Head (Budget & Finance)

Post Context

The mission of the JATEC as one of the strategic pillars of the NATO - Ukraine evolving jointness is to provide for the NATO - Ukraine interoperability, to contribute to the development of NATO and Ukraine’s transformation in defence, deterrence, crisis prevention, crisis management and cooperative security, and helping Ukraine achieve membership of NATO. By fostering a Joint civilian-military and Joint NATO - Ukraine approach, the JATEC aims to strengthen the overall defence capabilities and strategic alignment of NATO and Ukraine, ensuring they are better prepared to face current and future challenges.

The Command Group provides general support, coordination, management, administrative service and specialist advice to Commander JATEC.

The Office of the Commander (O/COM) provides support to the Commander (COM) in order for the COM to carry out roles and missions assigned by the North Atlantic Council (NAC), NATO-Ukraine Council (NUC) and as directed by Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT).

Staff Advisory Group (SAG) provides a functional grouping of different competencies (Legal, Engagement, Finance, Gender Advisor, and Liaison).

The Office of Budget and Finance (O/BUDFIN) is responsible for the oversight and delivery of JATEC financial planning, programming, budgeting and evaluation, as well as for implementing ACT Purchasing and Contracting (P&C) policy in the JATEC to support P&C services delivery.

The Head (Budget and Finance) is responsible for all budgetary and financial management operations of the JATEC, ensures adherence to the principles of sound financial management as laid down in the NATO Financial Regulations (NFRs), provides advice and guidance to the Director, Command Group and staff on all financial matters, holds responsibility in the name of the Director for administering the budgetary and financial internal control systems of the JATEC and for financial risk management in accordance with the applicable policies, ensures to liaise with HQ SACT Office of the Legal Advisor for the application of rules and regulations governing tax exemption and custom clearance for the Command, interfacing with the Host Nation authority, as necessary.

Principal Duties:

• Provides financial support within the limit of the financial authority entrusted to him by the ACT Financial Controller and has direct recourse to the Director and ACT Financial Controller in all matters of finance;
• Is a member of the JATEC Command Group and serves as financial management advisor to the Director JATEC, providing advice on eligibility, prioritization and effective and efficient allocation of resources;
• Responsible for managing the personnel and activities of the Office of Budget and Finance;
• Provides day to day oversight for all financial management operations of the JATEC, to include all matters relating to bdgeting, purchasing and contracting, accounting, cash management and treasury, travel and auditing;
• Validates and authorizes financial transactions such as commitments and payments within the level of financial authority delegated to him/her by the ACT Financial Controller
• Responsible for keeping and maintaining proper fiscal and procurement accounting records as required under the NATO Financial Regulations and International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) principles;
• Monitors and controls the execution of funds, providing guidance to the JATEC Expanded Command Group and coordinates with them on their financial requirements, as the HQ Resource Manager;
• Conducts the period-end closure and reconciliation of the JATEC accounts and coordinates with the ACT Chief Accountant on year-end procedures and preparation of the JATEC Trial Balance for input to the ACT annual consolidated financial statements;
• Responsible for the identification and management of financial risks in the JATEC;
• Responsible to Director JATEC for the integrated financial management process of the JATEC to include preparation of JATEC inputs to Common Funded Resource Plan (CFRP), preparation of JATEC budget estimates and periodic execution report documents;
• Prepares the JATEC budgets for HQ SACT review and presents them to the Budget Committee (BC) and its supporting Working Groups;
• Prepares budgetary forecasts, monitors, executes and accounts for appropriated budgets to include the receipt, disbursement and reporting of all international funds per the NATO Financial Regulations, published directives and other instructions provided by ACT;
• Provides budgetary and managerial accounting reports;
• Provides day to day oversight of all JATEC procurement activities on behalf of the ACT Head of P&C, and exercises Chairpersonship of the JATEC Contract Awards Committee (CAC);
• Provides a travel office service for JATEC duty travellers;
• Ensures that internal review activities are conducted to monitor compliance to NFRs and ACT Directive 60-1, and supports the ACT Auditor activities;
• Ensures financial control and viability of all activities supported by non-appropriated funds (Morale & Welfare Activities);
• Ensures the correct application of rules and regulations governing tax exemptions and customs clearance for local acquisition, importation and exportation of official JATEC goods and services;
• Legally accountable for obligations resulting from contracts, banking arrangements with financial institutions, cash management arrangements negotiated with external NATO bodies and other financial arrangements signed in the name of the JATEC HQ within the level of financial authority delegated by the ACT Financial Controller.
• Serves as the head of the financial management organization at the JATEC, exercising personal responsibility for the correct application of international and multinational appropriated funds approved for use by the organization.

Essential Qualifications / Experience:

• University Degree  in finance, accounting, business administration, economics, public administration or related discipline  and 2 years function related experience, or Higher Secondary education and completed advanced vocational training  in that discipline leading to a professional qualification or professional accreditation with 4 years post related experience.
• Four years’ experience exercising supervision, direction, and control over and organization of staff engaged in financial administration functions.
• Four years’ experience in financial management function to include planning, programming, budgeting and executing resource allocations.
• Four years’ experience in working with international accounting and auditing standards and knowledge of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).
• Two years’ experience in public accounting, banking or funds management.
• Two years’ experience in using a computerized financial ERP system (e.g. SAP, Oracle EBS) and MS Office package.
• Proven experience and ability to make oral presentation to an international audience, formally or informally.
• Working knowledge of at least one risk management framework.

