Senior Manager, Finance (Financial Statements)

The Finance Group serves as a strategic partner and fiduciary advisor, ensuring transparent, accountable, and effective resource management across UNOPS. The Group defines financial strategy in alignment with organizational goals, establishes finance policies, systems, and processes, and leads corporate budgeting to enable full cost recovery and ensure long-term financial sustainability. Throughout the project lifecycle, the Finance Group provides expert guidance, oversight, and tailored financial solutions. Responsibilities include delivering comprehensive financial and corporate performance reporting, strengthening financial capacity across the organization, and continuously enhancing resource planning and allocation. In addition, the Finance Group prepares and oversees the implementation of finance-related policies, upholding the highest standards of financial stewardship and supporting UNOPS in achieving operational excellence and fiscal responsibility.

The Senior Manager, Finance (Financial Statements) reports to the Chief of Financial Statements and External Audit Relations, who provides overall broad direction and guidance. This role is critical for leading the essential functions within the unit to enable timely book closures, accurate accounting, and the preparation of IPSAS-compliant corporate Financial Statements. The incumbent also serves as a senior deputy to the Chief, providing strategic solutions to complex financial issues and expert advisory to achieve unit and organizational objectives. This involves direct supervision and technical leadership across general ledger, asset & inventory management, and corporate financial reporting, establishing robust internal controls, coordinating external audits, and driving knowledge management initiatives.

The incumbent is responsible for Core Operational Leadership and Strategic Advisory & Executive Support. The incumbent leads teams, provides expert advice on IPSAS compliance and financial integrity, and drives improvements and transformative change in corporate financial statements and audit processes, ensuring UNOPS's financial transparency and accountability.

1. Strategic Oversight of Specialized Functions: Provides direct supervision and technical leadership to specialists across following key workstreams, working closely with team leads.

• General Ledger & Accounting: Ensure the integrity of data in the general ledger and oversee the monthly and year-end closure processes. Maintain custody over the UNOPS general ledger and provide technical guidance on IPSAS compliance across all reporting streams.
• Treasury Accounting: Ensure accurate recording of in-house investments and those managed by external managers based on investment reports received.
• Asset & Inventory Management: Oversee the accurate and complete accounting and physical verification of PPE, Intangibles, and Inventory to ensure high-quality reporting in the Corporate Financial Statements.
• Corporate Financial Reporting: Ensure the timely preparation of IPSAS-compliant UNOPS Corporate Financial Statements and Reports. Address and resolve systematic processing anomalies to ensure a clean audit trail and accuracy of transaction processing.

2. Internal Controls and Financial Integrity: Establishes a robust risk management framework within the unit to safeguard data integrity and support financial assertions.

• Data Integrity & Assertions: Implement and oversee controls to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information used for Corporate Financial Statement (CFS) preparation. Address key financial statement assertions from an accounting perspective through evidence-based oversight.
• Control Environment: Ensure the reasonable functioning of internal controls within the specialized teams to facilitate evidence-based affirmation and the signing of the Statement of Internal Controls by senior management.
• Policy Management: Manage the development and operationalization of financial policies, procedures, and rules to enhance business operations.

3. Strategic Audit and Advisory Support: Acts as a key coordinator for external and internal audit processes.

• Audit Liaison: Support the relationship with the UN Board of Auditors and Internal Audit to resolve critical accounting or audit-related issues.
• Execution: Coordinate and execute the financial reporting components of external audits and ensure the timely implementation of corrective actions across the four specialized teams.
• Strategic Input: Prepare and/or confirm the accuracy and relevance of financial input for the UNOPS Strategic Plan and other high-level corporate management reports.

4. Knowledge Management and Field Engagement: Leads capacity-building initiatives to ensure global financial compliance.

• Policy & Documentation: Maintain and update comprehensive process documentation and strategic financial policies to ensure they remain relevant.
• Practice Engagement: Proactively engage with the Finance Practice in the field to foster a deeper understanding of UNOPS processes, ensuring financial data in the GL is compliant and audit-ready.
• Internal Capacity: Drive structured knowledge sharing and lead training events to build the capacity of the immediate team and global stakeholders on IPSAS standards.

5. Team Leadership.

• Management: Establish team priorities, supervise the implementation of work plans, and allocate human and financial resources to ensure cost-effective goals.
• Culture: Set performance objectives and standards to ensure a client-focused, high-performance culture respectful of diversity and conduct standards.
• Recruitment: Plan, recruit, and develop a flexible workforce with the skills needed for optimum performance.
• Acts as Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Financial Statements and External Audit Relations section in the absence of the Chief, exercising delegated managerial, operational, and financial signing authority under the UNOPS Financial Regulations and Rules. 

Required

• Masters degree (or equivalent) in Finance, Accounting, Financial Management or a related field with 7 years of relevant experience, OR
• Bachelors degree (or equivalent) in any of the above disciplines with 9 years of relevant experience is required.
• Fully Qualified Accountant qualification with a recognised accountancy body (CA, CPA, ACCA, ACA, etc) is required.

Required

• Relevant experience is defined as progressively responsible experience in financial accounting, financial reporting, and audit within an international environment, which must include providing expert advice in a financial context and leading projects or programs and teams.

• Demonstrated experience supervising team leaders is required.

• A thorough knowledge of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is required.

  
  

Desired

• Experience within the UN system or other international organizations.

• Experience with ERP systems and financial reporting tools.

  
  

• UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes. 
• UNOPS will at no stage of the recruitment process request candidates to make payments of any kind.
• Applications to vacancies must be received before midnight Copenhagen time (CET) on the closing date of the announcement. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered. 
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the selection process, which may include various assessments. 
• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of a wide range of nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. We strive to sustain and strengthen this diversity, fostering an inclusive working environment where all personnel are treated with respect and have equal access to opportunities.
• UNOPS evaluates all applications based on the skills, qualifications and experience outlined in the vacancy announcement. We are committed to a fair and transparent selection process and welcome diverse perspectives, including those of women, indigenous and racialized communities, individuals of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, and persons with disabilities.
• We are committed to enabling all candidates to perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require support or reasonable accommodation to complete any assessment, please inform our human resources team upon receiving your invitation.
• UNOPS has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment, and other forms of abusive conduct, including discrimination, abuse of authority, and harassment. To uphold these standards, background checks are conducted for all final candidates to help ensure that individuals with a history of such conduct are not hired. By applying for a position with UNOPS, candidates acknowledge and consent to these verification processes.
  

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few mandatory courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here. 
• For more details about the contract types, please click here.
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda. 
• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.