Financial Planning and Analysis - Director

This position is remote-eligible and only for consideration within the United States where WRI is state registered. Existing work authorization is required at the time of application submission. WRI is unable to sponsor work sponsorship for this position.

About the Program:

WRI’s Operations department strives to make all global offices capable and low risk, enhancing their operational capabilities, establishing sustainable growth through a bond of mutual respect, collaboration and sharing knowledge across the sisterhood of WRI offices. This is done by targeting mutually agreed upon standards of performance, measuring the effectiveness across WRI offices.

Job Highlight:

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, you will lead efforts to strengthen institutional financial management in all of WRI’s offices. You will contribute to decision making through financial analysis, and provide operational insight across Programs, Centers and International offices. Overseeing the Financial Planning & Analysis, Cost & Pricing & Financial systems function, you will lead efforts on internal Quarterly Financial and Risk Reviews and board reporting; work closely with other core functions to establish and maintain synergy and coordination on cross functional projects. You will support growth at WRI by identifying current gaps and future strategic and operational needs and issues and work across the network to pilot and implement long term solutions. You will be supported by the Financial Planning & Analysis and Cost & Pricing teams.

What will you do:

Financial Planning, Reporting and Modeling – Decision Support (50%):

• Prepare WRI’s annual and long-range strategic financial plans and the corresponding budgets in support of Board and key stakeholder meetings, monthly/quarterly senior leadership meetings, and various strategic committees of the organization.
  • Analyze and present financial reports in an accurate and timely manner; clearly communicate monthly and annual financial statements; collate financial reporting materials for all donor segments, and oversee all financial, project/program and grants accounting.
  • Oversee and lead annual and quarterly budgeting and planning process in conjunction with the CFO; administer and review all financial plans and budgets; monitor progress and changes and keep senior leadership team abreast of the organization’s financial trends and status.
  • Define and report on key organizational performance metrics; determine data clean-up or process enhancements necessary to improve the quality of the metrics for decision making and accomplishment of our organizational goals and strategic plan.
  • Facilitate quantitative decisions with clear, visual, easy to interpret analysis for resource allocation, space planning needs across the network, etc.
  • Oversee indirect cost pools and cost recovery. Ensure core financials are closely monitored and managed and keep CFO and Executive Team updated on current financial status including. Recommend and implement mitigation plans if under recovering and coordinating indirect cost allocations when over recovering.
  • Oversee efforts within WRI to identify and develop financial management capacity for both institutional finances in each office and project financial management
  • Provide leadership and resources to each office in their efforts to improve internal process, and build capacity to manage and implement grants of progressively larger sizes
  • Provide oversight over the cost and pricing team, ensuring timely submission of financial reports, upstream engagement on proposals, timely submission of cost proposals that capture all of WRI’s costs
  • Represent WRI in funder negotiations when required, working closely with the cost and pricing lead.
  • Ensure that all due diligence information shared with funders is coordinated, vetted, and streamlined through the cost & pricing team

Financial Operations Communication and Training (30%)
• Ensure all programs and international office project/program/International office directors and mangers understand how to access and interpret financial reports, WRI’s financial model, etc. and that they have what they need to be successful. Participate as part of the global team to address financial issues.
• Ensure development of standardized operational and financial training for financial staff at WRI
• Lead on developing and organizing the annual operations boot camp, using it to provide targeted training to international office operations staff
• Ensure that Programs consistently receive a high level and quality of customer service from finance team without compromising internal controls, certified through surveys or other means.
• Clearly communicate to staff on issues that affect them with instructions on what is expected of them, coupled with the rationale for any changes.
• Put in place a process to review and approve new financial policies and processes implemented within the finance team to ensure they are considerate of downstream effects, are coordinated with other core functions, and are communicated effectively

Financial Systems & Special Projects (20%)
• Be an expert on WRI’s financial systems and data repositories, understanding the limitations and opportunities for the systems to get the information that mangers need, such as Revenue forecasts, project deficits, or other information necessary to drive financial and project management improvements.
• Identify opportunities for process improvement, simplification, and system optimization to facilitate the foundation for a rapidly growing global organization.
• Ensure that WRI’s financial systems work in cohesion with all other WRI systems and that data flow is smooth and coordinated.
• Oversee the governance of financial report creation in the system, ensuring that financial reporting needs are identified and coordinated and that reports are created in a timely manner

What will you need:

• Education: You have completed a Master’s degree in business administration, finance, management or similar discipline related to the job description. Minimum 3 years’ experience can be considered in lieu of a related degree
• Experience: You have a minimum of 10 years relevant work experience with experience leading finance teams, grant negotiation, strategic and leadership skills
• Significant nonprofit experience in organization with a budget in excess of $50M
• Experience with financial and management systems such as Deltek-Costpoint, Cognos, TM1, Salesforce, DevResults, or Asana
• Languages: Verbal and written English proficiency required. Spanish, Portuguese, French, Hindi, or Bahasa proficiency preferred
• Requirements: Existing work authorization is required where this position. WRI is unable to authorize visa work authorization

Potential Salary: Salary is commensurate with experience and other compensable factors.

How to Apply: Please submit a resume with cover letter by November 6, 2023. You must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered.

What we offer:

• Access to the WRI global network with the opportunity to exchange with and learn from passionate colleagues working at the cutting edge of their fields across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the US
• The chance to have an impact and to develop your career within a mission driven organization with access to varied learning and training opportunities
• A workplace that strives to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
• The opportunity to join and get involved in different working groups and affinity groups to shape the future of WRI
• Commitment to hybrid working model with flexible working hours
• Generous leave days that increase with tenure

About Us:

Founded in 1982, World Resources Institute (WRI) is an independent, nonprofit global research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity, and human well-being. We are working to address seven critical challenges that the world must overcome this decade to secure a sustainable future for people and the planet: climate change, energy, food, forests, water, sustainable cities, and the ocean. WRI has a global staff of over 1,800 people with work spanning 60 countries. We have offices in Africa, Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia and the United States, as well as a growing presence in other countries and regions.

The foundation of our work is delivering high-quality research, data, maps, and analysis to solve the world’s greatest environment and international development challenges and improve people’s lives. We work with leaders in government, business, and civil society to drive ambitious action and create change on the ground. Equally important, we bring together partners to develop breakthrough ideas and scale-up solutions for far-reaching, enduring impact.

Our mission and values:

WRI’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.

Our values are shared ideals that bind us together: Integrity, Innovation, Urgency, Independence and Respect.

Our culture:

WRI is committed to advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our mission and applies this principle to our organizational and programmatic practices. We are committed to providing equal opportunities in employment; we embrace all diversity and encourage women, the LGBTQ+ community, persons with disabilities, Afro-descendants, and Indigenous people to apply. Recognizing our strong commitment to gender equality, WRI has also been awarded EDGE certification.

Our team in Human Resources carefully reviews all applications.