Head of Finance, Risk and Management Services

Job Description

Head of Finance, Risk and Management Services | World Food Programme

The Tone:
This is a full-time role at World Food Programme, located in Djibouti. The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build peace, stability, and prosperity for those recovering from conflict, disasters, and extreme weather shocks. This role provides strategic leadership, direction, and oversight of finance, risk management, compliance, assurance, and management services, serving as a principal advisor to senior management on financial stewardship and governance. The incumbent ensures that enabling services effectively support programmatic delivery and organizational objectives within the Country Office.

The TL;DR
• Role: Full Time
• Type: Fixe term
• Location: In-person Djibouti – Djibouti
• Team: Leads multidisciplinary teams and advises senior management.
• Mission: Accountable for the effective management of financial resources, risk governance frameworks, management services operations, and corporate compliance requirements, promoting value for money and operational excellence.

What You’ll Actually Do
• Strategic Leadership: Define strategic direction, priorities, and integrated workplans for Finance, Risk, and Management Services, ensuring alignment with country strategy and corporate objectives.
• Financial Operations: Direct all finance operations including budgeting, accounting, treasury, disbursements, and reporting, ensuring timely, accurate, and IPSAS-compliant financial management.
• Risk and Compliance Management: Establish and maintain a comprehensive enterprise risk management framework, overseeing the identification, assessment, mitigation, and monitoring of strategic, operational, and fiduciary risks.
• Management Services Oversight: Provide strategic oversight of administrative functions such as facilities, asset management, fleet operations, and travel services, driving efficiency and cost optimization initiatives.
• Partner Fiduciary Oversight: Lead financial assessments, due diligence reviews, and capacity evaluations of cooperating partners and service providers to assess financial viability and safeguard organizational resources.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Advanced university degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Public Administration, Audit, Risk Management, International Development, or a related field.
• Experience: 3 years of relevant experience in financial management, accounting, budgeting, reporting, administration, risk management, internal controls, and supervising staff.
• Skills: Fluency in English and French (Level C written and spoken), strategic financial leadership, enterprise risk management framework development, IPSAS-compliant reporting, and multidisciplinary team leadership.
• Bonus: Membership in an internationally recognized professional accountancy body (ACCA, ICPA/CPA or equivalent); knowledge of Arabic or another UN language.