Head of finance ingo jobs
Safe Passage International
Head of Finance
Salary: c£60,000
Location: London / Hybrid
Reports to: Chief Executive
Line Management: Financial Accountant and Finance Team
Safe Passage International is a leading international NGO working to champion the rights of refugees and displaced people. We help unaccompanied children and vulnerable adults access safe and legal routes to protection, and we advocate for systemic change across Europe.
We are seeking a strategic and values-driven Head of Finance to lead our finance function across the UK, France, and Greece. As a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring financial integrity, sustainability, and operational excellence across the organisation.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and develop a robust international finance function, ensuring strong internal controls and compliance.
- Oversee budgeting, forecasting, treasury, audit, and financial reporting.
- Drive financial strategy and systems optimisation, including digital transformation.
- Manage procurement and contract oversight, ensuring value for money and donor compliance.
- Support and develop finance staff, and collaborate across teams to embed financial best practice.
- Actively contribute to organisational leadership and governance, as a member of the Senior Leadership Team, including board-level reporting.
About You
You are a qualified finance professional with:
- Proven experience in strategic financial leadership, with a demonstrable understanding of the regulatory requirements for UK charity finance.
- Strong technical skills and a collaborative approach to working across cultures and disciplines.
- A commitment to refugee rights and the mission of Safe Passage.
- Experience in international finance, donor compliance, and systems development is highly desirable.
Why Join Us?
At Safe Passage, you’ll be part of a courageous, compassionate team making a real difference. We offer:
- A supportive and inclusive culture.
- Opportunities for professional development.
- The chance to shape the future of a growing international charity.
Ready to lead change?
Apply now and help us build a world where everyone has the right to seek safety.
To find out more visit our dedicated microsite by clicking the button below and for any queries, please contact our retained partners at GatenbySanderson, full details can be found on the microsite.
Closing date: Wednesday 22 October
We value equity and diversity in our organisation and are striving to build a workforce reflective of the communities we work with. We encourage applications from people of all ethnicities, working ages, genders, sex, sexual orientations, faiths (or none), marital statuses (or none) and pregnancy status. We also have full flexible working policies to support people with disabilities and caring responsibilities. People with refugee or asylum-seeking backgrounds are experts by experience and are particularly encouraged to apply.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Job overview
The role will focus on growing the value of funding from large trusts and foundations globally, as well as from corporate foundations and institutional funders via consortium partnerships with larger conservation actors.
The role will oversee grant and contract management with existing organisational and institutional partnerships, as well as grow this portfolio through developing a robust pipeline of new opportunities, finding creative ways to secure visibility and first meetings, developing relationships, compelling funding applications and ensuring strong contract management oversight.
The role will lead a team of two, work collaboratively with fundraising colleagues based in the US and UK to secure visibility with and develop strong long-term partnerships with new Trusts and Foundations; and work closely with colleagues in Kenya to ensure strong project delivery and grant management. Responsibilities include:
- Lead the implementation of the Trusts & Foundations (T&Fs) programme with a particular focus on growing the portfolio of large T&Fs in the USA, UK and European markets;
- Work with fundraising colleagues across priority markets and with communications colleagues, using innovative and proactive approaches to business development and relationship building to unlock visibility opportunities and develop relationships with new prospects; in order to develop and maintain a strong pipeline of high-value funding opportunities.
- Continue to oversee the current ‘programme funding’ portfolio which includes existing institutional funding partnerships and corporate foundation relationships in Kenya, ensuring that ongoing and new opportunities where they exist are capitalised on.
- Collaborate closely with and provide technical expertise to Ol Pejeta’s Project Implementation function in Kenya to develop and embed ‘programme funding’ systems, policies, processes, to ensure that the organisation works to the highest standards in grant management;
- Oversee collaboration and co-working with Ol Pejeta’s Programme teams and other colleagues to ensure high quality project design content is translated into technical proposals and budgets for donors;
- Work closely with Kenya’s implementation function to support strong project delivery and contract management.
- As a Head of, actively contribute to team and department objectives through decision making and action on planning, budgeting, monitoring and reporting.
Key Activities
- Support the Chief Fundraising Officer with overall strategy development, implementation and adaptation;
- Work closely with the Chief Fundraising Officer to ensure operational and budget planning, management and reporting of resources;
- Oversee the T&F team’s operational planning processes, annual reporting and core performance monitoring;
- Strategic coordination of multiple stakeholders in proposal development processes (programme experts, internal stakeholders, partners and donors);
- Build strong relationships across all departments of the organisation and with existing and new partners;
- Support the recruitment process/selection/appointment of fundraising staff across the department.
Strategic leadership delivery and management of Trusts and Foundations priority in the global fundraising strategy.
- Develop and implement tactics for T&Fs that support Ol Pejeta to meet its overall strategic objectives;
- Ensure that the relevant parts of the Fundraising strategy, planning and practice is adaptive to both internal and external changes and that the team adopts innovative approaches to its work;
- Effectively integrate T&F team objectives and outcomes into wider Ol Pejeta income targets and programme priorities.
