Grant Administration Officer - International Finance

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long-term impact.

The Program / Department / Team

The International Finance (IF) Department plays a key role in supporting financial operations in Mercy Corps’ (MC) country programs throughout the world by working collaboratively with country finance staff and providing guidance in grant management, budgeting, accounting and other financial functions in accordance with Mercy Corps’ internal policies and procedures as well as donor regulations. The IF Department ensures the timely, complete and accurate reporting of financial information from Mercy Corps’ country offices and is responsible for ensuring that all financial reporting requirements to donors are met in a timely and accurate way. The IF Department also works closely and collaboratively with the Headquarters (HQ) Regional Program Team members (RPT) in support of country program objectives as well as the HQ Corporate Finance department in support of agency financial functions.

The Position

The Grants Administration Officer (GAO) works with the Regional Finance Officers (RFO) and field finance teams to ensure a streamlined financial award administrative processes in order to consistently meet grant financial management standards in accordance with donor regulations and Mercy Corps’ policies and procedures. In addition, the GAO provides surge support in some of the responsibilities of the RFO, such as budget narrative development and review, financial review for assigned categories of costs, and other activities as assigned.

Essential Responsibilities

Work with International Finance Manager and Regional Finance Officers to develop systems and workflows to centralize administration functions around award set-up and maintenance, in support of the RFO group.

Navigator Award Administration

• Read award agreements and modifications and set up/modify awards in Navigator
• Prepare and submit new funder/customer requests
• Create and enter budget journal entries into Navigator
• Prepare Dimensions/Speedkeys/LIN Translation Table/Dimension Attributes/COSTCAT for new awards and award modifications, and enter into Navigator
• Manage Award Extended Fields and other award designations
• Monitor award set-ups, do regular reviews to ensure accuracy of Navigator awards
• Liaise with Mercy Corps Europe (MCE) International Finance Officers (IFOs) to review MCE Award Information Sheets and budget tabs, as well as set up and maintain MCE awards in Navigator
• Provide training, troubleshooting, guidance documents, and technical support in Navigator AwardVision to the RFO group
• Support development and testing of enhancements to Navigator as it relates to AwardVision functionality

Grant and Financial Administration

• Lead the quarterly and final NICRA USG donor reporting process (including preparation of workbook, running and distributing reports to RFOs, report submissions, and online reporting entry); Assist with preparation of other donor reports as requested.
• Support final close-out of award as donor communication focal point, including submission of final reports, and responding to donor for close-out materials.
• Delegated RFO financial review for assigned categories of costs as agreed with the International Finance Manager, ensuring adherence to Mercy Corps internal policies and standards
• Support budget narratives-proposal development as needed
• Responsible for budget template maintenance/development
• Assist in preparation for the annual single audit, including preparing assigned audit schedules and gathering other information as needed
• Support in uploading and responding to audit requests in a timely manner

Document Retention

• Set-up, maintenance, and archival of grant binders
• Lead in the collection and input of donor document retention requirements into Navigator
• Facilitate the ongoing catchup of gathering and uploading donor document retention requirements by fiscal year for country programs
• Facilitate approval processes for document destruction as outlined in SoPs
• Support archiving of financial documents from field offices
• Ensure grant documentation is up-to-date and organized

Coordination and Collaboration

• Provide coordination for RFO team with other teams through interim periods when necessary
• Provide additional onboarding assistance for new IF team members and RPT on grant financial management topics.
• Gather information from country teams to create metrics to be published quarterly covering audit activity, STAs, financial reporting, field closing, and BVAs published.
• Support development of internal guidance for the International Finance department.
• Support the workflow of the remote RFO team, and when RFOs are on travel status.
• Represent IF and provide support to interdepartmental working groups as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibility

 Interns and temporary staff when needed.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Manager, International Finance

Works Directly With: International Finance, Country Field Finance Managers, Corporate Finance, Program Operations, MCE Finance staff, Resource Development, and Finance Compliance and Support Unit

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• BA/S or equivalent required.
• 2-3 years of non-profit experience, preferably with grants and contracts.
• Demonstrated experience working with budgets, data, and Excel.
• Effective interpersonal skills and demonstrated success establishing and maintaining relationships are vital.
• Proactive and effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational, and prioritization skills are necessary.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, particularly with regard to donor agreements and other related legal documents.
• Ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with cross-cultural team members is required.

Success Factors

A successful candidate will have a strong understanding of multi-donor finance and accounting in a relief and development setting. The ability to thrive in a fast-paced, multi-tasking environment while maintaining the respect of staff and colleagues is essential for this position. S/he will demonstrate a strong understanding of the cultural, political, and religious environment in different regions. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, and make effective communication a priority in all situations. Mercy Corps is a highly collaborative and lateral organization that encourages strong self-initiative as well as team spirit. In order to succeed in this environment, the candidate should be highly organized, and innovative. They should demonstrate proud workmanship, good communication and collaboration skills.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position is based in Portland, OR. Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/STA to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues. 

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.