Finance and Compliance Assistant

Job Title: Finance and Compliance Assistant, Europe-Asia Department

Location: London office-based (with flexibility for hybrid working)

Reporting to: Europe-Asia Department Manager

Duration: 1-year fixed-term contract, with potential for extension, dependent on funding

Salary: £31,409.94 Gross Annual

Deadline: 5 pm GMT, Wednesday, 5th March 2025,

Background

Conciliation Resources is an independent international organisation working with people in conflict to prevent violence, resolve conflicts and promote peaceful societies. We believe that building sustainable peace takes time. We provide practical support to help people affected by violent conflict achieve lasting peace. We draw on our shared experiences to improve peacebuilding policies and practice worldwide.

The Europe-Asia Department is made up of regional programme teams (the South Asia programme and South Caucasus programme) and a cross-regional programme. Each programme has their own set of considerations, different types of partner organisations, ways of working and different priorities at any given time. The department structure provides additional support to programmes, including grant and partner finance management, gender and MEL and coordination with other parts of the organisation. The Finance and Compliance Assistant role is situated in the departmental team, and supports all programmes in the department, with particular emphasis on the South Caucasus.

Purpose

The Finance and Compliance Assistant supports programme implementation and grant administration, in particular in the context of partner contracts, partner financial management and compliance.

The majority of Conciliation Resources’ peacebuilding work is designed and implemented in close collaboration with local partner organisations and other actors. Maintaining mutually supportive and effective working relationships with a great range of stakeholders is therefore essential. The Finance and Compliance Assistant plays an important role to support smooth and supportive working relationships within the Europe-Asia Department, where we currently hold formal partnership agreements with more than 30 organisations or institutions in different geographical regions.

Key task areas for this role include maintaining a comprehensive overview of partner contracts and related compliance processes, reporting requirements and deadlines; and providing significant support to partner financial reporting as well as assistance to preparing and processing financial trip reports and other financial data.

Person Specification

Essential Knowledge, skills and experience
● Experience of working in an administrative and support position to a team or teams;
● Excellent numeracy and accuracy skills with a high level of attention to detail;
● Experience of providing financial administrative support, reviewing partner and team expenditures and financial reporting from travel and activities;
● Some knowledge of financial processes and systems and using an accounting or book-keeping system;
● Experience of providing support to compliance processes, such as contracting, onboarding and due diligence;
● Strong organisational skills including implementing and maintaining administrative systems, developing and adapting templates;
● Good computer literacy, with at least intermediate proficiency in Excel;
● Initiative, enthusiasm and a problem-solving approach to new challenges;
● Strong interpersonal skills and experience of working in a multicultural environment;
● Appreciation of issues of confidentiality, handling sensitive information, cross-cultural and political sensitivities;
● Ability to work efficiently and to tight timeframes, and to balance multiple workstreams;
● Experience of liaising with external partners and/or service providers;
● Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.

Desirable knowledge, skills and experience
● Knowledge of and interest in contexts relevant to the Europe-Asia Department and its work;
● A good appreciation of the basic principles of double-entry accounting;
● Experience in the charity sector, especially in peacebuilding or a related field;
● Working knowledge of languages relevant to the Europe-Asia Department’s work, especially in the South Caucasus, would be considered an advantage.