Business development and management
- Proactively cultivate relationships with key prospects, donors and partners (with particular focus on US, UK and European markets);
- Network both internally and externally to ensure relevant stakeholder participation and intelligence gathering in various fora;
- Lead and coordinate proposal development, including budgeting, with programme teams and finance;
- Collaborate with Ol Pejeta’s communications and marketing department to ensure communication activities appeal to donor interests, promote our partnerships and help to position Ol Pejeta as a partner of choice;
- Research and share trends and intelligence on T&Fs, and develop relationships that strategically position the organisation to mobilise resources from new and existing donors.
Support effective grant & risk management and compliance
- Support the development and implementation of improved business policies to facilitate improved management of and accountability for T&F funding and other larger institutional partnerships;
- Provide quality assurance and technical backstopping on reporting and general compliance, in line with organisational and donor requirements;
- Guide the negotiation of strategic grants/contracts to ensure the organisation signs up to appropriate contractual requirements;
- Advise on the interpretation and application of donor rules, regulations, processes and procedures;
- Provide guidance and capacity building on grant cycle management to colleagues across the organisation.
People Management, Financial Management and Departmental contributions
- Provide inductions to staff across the organisation on T&Fs and institutional funding opportunity;
- Build, motivate and effectively collaborate with teams remotely;
- Conduct probationary reviews and annual performance management reviews for direct line management staff;
- Support the Chief Fundraising Officer to have oversight of the team budget lines;
- Work collaboratively with colleagues in the global fundraising team based in different geographical locations
- Contribute to overall departmental processes and initiatives;
- Act within the parameters set by the organisation on financial policies and procedures.
Capacity Building and Knowledge Management
- Ensure effective cross-functional collaboration to strengthen fundraising and grant management skills across the organisation;
- Oversee the development and maintenance of information systems and tools for sharing donor policies and guidelines, funding opportunities and best practice across the organisation;
- Keep pace with international developments and engage with other INGOs to keep abreast of opportunities and global trends in T&F fundraising.
Education, Language & Qualifications
- Bachelors or equivalent in a relevant field preferably Fundraising / International Development;
- Excellent verbal and written communication with fluency in English;
- Language skills in Swahili and German advantageous.
Essential Knowledge, skills and Experience
- Relevant experience working in an international NGO or philanthropy environment with diverse workforce;
- Experience in Trusts & Foundation fundraising across international markets;
- Demonstrated experience cultivating and managing relationships with trusts and foundation donors (or others) to secure six figure grants;
- Substantial experience cultivating and managing donor and stakeholder relationships;
- Exceptional interpersonal, influencing and negotiation skills with demonstrable proactivity in business development;
- Strong technical proposal writing and budget skills;
- Strong ability to manage staff and influence team members remotely;
- Ability to manage and facilitate complex projects and processes;
- Experience working on the African continent with a deep knowledge of conservation and community development;
- Willingness to travel internationally as required;
- Willingness to be on call for donor enquiries out of hours.
Desirable Knowledge, skills and Experience
- Tendering and project management experience;
- Knowledge of conservation finance including the biodiversity credit market;
- Personal network of contacts and relationships in T&Fs;
- Experience in developing complex institutional funding bids;
- Understanding of developments in alternative finance for conservation;
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
WHAT IS START NETWORK?
Our purpose is to be a catalyst for system-level change that improves the efficiency, effectiveness and ethics of humanitarian action. We do this by working as a network to develop, test & spread new ways of collaborating and resourcing locally-led crisis response and anticipation.
Our current membership is made up of over 130 local, national and international NGOs based all around the world. We also support 10 national and regional hubs made up of civil society organisations and NGOs as our vehicle for devolving power, resources and accountability.
OUR SOLUTIONS
DECENTRAISLING & LOCALLY-LED ACTION: Shifting power and resources and de-centralising decision-making to locally led networks and organisations.
EARLY & RAPID FINANCING: Building a global financing system that reduces risk, anticipates, and acts ahead of predictable crises.
COMMUNITY-LED INNOVATION: Incentivising innovative, locally led, and contextual solutions and learning from them together with people affected by crises.
For more information about Start Network and what we do, please visit our website.
OUR VALUES
WE PUT PEOPLE FIRST: Communities come first in our decision-making and programming.
WE ARE BRAVE: We have great ambition and are willing to explore new things and take risks to achieve it
WE OPERATE COLLECTIVELY: We leverage the value of working as a network, sharing risk and resources, and learning together.
WE ARE INCLUSIVE: We see the value in diverse perspectives and work to remove the barriers that prevent voices from being heard.
WE ARE OPEN: We work transparently and with integrity, building mutual trust in all levels of our work, from governance to programming.
WE ARE ETHICAL: We behave and operate based on key principles of anti-racism, non-discrimination, and anti-colonialism. This is a work in progress.
JOB PURPOSE
This role is based in the Finance Team and works closely with the Resource Mobilisation and Programme teams. The role contributes to the effectiveness and impact of our work by supporting the sound financial, grant management, and administrative practices across Start Network. The role will be responsible for the end-to-end grant management cycle for a number of large and / or complex grants from institutional and corporate funders. The postholder will ensure that the financial and administrative systems and procedures for the programmes and budgets are of high quality and compliant with donor and legal requirements.