Language:

English - SLP 3333 - (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing)

Desirable Qualifications / Experience:

• Experience in international organization financial operations.
• Practical knowledge of multinational organization missions, functions, and operations.
• Experience with ORACLE Financials or other ERP system.
• Working knowledge of the Balanced Scorecard management system.
• Experience in purchasing and contracting.
• Working Knowledge of the PRINCE 2 Project Management System.
• Formal training in International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).
• Formal Project Management certification.
• Formal Risk Management certification.
• Master of Science in Business Administration, or similar.

Attributes/Competencies:

Personal Attributes:

The incumbent must exercise the highest standards of integrity, acting with persuasion, in order to achieve decisions which safeguard NATO’s financial interest and image. In particular:

• Must be capable of working harmoniously in a multi-national environment, possessing good human skills, considerable understanding, tact and persuasion in dealing with all level of civilian and military staff;
• Must be an excellent communicator orally and on paper;
• Must be capable of representing NATO in a professional manner before international, military and local audiences;
• Must be capable of analytical and strategic thought, and use analytical skills and experience to analyse a wide variety of budgetary, financial and funding problems, recommending optimum solutions. A good deal of thought, independent judgment and lateral and analytical thinking is required in the analysis of non-recurring and changing issues and in assessing tasking priorities;
• Must be able to travel extensively in support of duties.

Managerial Responsibilities:

Has NATO Committee responsibilities, participating/contributing to the Budget Committee and in all senior management meeting at JATEC, as well as other committees, boards, working groups etc. as required.

In addition, as head of the financial management organization the incumbent has the following managerial duties:

• Provides direction and guidance to contractors, interns and other categories of personnel working in the functional areas under his/her responsibility;
• Monitors the JATEC contracting function, screening and approving all commitments of funds supporting proposed acquisition actions and chairs the Contract Awards Committee (CAC);
• Supervises the accounting and reporting of financial holdings and expenditure of Military Budget, NATO Security Investment Programme, and non-appropriated funds at the JATEC;
• Supervises the internal training programme of the staff deployed in the JATEC financial administration area;
• Personally oversees estimation, screening, approval, and execution of international, multinational and non-appropriated budgets.

Professional Contacts:

The incumbent entertains regular professional contacts at higher functional level inside and outside the organization, entailing negotiation, explanation, discussion, persuasion and approval of actions:

• Required coordinating effectively and interacting in a professional manner with military and civilian personnel at all levels;
• Must be capable of working harmoniously in a multi-national environment, possessing good human skills, considerable understanding, tact and persuasion in dealing with all level of civilian and military staff;
• As Head (Budget & Finance), represents the Centre to professional organizations and representatives of other nations as a finance professional;
• As Head (Budget and Finance) acts as the financial authority in all JATEC meetings/working groups.

Contribution To Objectives:

The incumbent is responsible for the efficient and effective execution of the Office of Budget and Finance. Supports the delivery of the JATEC mission and objectives through the management and effective use of NATO common funded resources. Provides financial advice to the JATEC Director as part of the JATEC Objective setting process.

Security Clearance

The successful applicant will be required to apply for and receive a NATO SECRET Security Clearance prior to final confirmation of contract and commencement of employment.

Contract

• This position is linked to a specific NATO project and is for a limited duration of 3 (three) years only.
• Serving NATO International Civilian staff will be offered a contract in accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations.  Newly recruited staff will be offered a three year definite duration contract.

Notes for Candidates

The HQ SACT web site gives full details on the eligibility criteria and application processes to be adopted by all candidates.  However, candidates should particularly note:

Please answer each of the pre-screening questions completely in English. Expressions such as: “please see attached CV, please see annex, please see enclosed document, etc” are not acceptable; this is a cause of immediate rejection of the application.

Particular attention should be given to Education and Experience section of your application form, which should be populated with details of your career to date and educational achievements and certifications as they relate to your application.

The candidature of NATO redundant staff at grade G15 will be considered with priority.

NATO will not accept any phase of the recruitment and selection prepared, in whole or in part, by means of generative artificial-intelligence (AI) tools, including and without limitation to chatbots, such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (Chat GPT), or other language generating tools. NATO reserves the right to screen applications to identify the use of such tools. All applications prepared, in whole or in part, by means of such generative or creative AI applications may be rejected without further consideration at NATO’s sole discretion, and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.

NATO is committed to diversity and inclusion, and strives to provide equal access to employment, advancement and retention, independent of gender, age, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, cultural background, sexual orientation, and disability. NATO welcomes applications of nationals from all member Nations, and strongly encourages women to apply

This vacancy will close on 06 October @ 17:59hrs (EDT)/11:59hrs (CEST).