UN Women - Chief, Finance and Budget

UN Women (UNW), grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. The Division of Management and Administration is responsible for the planning, allocation and management of financial, human and administrative resources including information communications and technology, the effective and efficient delivery of essential operations services in UN Women, continuous development and improvement in operations, policies, and methods to align with UN Women and stakeholders' evolving business needs and advisory support to the Executive Director in the formulation and implementation of the UN Women overall mission, strategy and plans of actions. The Chief, Finance and Budget, reports to the Director, Division of Management and Administration, and is responsible for the strategic planning and management UN Women resources financial planning/budget, treasury operations and the administration of financial services including payroll operations, internal control, financial processing, accounting and institutional reporting of the UN Women regular and non-core financial resources. The Chief oversees and guides all financial operations to ensure the timely, effective and efficient delivery of services according to plans, standards of performances and objectives and accountability framework for operations and the protection and safeguarding of all UN Women financial resources.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions: 1. Strategic leadership in financial management operations and services Determine the strategy and develop the implementation plan for financial operations and services. Establish the annual work plan for finance in collaboration with the finance team, set objectives, performance measurements, standards and results expected to ensure timely, correct and effective financial control and services. Monitor implementation and progress. Keep the Director informed and advised on the strategic and operational aspects of financial operations of regular and non-core resources that will maximize efficiency and cost effectiveness and recommend courses of action to align financial management with evolving business and client needs. Guide, monitor and evaluate financial operations and services for efficiency/efficacy. Take timely decisions to ensure the appropriate, optimum and transparent management and use of financial resources in accordance with UN Women standards of performance, ethics, integrity and financial accountability framework. Supervise staff members by providing them with clear objectives and goals as well as direction and guidance to enable them to perform their duties and responsibilities effectively and efficiently. 2. Financial planning, administration and monitoring Manage the budget preparation exercise for biennial support and annual non-core budgets. Support the presentation of the budget to the Executive Board and the Consultative Committee. Keep track, control and oversee budget allocations to ensure compliance with plans and approved budget. Approve reallocations, in accordance with delegated authority, to ensure optimum and efficient use of resources. Monitor compliance of field offices with UN and UN Women financial regulations, rules, policies and procedures. Take timely and appropriate action to ensure compliance. 3. Financial advisory support and technical guidance Collaborate with UN Women internal and external partners, colleagues and stakeholders to keep abreast of evolving trends, development and needs, share ideas for improvements and align services according to needs. Monitor and evaluate financial operating environment at the HQ and field office level, take action to adjust to needs and ensure all stakeholders are advised on the legal considerations and risks assessments. Develop the plan and oversee implementation of decentralization of financial activities to field offices to ensure the smooth transfer of responsibilities with accountability. Oversee sustainability of effective decentralization through systematic training and monitoring, evaluation and reporting of performance in field offices. Manage the timely and substantive response and feedback for learning and development of stakeholders. Provide advice to the Director and/or Senior UN Women management on the expansion of the funding base and contribute to development of policies and standards of agreements to facilitate resource mobilization, including cost-sharing and trust fund agreements. 4. Financial reporting and responding to audit Coordinate, develop and/or review financial input to UN Women's Strategic Plan and related documents, including setting financial management targets, monitoring and reporting results. Submit mandated year-end financial report on budget performance for senior management review and oversight. Ensure the availability of all required operational reports, monitor unusual activities and exception reports, investigate anomalies and resolve problems. Report on action/s taken or if additional action is required to resolve the problem. Coordinate responses to internal and external audit enquiries and findings. Follow up on audit reports and observations and/or take timely corrective actions to resolve issues/anomalies. Provide advice on issues related to Oversight Committee. 5. Representation and networking Represent UN Women in inter-agency and external meetings/bodies dealing with finance policy setting and decision-making; and in resource mobilization activities to collaborate on common interests/initiatives and influence policies/agenda. Collaborate with internal and external partners, colleagues and stakeholders to keep abreast of evolving trends, development and needs, share ideas for improvements and align services according to needs. 6. Knowledge management and capacity building Constantly monitor and evaluate operational policies, procedures, methods, tools and associated systems to ensure its utility, applicability and efficacy in operational management. Recommend, set and/or develop new policies and procedures and introduce innovation and best practices in business operations to enhance services. Plan and implement a strategic capacity building plan for learning and development in financial management and operations. Lead/organize training events and design/set training agenda on finance and budget focus areas. Determine and make available sufficient and expert resources for training events.

Competencies

Core Values and Principles: Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct. Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity. Core Competencies: Ethics and Values: Promoting Ethics and Integrity / Creating Organizational Precedents Organizational Awareness: Building support and political acumen. Planning and organizing: Proven ability to plan strategic direction and ability to organize and service intergovernmental bodies and international technical meetings. Developing and Empowering People / coaching and mentoring: Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation Working in Teams: Proven record of building and managing teams and creating an enabling and collaborative work environment, including the ability to effectively lead, supervise, mentor, develop and evaluate staff. Communicating Information and Ideas: Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating an emotionally intelligent organization Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Leveraging conflict in the interests of the organization & setting standards. Ability to interact and negotiate with high-level government officials are required Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning. Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Fair and transparent decision-making; calculated risk-taking Commitment to continuous learning: Willingness to keep abreast of new developments in the field of gender equality thematic areas Leadership - Proven track record of excellent management and technical leadership skills and ability to delegate appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Advanced university degree in finance, administration, accounting, economics, business management or other related field is required. Experience: Minimum 15 years of extensive experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in financial planning/budgeting, financial management and operations in a large international and/or corporate organization preferably in the UN System and its organizations. Language Requirements: Fluency in oral and written English is required. Proficiency in another UN working language is desirable. In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment. All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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UN Women - Chief, Finance and Budget