Finance Manager

Danish Refugee Council, one of the world’s leading humanitarian NGOs, is currently looking for a highly qualified Finance Manager for our operations in Addis Ababa Country Office.

Instruction for applicants:All applicants must upload a cover letter and an updated CV in English. Please ensure that your CV does not exceed three pages. Applications with CVs longer than the specified limit may not be consideredOverall purpose of the role

This role has a country focus and ensures the financial health and stability of DRC ETH, foster strong donor relationships and support the organisational localisation efforts while ensuring compliance to DRC procedures and guidelines within the country. The role contributes to the development of country strategies, which are translated into action plans and day-to-day tasks. The role provides support and/or technical guidance to country operations while overseeing country Finance activities.

The Finance Manager is vested with powers to execute management policies and responsibilities to hire, suspend, layoff, dismiss or assign employees within the Finance department as necessary for the operations.

Your main duties and responsibilities will be:Management & Leadership:

Within his/her management mandate, and in alignment with DRC’s leadership standards and policies, the position holder:

• Providing leadership and direction to a team, ensuring clarity of roles, expectations, and performance standards to achieve agreed goals and objectives.

• Exercising team budget oversight and decision-making authority where assigned.

• Leading or contributing to recruitment processes for staff within their team and implementing termination decisions in accordance with DRC’s two-step principle.

• Conducting and/or signing off on performance appraisals and ensuring regular, constructive feedback to support continuous improvement.

• Supporting the professional development of team members through coaching, capacity building, and development planning.

• Addressing poor performance and disciplinary issues, including handling Code of Conduct cases referred to management, in line with DRC policies and procedures.Is accountable for people management of direct reports, including hiring & firing, objective setting and priorities as per the strategic direction, probation, performance appraisal, development of staff, managing performance, including poor performance, etc.

• Is accountable for making sound decisions based on DRC policies, MOPs, standards, and the advice of technical experts in DRC.

• Accountable for making significant decisions on what the Finance team does: its purpose, functions and role, and for making commitments and decisions that require the expenditure of significant unit resources.

• Manages all finance related tasks within the country (Addis and field offices) - this includes but not limited to financial planning & analysis, cash flow management, financial risk management, budgeting & reporting, compliance and finance capacity building or teams and DRC implementing partners.

• Support the development and implementation of financial management capacity building of staff in the Country Finance team and provide support to the Area based Finance teams.

• Work to build the capacity of finance staff members throughout the program through frequent in-service training sessions and mentoring support.

• Ensure data protection and confidentiality in handling all financial information and organization documents

Financial Management and Planning

• Oversee the finance department for the entire operation, providing training and oversight to country office finance staff as well as advising and ensuring adequate support to area office finance staff.

• In close cooperation with Managers and AMs, reinforce existing procedures and systems for financial management and control in compliance with guidelines of DRC’s Operations Handbook, internal guidelines and donor requirements.

• Support timely delivery of quality financial reports to donors and internal reports to colleagues and HQ.

• Ensure compliance with relevant country statutory and other financial obligations such as tax, levies and statutory returns.

• Monthly/weekly financial briefings to Head of Support Services

• Ensure Finance team preparation and active participation in monthly Budget Follow Up reviews and in monthly/quarterly Project Monitoring Meeting (financial aspects) to discuss key variances, reasons for these, and any remedial action that is required.

• Ensure thorough and effective budgetary control in the country programs.

• Liaise with relevant Managers and budget holders on key financial issues for all programs in the country, including co-funding, financial reporting, key variances, and recommend and support any remedial action required, reporting major issues to the Head of Support Services for action.

• Collecting cash forecasts from all Programme Managers and requesting funds in a timely manner.

• Maintain a continuous overview of funding levels and pay particular attention to shared support costs, including staff salaries and other shared cost lines.

• Ensure all required documentation for financial audits in cooperation with Coordination staff and HQ.

• In preparation for local audits, the Finance Manager will support the Head of Support Services and the Senior Management Team of DRC in liaising with government officials, and external auditors, in relation to issues of audit and compliance.

• Contribute to the development of proposals with regards to budgeting in cooperation with Managers.

• Ensure a Master Budget is in place and UpToDate, in Dynamics and lead a monthly gap analysis meeting with Senior Management Team.

• Coordinate the allocation table & resource scheduling with the different budget holders

• Forecast future financial performance and analyse financial data to guide decision-making.

• Supervision, audits and controlling and implementation of corrective actions related to the DRC standards for operations. This includes, among other things, supervision of all financial reporting and financial procedures, including the monthly schedule for financial reporting, donor reporting and audits, cash flow and liquidity management, legal framework and reporting relations to National authorities.

Systems Improvement and Compliance

• Ensure DRC Dynamics is used to its full capacity as per the guidelines set by DRC’s Headquarters.

• Ensure proper application of ERP finance processes across the country, providing remote and in-person field support and guidance.

• Responsible for ensuring all new Finance staff across DRC Ethiopia receive an in-depth induction to Microsoft Dynamics as applicable to their role.

• Apply reports and data analytics from ERP system to improve performance in the country.

• Ensure that Country ERP support is in place (i.e. super users).

• Improve and implement comprehensive internal office controls in line with DRC’s Operations Handbook.

• Develop process for approving and monitoring spending to different DRC’s projects through Area Managers.

• Coordinate financial management and systems training for non-finance staff.

• Travel to field location(s) as necessary (30% of time) and provide oversight of field office financial systems and processes if needed.

