Finance Specialist (Funding Unit - Investor Relations)

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation.

The Financial Operations Department (FOD) is a dynamic financial, strategic and responsive business partner and service provider fully supporting IFAD in developing its financial strategy and managing its financial, investments and material resources. FOD ensures that these resources are efficiently, economically and effectively used to achieve IFAD’s objectives in the long-term and deliver on its development commitments. The Financial Operations Department is composed of the following three divisions: (a) Financial Controller's Division (FCD), (b) Financial Management Services Division (FMD) and (c) Treasury Services Division (TRE).

The Treasury Services Division (TRE) mandate is to safeguard IFAD’s resources through liquidity planning, borrowing, management of investments and cash operations with the aim to preserve capital and maximize returns within the provisions of IFAD’s Financial Regulations; formulate and implement investment and cash operations strategies and policies; ensure prompt availability of cash for IFAD operations through prudent liquidity and borrowing planning; oversee the integrity of the Fund’s daily investment and cash operations in line with corporate risk management standards and manage the investments and cash of extra budgetary funds, hosted entities and trust funds; as well as manage IFAD’s borrowing programme.

Within the Division, the Funding and New Products Unit (“Funding Unit”) is the specialized unit to implement IFAD’s borrowing strategy by ensuring full implementation of the Integrated Borrowing Framework. The unit is also responsible for IFAD’s loan pricing and enhancements thereof, as well as working across institutional boundaries to develop new financial products to broaden the choice for IFAD’s borrowers.

The incumbent will work under the overall strategic, policy and management guidance of the Director and Treasurer, and direct supervision/guidance of a Senior Finance Officer. The incumbent will be committed to the delivery of assigned objectives and activities and keep abreast of related industry developments and skills required to respond to the divisional work plan and results.

The incumbent is a seasoned professionals reflecting an in-depth, broad understanding of applicable regulations, standards and methods as well as IFAD’s financial regulations, rules and transactional procedures in one or more financial occupations including accounting, budget, loans and grants, public financial management and/or treasury.

The main responsibility of the incumbent is ensuring the efficient and cost-effective implementation of IFAD’s Integrated Borrowing Framework. The focus of this role is on the implementation of IFAD’s Euro Medium Term Note programme. This requires liaising with external parties including existing and prospective investors, dealer banks, the programme arranger, rating agencies, and internal parties for production and update of IFAD’s impact report, update and maintenance of investor material. The incumbent will also represent the Treasury Division on funding-related matters at internal and external meetings to ensure the establishment of IFAD as an issuer name and TRE’s visibility within the organization.

1. FINANCE BUSINESS PARTNER: The incumbent is a credible, trusted partner to the Department/Division/Unit where assigned. S/He supports the Fund’s finance strategy and plans as well as models a commitment to financial integrity by acting as a responsive and constructive service provider with a focus on results. The incumbent provides seasoned verbal and written advice and guidance to supervisors and staff on finance regulations, rules and procedures, facilitating a mutual understanding of roles and fiduciary accountabilities in direct support of integrity in the management of the Fund’s financial resources.

2. TREASURY MANAGEMENT: The incumbent is a seasoned professional with the capacity to interpret and apply a broad range of international and IFAD financial policies, rules and regulations as well as standards and techniques, and with knowledge of pillars of financial market drivers and financial risks.

3. AGENT OF CHANGE: The incumbent understands and applies the principles of change management and proactively serves as a role model for transformation and capacity for acceptance of change. S/He uses a seasoned knowledge of results based management and budgeting, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other information technology to develop, analyze and promote acceptance of new methods of work and automated work flows. The incumbent manages change through consultations with finance colleagues and outreach to internal and external stakeholders to build understanding of and to ensure open and regular communications pertaining to current and planned changes in the Fund’s financial standards, regulations and rules.

4.MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS: The incumbent is accountable for integrity, transparency, and equity in the personal use of assigned IFAD resources, including equipment, supplies and, as applicable, staff or consultants supervised.

Under the leadership of a Senior Finance Officer, the incumbent works jointly with other areas of TRE, the Global Engagement, Partnership and Resource Mobilization (GPR) division, the Risk Management Office (RMO), the Legal Department (LEG) and the Operational Results Divition (OPR), to define IFAD’s funding strategy and support the financial structuring and ongoing management of IFAD's borrowing operations from all sources eligible under the Integrated Borrowing Framework.

The incumbent is accountable for:

• Collaborating with GPR to create a structured outreach programme to identify and source potential lenders/investors willing to collaborate with IFAD.
• With GPR and FCD, conducting due diligence on existing and prospective investors and lenders.
• Maintainging relatinships with IFAD’s current sovereign lenders.
• Cultivating and maintaining partnership with IFAD’s global network of financial intermediaries/counterparts.
• Collaborating with the investor outreach program - participating in investor meetings, presentations, road shows, conferences, etc.
• Creating and maintaining cutting edge investor material and information.
• In collaboration with OPR and COM, producing IFAD’s impact report.
• Preparing relevant documentation to support discussions with IFAD management and stakeholders (internal finance/risk committee, Audit Committee, Executive Board and technical seminars).
• Representing the Funding team at internal and external meetings and conferences as required.

