Head of Post-Award Grant in London

This role is pivotal to safeguarding donor compliance and enabling the Foundation to scale. As we expand our grant portfolio and establish our European presence, we need a senior post‑award leader who can drive consistent, high‑quality grant financial management, strengthen controls, and coach our Post‑award Financial grant managers.

Key Responsibilities

• Leadership & Oversight: Lead and manage the Post‑Award Finance function, allocate portfolios, provide technical leadership, act as escalation point for donor‑related financial issues.
• Donor Financial Compliance (High‑Risk Donors): Serve as internal owner of financial rules for FCDO, SIDA, EU, GIZ, US Government and other high‑risk donors, develop compliance guidance and checklists, ensure adherence to cost principles, procurement and reporting requirements.
• Post‑Award Financial Management: Oversee the financial management of all active grants, review and approve donor financial reports, lead quarterly Budget vs Actual reviews, ensure correct grant set‑up in Workday, develop templates and dashboards, coordinate with Accounting on general ledger structures and reconciliations.
• Governance, Controls & Audit Readiness: Define and maintain strong internal controls, oversee document retention and audit trails, lead preparation for donor audits, ensure consistent application of GSMA and donor policies across US and Belgium entities.
• Partnership with Subgrant Compliance Team: Work closely with the Head of Subgrant Compliance to align monitoring, verification, disbursement schedules and reporting deadlines; incorporate subgrant financial data into donor reports and support risk‑based approaches for Innovation Fund partners.
• Capacity‑Building & Continuous Improvement: Coach and develop the Post‑award team, lead training for Programme teams on budgeting and reporting, improve operational efficiency through templates, dashboards and automated workflows, lead optimization projects for Workday and other systems.

Key Deliverables (First 12 Months)

• Establish a consistent Post‑Award operating model and workflows.
• Publish a complete donor compliance guide for all active donors.
• Implement standardised financial reporting and reconciliation templates.
• Deliver monthly cross‑functional grant review meetings with action logs.
• Zero late or inaccurate donor financial reports.
• Clean audit results across donor and statutory audits.
• Lead automation projects and tooling improvements for the Foundation.
• Improve Workday configuration to support accurate grant tracking.

About You

• Significant experience in post‑award grant finance within an INGO, foundation or multi‑donor environment.
• Demonstrated expertise with high‑compliance donors such as FCDO, SIDA, EU institutions, GIZ and US Government.
• Proven people management experience, including coaching and developing Post‑award partners.
• Strong audit management experience (donor and statutory), including preparation of PBC documentation and issue resolution.
• Strong analytical skills, ability to translate donor requirements into workable controls and processes.
• Systems‑oriented; experience with Workday financials and grant/worktag configuration is highly desirable.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills across programmes, operations, legal and leadership.

Behaviors

• Proactive, solutions‑focused mindset.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to compliance.
• Ability to coach and develop team members.
• Collaborative approach with high integrity.
• Comfortable working across time zones and geographies.

Contract Type Regular Worker type Employee.

What We Offer Competitive compensation, learning and development opportunities, generous holiday allowances and four additional days off for professional development. Flexible working arrangements and a supportive, inclusive work environment.