Regional Finance and Operations Manager, Thailand

Regional Finance and Operations Manager, Thailand

Position type and closing date

Status: Single Posting

Location: Bangkok (with travels to Myanmar)

Duration of contract: one year, with possibility for extension

Start date: as soon as possible

Deadline for application: 9 March 2025

Lutheran World Federation (LWF) World Service (WS)

LWF World Service is the humanitarian and development arm of the Lutheran World Federation. We are a widely recognized, international, faith-based organization working in over twenty countries. We seek to bring people of all backgrounds together in the common quest for justice, peace, and reconciliation in an increasingly complex and fragmented world.

A commitment to the human rights of every individual, regardless of their status, guides our work, actions, and operations. We are particularly known for our timely, compassionate, and professional humanitarian work, and for our field presence in hard-to-reach areas. Our work is people-centred and community- based. Above all, we work with the most vulnerable, and in order to claim and uphold their rights, we engage proactively with local government and community structures.

For additional information, please see www.lutheranworld.org/WorldService.

Purpose

The Regional Finance and Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing financial operations, as well as duties relating to the general administration of the LWF Emergency Operations in Myanmar and Thailand and proposed new areas as part of the Regional Strategy.

The essential roles of the RFOM are to:

Provide financial oversight and leadership;

Ensure that appropriate systems relating to resource acquisition, management and reporting are embedded in all operations;

Ensure that all human resources and operational functions (logistics, procurement, administration and IT) meet the requirements of LWF’s global standards and relevant donors.

This position is a member of the Core Management Team.

Required qualifications

A Masters degree in Business Administration, Finance or its equivalent from a recognized education Institution; An additional master degree in Social Science, International studies, International Humanitarian Action is an asset.

Knowledge, skills and experience

Extensive experience as a leader in finance and operations with at least seven (7) years of experience in operations and financial management in the humanitarian and development sectors.

Experience in International NGOs and preparing major international donor proposals and reports and understanding major donor rules, including UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, ECHO, and EU.

Committed to results-based strategic management and highest level of accounting principles.

Able to set up and manage large financial and operational management systems.

Proven experience in responding to programmatic or emergency needs through the development of large realistic project budgets, often with multiple donors.

Able to organize and present complex finance information sufficiently and succinctly to specific requests.

Demonstrative experience managing large, varied workloads and periods of work with strict deadlines, with limited supervision.

Highly developed cultural awareness in challenging, international environments with a diverse team.

Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to establish effective working relationships in a matrix management environment.

High level of independence, objectivity and integrity.

Forward thinker who is proactive to support, coach and mentor colleagues and supervisees.

High competency with technology on-and-offline (specifically MS365 package); SAGE or other comparable accounting platform and other online systems.

Language Skills

English: advanced oral and written skills.

Burmese and/or Thai would be an asset.

LWF Core Skills

Analytical thinking – Level resource*

Achieving results – Level resource

Accountability – Level resource

Initiative – Level advanced

Leadership – Level advanced

LWF Functional Skills

Financial/Administration – Level resource

Facilitation / Negotiation – Level resource

Resource Management – Level advanced

People Management – Level advanced

Capacity building/ Training – level advanced

LWF 3 skills levels are: basis – advanced – resource.

Main duties

Finance

Safeguard LWF operations and programming by ensuring that accounting policies and internal controls are properly and consistently applied.

Ensure that financial requirements and deadlines as outlined in the WS Finance Manual and in funding agreements with relevant donors are consistently met. These include the 1) mandatory monthly and yearly account update; 2) monthly finance and management reports for the country program and globally, and 3) reporting to donors / funding agencies (as per signed funding agreements), and 4) other legal country requirements.

Develop and monitor operational and project budgets for the Myanmar and Thailand programs. This includes budgets for Program Operations (core costs), Basket-funded Projects with Related Agencies, Appeals for Emergencies, Bilateral applications to Institutional donors (and Related Agencies as relevant) and other budgets as per need, related to new ways of programming.

Ensure that funds are available and well managed, including the preparation of cash flow projections and timely requests for transfers from LWF and /or fund instalments from funding agencies.

Ensure that the Program Coordinator and other relevant staff receive accurate and timely financial analysis of expenditures against budgets for cost-effective project management and decision-making.

Regularly conduct project finance and operational monitoring visits to satellite offices.

Liaise with banks, tax authorities, other relevant legal and government bodies.

Liaise with auditors, coordinating all required documents from finance and other relevant departments and ensure that management responses and follow-up reflect LWF standards.

Operations

Review and upgrade LWF Myanmar policies and procedures for utilisation by operations in the region.

Provide oversight of wider operational processes, including risk management, planning and budget monitoring of realistic operational structures for the program short term, medium term and long term.

Oversee the Human Resources function including staff planning and hiring, review of job descriptions, issuing of employment contracts and support to the management of the performance cycle for all staff.

Provide oversight for the payment of salaries and allowances in accordance with legal requirements, including taxation, and payroll management.

Manage, coach and supervise finance and administrative staff (including staff capacity building and training), ensuring adherence to agreed workplans, and delegating as needed to improve effectiveness and learning.

Ensure that logistics and procurement processes are compliant with the LWF global policies and manuals

Overseeing asset registers ensuring accuracy and timely updates.

With support from the global IT and country IT staff on technical and SharePoint protocols, manage digital assets and develop and uphold procedures for electronic data storage, backups and information security.

Oversee both off and online storage and archiving systems to meet global requirements, including institutional and project related audits.

Perform other duties as assigned by Country Representative.

Applicants are required to uphold the core values of our organization.