Grants and Finance Specialist, Finance Center

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 for the US. WRI is unable to sponsor any visa work sponsorship for this position.

**About the Program:
**
The mission of WRI’s Sustainable Finance Center is to promote the shift of finance away from environmentally unsustainable activities and toward sustainable ones. We do this through the production of data-driven, policy-actionable research and knowledge products and by convening coalitions of key stakeholders that can drive action on the ground. Our team is multidisciplinary and brings together experience from academia and the public, private, and non-profit sectors. The Finance Center supports the rest of WRI as we seek to tackle WRI’s Global Challenges. We do so through deep, multi-year partnerships with a subset of WRI Programs, through cross-cutting activities designed to influence financial institutions and markets, and through the provision of tailored technical advice to WRI’s programs and international offices. Our work is structured around six key themes: (1) financing NDC implementation, (2) “greening” private sector finance, (3) strengthening public financial institutions, (4) encouraging the U.S. and China to be sustainable finance champions, (5) strengthening investment in adaptation and resilience, and (6) Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G).

**Job Highlight:
**
WRI's Sustainable Finance Center seeks a detail-oriented, and highly organized Grants and Finance Specialist. In this role, you will support several workstreams (teams) within the Finance Center as they as they develop and deliver impactful research, policy and implementation projects. Reporting to the Center’s Operations Manager, you will also collaborate with them to implement existing processes and improve processes where needed. Your responsibilities include managing budgets, reporting to donors, processing contract agreements, ensuring grant compliance, liaising with research staff on project deliverables, engaging with vendors and subgrantees, managing outreach efforts through multiple coalitions and platforms, guiding the team through internal processes and systems, planning events, and supporting operations for a team matrixed across multiple countries in several of our programs and centers.

**What will you do:

Financial Management (35% of time):**

• Oversee day-to-day financial management of project budgets
• Monitor monthly expenses and keep direct project budgets up to date in budgeting software
• Deliver updates on project budgets to project managers and alert them of funding deadlines and other financial concerns, especially financial cliffs
• Provide strategic advice to project managers on the best use of funds to ensure achievement of deliverables while maximizing financial resources
• Provide inputs for the quarterly Finance Center budget reviews for your projects
• Lead project financial closeout and coordinate with project teams in other project closeout processes, including financial reconciliation and reporting
• Prepare proposal budgets and ensure alignment between proposed activities and budgets
• Update and maintain proposal development tools and templates

Grant Management (30%):

• Manage project grants and contracts, including ensuring compliance with terms and conditions and liaising with funders
• Lead the drafting of financial grant reports, including collecting team inputs and transparent accounting of financial records from WRI standard into funder-specific templates
• Support the drafting of technical grant reports as needed
• Support donor and grants management by keeping contact database updated with timely and accurate information
• Create and maintain subgrant and contract agreements with partners and contractors, including processing payments, and amending agreements when necessary
• Work with partners to build their capacity to understand and meet subgrant and contract requirements
• Track sub-awardee compliance with administrative grant requirements, including the timely submission of reports and audits

Project Management (25%):

• Provide well-rounded proactive operations and management advice to project managers, managing up when needed to ensure sound implementation of projects per donor standards and in resolving operational and coordination issues
• Monitor and track project deliverables to ensure that they are submitted within the period of performance and coordinate the submission of invoices
• Keep track of past performance and lessons learned to use on future project preparation

Administration (10%):

• Lead logistics for internal and external events, workshops, and conferences through A/V and catering preparation, participant and speaker coordination, and preparation of materials
• Assist with recruitment and on-boarding of staff members and interns
• Support the timely and accurate submission of expense reports, timesheets, cash advances, and other transactions as needed Given the dynamic nature of our work, a variety of other reasonable duties may be assigned

What will you need:

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field
• Experience: Minimum 2 years of relevant full-time work experience, preferably in financial management, administration, or nonprofit operations
• Must be adaptable to rapidly changing priorities and have the ability to manage multiple projects with varying deadlines
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
• Strong process orientation with sensitivity to quality, timelines, and organizational systems
• Strong computer skills including high level of comfort with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook), web-based communications (Skype, GoToMeeting), with CRM database (esp. Salesforce and Pardot) and budgeting (Microsoft Cognos) preferred

Potential Salary: Salary range is between 69,000 and 78,000 USD. Salary is commensurate with experience and other compensable factors.

How to Apply: Please submit a resume with cover letter by the date of August 31, 2023.  You must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered.

What we offer:

• A competitive salary
• 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, 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.