Financial Controller – Cell 2

Job Offer
(strictly no recruitment agencies)

Join MSF OCG as a Financial Controller – Cell 2!

We are looking for passionate candidates ready to contribute to our humanitarian mission.

Below, you will find the job details and the qualifications we are looking for.

Inclusivity and Diversity at MSF

Do your qualifications and experience not exactly match all requirements of the job?

At MSF OCG, we are committed to an inclusive culture that supports and amplifies the diverse voices of our staff members. We strive to create workplaces where teams of people with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, perspectives, ideas and experiences work together to advance MSF’s social mission and create better outcomes for our patients and the communities we work with.

We understand that some people may hesitate to apply for employment if they don’t meet all listed job requirements. Research shows that this is especially true for women. If you believe your profile is a good match for this position, we invite you to apply even if you don’t fulfil every listed qualification.

We encourage applications from individuals of all genders, ages, sexual orientations, ethnicities, background, religions, beliefs, ability status, and all other diversity characteristics.

MSF does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of discrimination or harassment, including sexual harassment. All selected candidates will undergo reference checks.

Context & mission

Médecins Sans Frontières is an independent, international medical and humanitarian organization that provides care to people in need, people affected by natural or man-made disasters, and victims of armed conflict, without discrimination and without regard to race, religion, creed or political affiliation (MSF Charter).

The MSF movement is built around 5 operational centers supported by 24 sections and offices worldwide. MSF Operational Center Geneva (MSF OCG) is one of these centers.

The financial controller plays a pivotal role between finance and operations and is the contact person in the operational unit (cell) for financial management issues. Beyond his/her technical role, his/her extensive experience and understanding of operations are an asset for operational management. 

The financial controller is a member of the operational unit, in charge of providing the support and supervision necessary to achieve the operational strategy.

As a member of both the operational unit and the finance department, the financial controller reports to the Programmes Responsible (RP) and Head of the Operational Finance who is his/her technical responsible.

Tasks & Responsibilities

Among responsibilities for the missions monitored within the operation unit, the financial controller: 

• Contributes to the definition of the operational objectives and strategy by ensuring budgets are realistic and respect financial constraints, supervises the budgetary process throughout the planning cycle.
• Oversees mission management with regards to the relevance and effectiveness of the financial means allocated, follows commitments and controls expenses vs approved budgets, analyses costs.
• Provides technical support to the missions in terms of financial and administrative management, anticipates financial risks and problems that missions may have to deal with.
• Ensures the implementation of financial policies and procedures concerning financial management as defined by headquarters, vouches for adherence to the basic rules and quality standards. Proposes adjustment of the said procedures to emergency context when necessary.
• Is in contact with other sections operational of MSF to share local and regional information as well as best practices.
• Is in charge of the briefing, training and coaching of all Finance Coordinators and Finance Managers present in the missions managed by the cell.
• Is responsible for the proper management of grants and for the quality of financial documents and reports submitted to donors.

Your profile

Education

• University degree (graduate level), preferably in business administration / finance.

Experience

• At least 2 years recent experience as finance coordinator with MSF.
• Proven experience working in emergency response interventions.
• Experience in management, in coaching.
• Experience of institutional donors grant management, especially multi-donors co-funding.

Languages

• Strong interpersonal, written and oral communications skills in English.
• French a strong asset.

Skills/ Technical competencies

• Excellent knowledge of Excel, very comfortable with numbers and financial analysis.
• Capacity to manage in parallel various interlocutors (Finance Coordinators from various missions) and multiple contexts, legal frames and ways of working.
• Excellent analytical and reporting skills.
• Good practice of a field accounting package and ERP (preferably UNIFIELD).

Personal Abilities/Qualities

• Receptive, inquisitive, capacity to question and propose new ideas and pragmatic solutions.
• Team player, able to work with multidisciplinary teams in a multicultural context.
• Capacity to understand quickly complex technical concepts, learn fast and adapt.
• Capacity to take initiatives and decisions, work under pressure, respect deadlines.
• Excellent organizational skills, and capacities for situation analysis, proposal and decision-making.
• Maturity, open-mindedness, autonomy, sense of diplomacy and good stress management.
• Rigorous and attentive to details.

Terms of employment

• Open-ended contract (100%) of three years, renewable once i.e. a maximum of 6 years.
• Based in Geneva, with several visits to the field each year.
• Start date: March 3rd, 2025.
• Gross annual salary: from CHF 101’172 to CHF 115’332.- (commensurate with experience and internal salary grid).
• Paid vacation: 25 days per year, prorate temporis, plus any Swiss public holidays falling within the contract period.
• Pension plan: pension contribution covered 3/4 by MSF, 1/4 by staff member.
• Relocation package if moving from a different country to Switzerland.

How to apply

Candidates are invited to submit their application exclusively through our recruitment platform, following these guidelines:

• CV (maximum 2 pages)
• Cover letter (maximum 1 page)
• Documents must be submitted in either English or French.

The application deadline is 19th January 2025.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier if we receive a sufficient number of quality applications.

APPLY

All applications will be treated confidentially (https://www.msf.ch/travailler-avec-nous/declaration-confidentialite-candidates-msf-suisse).

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Please note that we do not wish to use the services of recruitment or placement agencies.