Director, Finance & Administration, Scale-Up Programs (New Haven, CT or Washington, D.C.)

• Reporting To: CFO
• Location: New Haven, CT (preferred) or Washington D.C.
• Start Date: Immediate
• Salary: Competitive, in accordance with candidate experience

What do Teach for America, Bain and IDEO have in common? They have all spun-out new organizations – Teach for All, Bridgespan, and IDEO.org – deeply tied to their missions and leveraging their capabilities. Innovations for Poverty Action joins the ranks of world-class organizations supporting the spin-out of promising new organizations, and is looking for a Director to support the transition of flagship IPA scale-up programs into a new venture.

About Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA):

IPA is an international non-profit research organization. Based in New Haven, CT, with offices in Washington, D.C. and worldwide, IPA works with development partners and academic researchers to create and evaluate approaches to solving development problems, to communicate “what works” in development and to scale up successful projects in a variety of fields, including health, education, microfinance, governance and agriculture.

About Evidence Action:

Evidence Action is a new organization working in partnership with IPA to scale proven interventions.  IPA has played an important role incubating technical assistance and service delivery programs, such as the Deworm the World Initiative, which are currently housed within IPA. The management and further growth of these “scale up” initiatives is transitioning to Evidence Action. IPA will continue to provide support for these programs during their transition period.

The Deworm the World Initiative actively supports the scale-up of school-based deworming programs worldwide to improve children’s health, education, and long-term development. Free of intestinal worms, these children can concentrate better and get more out of schooling.

Position Summary:

The Director is responsible for a broad array of financial, operational, and administrative duties including being the primary manager for the scale up programs’ grants and contracts within IPA. The Director will be the primarily liaison between IPA and Evidence Action, enabling IPA to actively invest in Evidence Action’s success and ensuring that IPA meets its responsibilities during the transition. Importantly, the Director will collaborate with Evidence Action management to develop the organization’s HR, legal and compliance systems, and be a key thought leader in driving strategic organizational development.

The position will report to IPA’s CFO, and work in close coordination with the Executive Director of Evidence Action and the senior leadership of IPA.

Responsibilities:

Capacity Building and General Administration

• Develop Evidence Action’s HR, legal and compliance systems in collaboration with Evidence Action management to international best practice standards;
• Support the strategic and tactical planning for the transition and Evidence Action’s organizational development in countries where scale-up programs are housed at IPA country offices;
• Ensure strict compliance with IPA policies and procedures in HR, procurement, logistics and security;
• Assess current local partner operations, including office staffing structure, operating systems, operations manuals, and safety and security procedures;
• Advise local partners on improvements and next steps necessary to meet standards;
• Coordinate the legal review process and support IPA’s legal team in drafting all scale-up contracts and sub-contracts;
• Process invoices, expense reports, consultant agreements, consultant payments and other contractual and financial documents; and
• Ensure procurement compliance and advise on procurement best practices.

Grants Management

• Manage the portfolio of grants and contracts for projects related to Evidence Action;
• Lead donor reporting by preparing donor financial reports and invoices;
• Manage the contract review process for all new agreements and sub agreements;
• Track grants requirements and deliverables;
• Communicate with donor institutions to ensure continued compliance; and
• Oversee compliance with USAID award requirements.

Financial Management

• Ensure that all IPA financial policies and procedures are followed and validated by internal evaluations and audits;
• Follow IPA accounting policies and procedures for scale-up activities including financial accounting and reporting;
• Provide financial management and oversight of scale-up projects;
• Support program budgeting, forecasting, and performance analysis;
• Ensure complete and accurate financial reporting across programs and donors;
• Coordinate administration of agreements, subawards, and contracts, including processing of invoices and payments for consultants and vendors;
• Prepare monthly financial progress reports;
• Develop and monitor a tracking system for private donations;
• Coordinate the review and research of accounts payable transactions made from headquarters; and
• Monitor accounts receivable transactions for the program.

Qualifications:

• 7-10 years of general management, financial management, and grants management experience;
• Master’s Degree with strong academic performance;
• Experience administering awards granted by USAID;
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and Word;
• Experience with accounting systems and database management desirable;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, sense of humor and ability to operate in ambiguity; and
• Ability to travel domestically 10 – 25% of time depending on location.

Application Instructions:

Please follow the application instructions below.  Any applications or CVs submitted outside this process will not be considered.  Note, only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview. 

1. Send an email to jobs-hr@poverty-action.org and jobs@poverty-action.org, following these instructions exactly:

• In the subject line:  Copy exactly the following position line: 100942IPAUSA, Director, Finance & Admin, Scale-up Programs.
• In the email body:  Put your full name, first (given) name followed by last (family) name
• Attachments:  Please attach Only your CV and cover letter

Please do not include any text besides your name in the body of the e-mail. Adding extra text will interfere with the processing of your application

2. Fill out our EEO-1 Voluntary Self Identification Form.

IPA is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action Employer.

All persons shall have the opportunity to be considered for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, alienage or citizenship status, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

IPA will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to a qualified applicant with a disability unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. If you believe you require such assistance to complete this form or to participate in an interview, please contact us at jobs@poverty-action.org.

DISCLAIMER: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work to be performed by the Director, Finance & Admin, Scale-up Programs.  The statements are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all possible duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Management reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet organizational needs as necessary. Please note that IPA will never request any form of payment from an applicant. Applicants are encouraged to confirm the information listed above with IPA prior to releasing any extensive personal information to the organization. Please direct questions to jobs-info@poverty-action.org.