Position Title:  Finance Officer

Location: Tirana, Albania

Organization: Partners Albania for Change and Development (Partners Albania)

Background: Partners Albania is an independent Albanian organization established in 2001, working to support civil society and facilitate inter-sector cooperation in order to strengthen democratic institutions and advance economic development. PA has organized its interventions into four key programmatic areas: 1) Enabling Environment and Sustainable Development of Civil Society; 2) Participatory, Accountable and Transparent Governance; 3) Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation; 4) Philanthropic Activity and Supporting Infrastructure.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Finance Officer should carry out the responsibilities and duties described as below independently, with minimum supervision of the Finance Manager, but also in the context of a professional team.

General

• Implements financial policies and procedures;
• Participates in the development of budget proposals;
• Provides support to Finance Manager during Annual Financial Organization Audit, if and when required;
• Ensures that all financial and administrative documents and files are properly organized, updated, and regularly backed up;
• Provides advice and recommendations on financial procedures and practices, as required.

Project Financial Management:

• Implement all policies and procedures for procurement, advances, and payments in line with policies, procedures, and requirements as stipulated in the project funding agreement.
• Ensure that monthly financial reports of project(s) under management are completed on a timely basis and reconciliations are approved by the Finance Manager.
• Ensure that project(s) transactions are fully supported and approved in conformity with  the requirements of the donor(s) and or/Partners Albania internal policies and procedures;
• Assist the Finance Manager in the organization and completion of Project (s) Expenditure Verifications Reports by external auditors, if and when required;
• Manage the financial activities and schedules to meet the financial reporting requirements and deadlines;

Management of Sub-Granting Schemes:

• Participate in projects evaluation as part of evaluation teams, composed of Partners expert staff and/or external evaluators;
• Ensures good communication and effective collaboration with sub-grantees and partners, by coaching and mentoring them, for proper implementation of their projects;
• Monitor subgrantee’s performance and prepare cash flow forecasts;
• Coordinate and review sub-grantees financial reports and submit payment requests to the Finance Manager;
• Perform data entry into Grant Management System.

Qualifications:

• University degree (Bachelor) in finance, accounting, or business administration;
• At least 5 years of relevant working experience in finance, accounting, or bookkeeping;
• Very good knowledge of NGO financial-related Albanian legal framework (tax, accounting standards);
• Excellent PC user skills in Microsoft Office package, particularly in Excel (formulas, pivot tables, etc.);
• Very good communication and coordination skills;
• Good organizational and analytical skills including attention to detail and multi-tasking skills;
• Able to work in a fast-paced environment;
• Ability to adapt and to be flexible;
• Ability to work independently and have self-organizational skills;
• Ability to work harmoniously with people from different cultural backgrounds;
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to work in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity;
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships with and between different levels and positions in the organization and counterparts;
• Excellent command of spoken and written Albanian and English.

Salary:  Commensurate with experience

Expected Start Date:  15th October 2021 (negotiable)

Application procedure: Interested candidates are requested to apply by submitting: 1) a cover letter indicating their interest and motivation, 2) a relevant CV (EU format) and copies of documents supporting their academic and/or professional experience, 3) a short essay about their experience and how it relates to the position (up to 500 words), 4) Three letters of reference. Please, feel free to include any other documents that you think are relevant.

Only candidates that submit all the above-mentioned documents will be considered for review.

Please send your full application package with the heading “Application for Finance Officer” to partners@partnersalbania.org, not later than 26^th September 2021.

Partners Albania will contact only those applicants who will be invited for an interview by 29^th September. Before applying, we encourage applicants to consult the Partners Albania webpage in order to familiarize themselves with our work.

Partners Albania embraces diversity in its hiring, welcoming individuals of all religions, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation to apply.