• Support the finance team on key compliance issues, such as DRC’s Operations Handbook, ChSA (Charities and Societies Agency) audit.

• Review key processes and work closely with the Head of Support Services (HoSS) to suggest improvements for scale and efficiency, while managing risk.

Reporting and Analysis

• Lead monthly review of project expenses comparing actual to budget and analyzing variances.

• Participate in ongoing analysis, forecasting and review of project expenses, accruals, and projections.

• Prepare and submit ad hoc reports on portfolio financial status for senior management, including annual Prognosis reports, in coordination with Head of Programme for pipeline projects affecting Master Budget gap analysis.

• Review and approve the financial close-out of program activities as required by grant rules, and verify documentation and information is complete

• Run financial KPI meetings as necessary.

• Develop a risk management plan for the country that identifies the major financial and operational risks and implement a mitigation strategy. This will be done through regular review of the country Risk Register and Issues Log and submission of quarterly inputs from the Finance department.

Accounting

• Review all financial data entries that go into the Dynamics ERP system.

• Ensure all payment requests and wire transfer requests for payments to vendors are completed in compliance with contract requirements and paid on time, adjusting work processes in the country office Finance department as required.

• Ensure on time management, review, and processing of payroll, invoices, and in-field fee payments in accordance with DRC’s accounting procedures and donor policies.

• Ensure bank statements, bank reconciliations, and submitted expense reports are reasonable, allocable, and auditable are posted on Dynamics.

• Review monthly reconciliation of Bank accounts and prepare monthly close out as per the guidelines provided by HQ.

• Prepare for and participate in all financial reviews/audits required.

• Ensure that all month & year end accounts reconciliation and closure are done on a timely basis.Partnership Management

• Participate in setting partner selection criteria and in the final selection

• Participate in potential partner due-diligence assessment

• Review sub-grant agreement for donor’s audit requirement, instalments, reporting, etc.

• Participate in partners project kick-off and close-out meeting

• Process advance/reimbursement payment request of partners

• Participate in partner capacity assessment and work with partner to execute the capacity development plan

• Participate in partner monitoring visit and prepare a report

• Actively engage in partner project management/review meeting

• Review and approve financial report of partner

Within Technical Supervision mandate of Field Support Services Managers / TL and Field Finance Officers and Assistants, the position holder is responsible for:

• Providing technical direction, guidance, and where mandated, instructions to ensure compliance with DRC policies, standards, and strategies.

• Supporting managers and technical staff through regular communication, capacity building, and promotion of best practices.

• Support managers with assessing the technical skills and performance of most senior supply chain staff in field offices.

• Escalating and, where authorized, addressing issues of non-compliance or poor performance in line with the technical supervision mandate.

• Participating in the recruitment of Finance staff in the field offices.

All DRC roles require the post-holder to master DRC’s core competencies:

• Striving for excellence: Focusing on reaching results while ensuring efficient processes.

• Collaborating: Involving relevant parties and encouraging feedback.

• Taking the lead: Taking ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.

• Communicating: Listening and speaking effectively and honestly.

• Demonstrating integrity: Upholding and promoting the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to DRC’s values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

Experience and technical competencies:

• At least 5 years’ experience in in a senior financial management position.

• At least 3 years’ experience with people management

• Proven experience in managing large budgets of international humanitarian organizations

• Proven leadership skills and a competence in people management

• Competence in providing technical guidance and training

• Proven experience in working with national partners, local/government authorities

• Working experience with relevant donors (e.g. NORAD, SIDA, EU, ECHO, ECHO, DANIDA, GFFO, SDC, FCDO, etc.) and sound understanding of their respective financial rules and regulations including financial reporting requirements

• Advanced proficiency in Excel as well as experience working in a financial IT system, particularly Microsoft Dynamics

• Have a track record of achieving high targets in a highly demanding and challenging context with multiple conflicting priorities.

• Demonstrate expert proficiency in advance Excel with large/complicated financial data analysis and presentation.

• Have a collaborative approach to work and have been able to achieve results through influencing others. .

• Be able to multitask and deliver results while working independently.

• Be self-driven and solutions oriented, with a record of solutions created through personal initiative.

EDUCATION: (include certificates, licenses, etc.)

• Master’s degree in Finance, Business Administration, Accounting or related field.

• Professional certification in Accounting.

LANGUAGE: (indicate Fluency level)

• Full professional proficiency in English (Verbal and written).

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’ five core competencies: Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.

Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.

Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.

Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.

Demonstrating integrity: You uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to our values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

We offer

Contract length: 12 Months with possibility of extension

Contract Type: National Contract

Band: F1

Designation of Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Please note that this position is not eligible for relocation.

Required Employees: 1

Start date: 1st January 2027

Salary and conditions will be in accordance with Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for National employees

Application process

All applicants must upload a cover letter and an updated CV (no longer than three pages) in English. Applications sent by email will not be considered

Please ensure that your CV does not exceed three pages. Applications with CVs longer than the specified limit may not be considered.

Closing date for applications: November 16, 2026

For further information about the Danish Refugee Council, please consult our website .

Gender Equality: DRC is committed to achieving gender parity in staffing at all levels. In light of this, women candidates are particularly encouraged to apply to bridge the gender gap.

Equal Opportunities: DRC is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment based on mutual respect for all employees. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, disability status, religion, ethnic origin, colour, race, marital status, or other protected characteristics

We strongly encourage female candidates to apply for the position!

We encourage only qualified Ethiopian Nations to apply. DRC considers all applicants based on merit.