces, reconciliations, records management, and month- and year-end close processes.
• Ensure the integrity, accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of financial data and reports submitted to project leadership, the Country Office, Jhpiego Baltimore, and the donor.
• Prepare or oversee monthly and quarterly financial reports, pipeline analyses, forecasts, consolidated fiscal reports, and other management or donor reports.
• Maintain effective cash-management controls and ensure sufficient cash is available for planned implementation while expenditure remains within approved funding levels.
• Ensure financial records, approvals, supporting documents, including contracts, procurement source documents, and asset records are complete, secure, accessible, and audit ready.

Grant Management (Sub-Awards, Partnerships, and Financial Oversight):

• Provide financial and grant management oversight for active project.
• Ensure full compliance with contractual clauses regarding milestones, expenditure profiles, budget flexibility and other conditions and restrictions.
• Collaborate with the Grants Manager, compliance personnel, contracts personnel, and program and finance teams to review and administer project sub-agreements.
• Provide financial and compliance input into award documents, modifications, contracts, and other binding agreements issued to or by Jhpiego.
• Support selection, pre-award assessment, budgeting, monitoring, capacity strengthening, closeout, and final reporting for sub-recipients and local partners.
• Coordinate with project leadership, technical teams, engineers or other qualified specialists, government counterparts, and implementing partners to align scopes of work, bills of quantities, budgets, schedules, approvals, and acceptance requirements.
• Ensure financial and compliance gaps identified for sub-recipients are addressed and documented.
• Establish controls for contractor and sub-award mobilization, advances, performance security where applicable, progress-payment certification, retention, variation orders, completion documentation, and final account settlement.
• Ensure payments are supported by authorized contracts, verified progress, approved deliverables, required inspections, and complete documentation. Technical acceptance must be performed by appropriately qualified and authorized personnel.
• Monitor budgets, commitments, cost variances, compliance and escalate material concerns promptly to project leadership.

Compliance, Risk Management, and Audit Readiness:

• Ensure compliance with Jhpiego and JHU financial and operational policies; donor rules; award terms; and applicable Nigerian laws and regulations.
• Ensure compliance with statutory obligations related to payroll, income tax, VAT, organizational registration, required permits, and other applicable requirements.
• Maintain continuous audit readiness and coordinate donor, statutory, internal, and external audits and financial or operational reviews.
• Review audit and assessment findings, assign and track corrective actions, and ensure issues are resolved and documented through closure.
• Promote ethical conduct, segregation of duties, confidentiality, prevention of fraud and conflicts of interest, and timely reporting of suspected irregularities.

Resource Stewardship, Sustainability, and Value for Money:

• Promote economical, efficiency, and responsible use of project resources and strengthen accountability across project teams.
• Analyze expenditure patterns, pricing, unit costs, implementation costs, procurement outcomes, and construction costs to identify efficiencies and improve value for money.
• Work with program, technical, procurement, grants, compliance and operations teams to prioritize resources toward activities required to achieve project results and milestones.
• Support sustainable financial planning, local capacity strengthening, and use of existing government systems where feasible and appropriate.

Effort Reporting and General Administration:

• Ensure optimal, effective and efficient systems and procedures for project effort reporting are in place, accurately and consistently applied, including timekeeping on digital platform of the organization.
• Oversee and ensure accuracy of travel and expense reporting, consultant payments, records, insurance, and other operational services within the role’s authority.
• Oversee and ensure accuracy of fair allocation of office costs with clear and verifiable audit trail.
• Build a collaborative, service-oriented team culture with clear accountability, fair supervision, delegation, regular feedback, and professional development.

Other Responsibilities:

• Contribute to senior management deliberations and maintain productive collaboration with country, project, regional, global, technical, program, compliance, and operations teams.
• Perform other duties assigned that are consistent with the role.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Public Administration, or a related field; a recognized professional accounting qualification is preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible finance management, grant and compliance experience, including significant experience managing donor-funded or U.S. Government-funded programs.
• Demonstrated experience in financial analysis, reporting, cash-flow management, budgeting, forecasting, internal controls, and audit management.
• Experience in managing complex donor awards with specialized areas such as construction and other special conditions.
• Knowledge of U.S. Government cost principles and donor compliance requirements, generally accepted accounting practices, grants and contract management, and applicable local statutory requirements.
• Experience with sub-award or sub-agreement financial management and strengthening partner financial and compliance capacity.
• Proficiency with financial software and Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel; experience with QuickBooks or comparable accounting software is preferred.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, interpersonal, written, oral, facilitation, negotiation, and presentation skills in English; proficiency in relevant Nigerian language(s) is an advantage.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, exercise sound judgment, maintain confidentiality, work independently and collaboratively, and travel domestically and internationally as required.

Core Competencies:

• Strategic financial leadership and sound judgment
• Integrity, accountability, and stewardship
• Risk-based decision-making and problem solving
• Contract management and governance
• Cross-functional leadership and stakeholder management
• Staff coaching, delegation, and capacity strengthening
• Clear communication, diplomacy, and negotiation
• Results orientation and attention to detail.

General Expectations:

• Model Jhpiego’s mission and values and contribute to knowledge sharing and organizational learning.
• Make responsible decisions that support time and cost containment, compliance, and clear accountability.
• Participate effectively in multiple teams, manage competing priorities, and provide timely feedback and follow-through.
• Promote equal and fair treatment, respectful supervision, and a safe and professional work environment.

Method of Application

Note
All staff members of Jhpiego, regardless of the level of their responsibilities are expected to:

•  Model the mission and values stated above
• Participate in the business development processes
•  Contribute to the knowledge sharing and transfer process
•  Make responsible decisions that result in time and cost containment and clear accountability
•  Participate in multiple teams, adopt team spirit, take responsibility for action items assigned and provide feedback as needed
•  Multitask, be able to manage competing priorities and be able to prioritize in order to meet program and/or organizational objectives

Interested and qualified candidates should apply below USING APPLY ONLINE NOW BUTTON