Finance and Grant Controller

Finance and Grant Controller

**WaterAid**
- Canary Wharf, Greater London (Hybrid)
- £48,867 - £51,439 per year
- Full-time
- Permanent
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**Finance and Grant Controller**

**Contract**: Permanent, Full Time, 35 hours per week.

**Location**: London, United Kingdom

**UK hybrid working** - a minimum of 40 % of working time is spent face‑to‑face (London office, external meetings or travel).
- 60/40 hybrid working at WaterAid means roughly three days wherever you work best and two days together in person._

**Salary**: £48,867- £51,439 per year with excellent benefits

**Change starts with water. Change starts with you.**

Every day, millions of people live without clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. WaterAid exists to change that - for everyone, everywhere. Join us, and your energy will help unlock people’s potential and create a fairer future.

**About WaterAid**:
We’re a global federation driven by one vision: a world where everyone, everywhere has clean water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030. Powered by our values of Respect, Accountability, Courage, Collaboration, Integrity and Innovation, we work alongside communities, partners and supporters to make change happen.

**About the team**:
The Finance and Grant Controller role is part of the central finance team and sits within the Management Accounting function which provides our country programmes and the region offices with professional and technical finance leadership for WaterAid UK’s international work. The role will work closely with the Project Delivery Lead and the Monitoring and Learning Coordinator for the Multi-country Urban Water Project.

**About the role**:
The Finance and Grant Controller will manage all financial aspects of WaterAid’s Multi-country Urban Water Project, ensuring rigorous financial oversight, compliance with donor requirements, and alignment with organisational financial policies. This is a bold initiative aiming to raise $40 million and reach two million people with clean water in urban areas across six anchor countries: Colombia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique, Bangladesh, and Cambodia.

**In this role, you will**:
**1. Financial Monitoring and Reporting**
- Prepare and review all financial reports in line with specific contract requirements and deadlines
- Monitor project budgets, tracking actual expenditures against budget allocations and flagging variances to the project team
- Monitor movement in exchange rates and local currency budget variations

**2.** **Budget and Forecasting Development & Grant Support**
- Assist program staff in preparing detailed budgets in each country project
- Deliver regular reforecasts, ensuring realistic timing of spend
- Conduct cost allocations and ensure appropriate coding of expenses

**3. Compliance and Controls**
- Review contracts and grant agreements to identify financial requirements, restrictions, and deliverables
- Ensure financial activities comply with contractual terms, organisational policies, and legal and regulatory requirements, including guiding eligible costs, procurement, and financial compliance to programme teams
- Support related audits, ensuring all necessary documentation is available and compliant

**4. Finance Business Partner**
- Collaborate closely with programme lead, providing consolidated financial reporting, financial insights and supporting decision-making.
- Coordinate timely reporting to cross-federation leadership teams from multiple country programmes
- Advise on reallocation of budget if required to meet programme delivery targets

**Requirements**:
**To be successful, you will need**:
**Technical Qualifications and Skills**
- Professional accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CIPFA)
- Experience in the use of SUN, or a similar multi-dimensional accounting system.
- Experience in managing programme or project finance funded by institutional donors ( e.g. USAID, FCDO or other reputable organisation)
- Excellent Microsoft Excel skill
- Working knowledge of Business Intelligence tools such as Power BI
- Knowledge and experience of donor fund management in an international context
- Experience of financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting of projects
- Ability to analyse financial data and provide insightful narrative for range of audiences
- Finance Business Partnering experience with senior stakeholders

**Desirable skills**
- Proven ability to work effectively with staff at different levels and from different cultural backgrounds including experience of coaching or training
- Knowledge of development issues and the sector, preferably gained in an International Development Organisation
- Knowledge of French or Portuguese will be an advantage

**Closing date**:Applications close **12:00 PM UK** time on 11th August 2025**.

**Pre‑employment screening**

**Benefits**
- 36 days’ holiday (including 8 Bank Holidays)
- Option to buy an extra 5 days’ annual leave
- Employer pension contribution up to 10 %
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