The incumbent is accountable for in¿depth analysis of a variety of financial reports that reflect transactions where many different consecutive stages of operations are involved; problems involve interrelationships and interactions within the financial structure and her/his role is to ensure that the Organization's financial business conforms to regulations. Based on a thorough knowledge of finance principles, concepts and systems, the incumbent independently performs the full range of work for a complete, homogenous financial operation or components of financial operations in support of a geographic or other organizational area. The supervisor may be consulted in the analysis of complex and/or precedent setting cases to ensure consistency in the interpretation and application of regulations and rules and to document such decisions. The work typically requires the identification of the need for changes to finance policies, as well as the authoritative interpretation and application of finance policies, rules and regulations to a broad range of complex casework. The key performance indicators for the incumbent include accurate performance of assigned finance operations, technical quality in terms of both substantive depth and adaptive relevance to client needs and customer service approach to problem resolution.

The incumbent will be expected to work independently, show initiative, problem solvig attitute, ability to syntetize complex matters in a clear manner, respect deadlines and proactively signal arising issues.

The incumbent may represent the unit to which assigned on related matters at internal and external meetings and conferences as requested by the supervisor. Internally the incumbent is required to explain, clarify and implement financial plans and decisions taken or procedural changes planned to ensure accuracy, completeness and integrity of financial data and reporting. They collaborate with Senior Finance Specialists to provide their feedback on the policies and procedures improvement process.  Contacts are with finance, budget, loans and grants, treasury, audit, risk management, legal and programme management staff in country offices and Headquarters. External work relationships for the incumbent normally require an exchange of information with a range of outside sources including banking counternparts, peers from other Multilateral Development Institutions, external advisors and financial service providers, lenders and investors.

Organizational Competencies - Level 1

• Strategic thinking and organizational development: Personal influence
• Demonstrating Leadership: Personal leadership and attitude to change
• Learning, sharing knowledge and innovating: Continuously seeks to learn, shares knowledge and innovates
• Focusing on clients: Focuses on clients
• Problem solving and decision making: Demonstrates sound problem solving and decision-making ability
• Managing time, resources and information: Manages own time, information and resources effectively
• Team Work: Contributes effectively to the team
• Communicating and negotiating: Communicates effectively: creates understanding between self and others
• Building relationships and partnerships: Builds and maintains effective working relationships
• Managing performance and developing staff: Manages staff and teams effectively.

Education:

• Level - Advanced university degree from an accredited institution in a technically relevant area. Degree must be an accredited institution listed on https://www.whed.net/home.php
• The advanced university degree may be substituted by a first university degree and at least four (4) additional years of relevant professional experience over and above the minimum number of years of experience
• Areas - economics, finance or other job related field.

Certifications:

• Professional qualifications, for example Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), are an advantage.

Work experience:

• At least five years of progressively relevant professional experience in a similar position in capital markets area.
• Three years preferably in the international financial institution, or another multi-cultural organization or a national organization providing support on a global scope.
• In-depth knowledge of bond issuance programmes of peer Supranationals, with focus on Sustainable Finance and ESG trends. Experience in investor relations, communications, and impact reporting.

Languages:

• Required English (4 – Excellent)
• Desirable: French, Spanish, or Arabic.

Skills:

• Problem solving, Strong systemic and structured thinking, ability to identify and dissect problems into components and formulate a comprehensive set of creative viable and sustainable solutions and strategies.
• Analytical skills, Outstanding ability to analyse and synthesize qualitative and/or quantitative information from a variety of sources and filter out key insights and recommendations.
• Interpersonal skills, Ability to deal patiently and tactfully with others (e.g. visitors, clients, callers, etc.), including senior individuals (e.g. high-level meeting participants).
• Communication skills: Ability to explain complex matters in a palatable and comprehendable way for all ranges of audience.
• Procedure adherence & interpretation, Ability to strictly adhere to established, formal guidelines, including in new situations and to interpret established, formal guidelines to address and recommend solutions or further actions required.
• Risk & compliance, Know-how in asset liability management, risk reporting, capital adequacy, quality assurance and compliance (e.g. Anti-money laundering (AML), Know your customer (KYC) processes), etc.
• Basic ICT & digital fluency, High level of digital literacy and ability to quickly get familiar with new digital tools.
• Risk management. Know-how in identifying and assessing of potential legal, reputational, ethical risks and liabilities in relation to the Fund's activities; contributing strongly to the division as second line of defence function; demonstrating ability to manage these risks by advising senior management on contingency and mitigation strategies.
• Finance and impact investments: Expertise in international development finance, derivatives, debt capital markets, impact investing, blended finance, general treasury issues (e.g. correspondent banking and custody accounts), and including regulatory developments – Basel Principles, EMIR, Dodd Frank and the AIFM).
• Capital market instruments, (fixed income, derivatives, loans), risk and performance metrics and quantitative tools of fixed income valuation (present value, duration, etc.)

IFAD staff members are international civil servants subject to the authority of the President of IFAD. In accordance with IFAD's Human Resources Policy, the President can decide to assign them to any of the activities of the Fund. All International Professional staff members are required to be geographically mobile and positions in the professional category are subject to changes in location at any time in line with strategic priorities and reform initiatives in IFAD.

In the interest of making most cost-effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview. Candidates who do not receive any feedback within three months should consider their application unsuccessful. Candidates may be required to take a written test and to deliver a presentation as well as participate in interviews.

IFAD is committed to achieving gender diversity. Women are particulary encouraged to apply.