Division:   Global Conservation Program, Asia Program, Greater Mekong Region

Reports to:   Regional Director, Greater Mekong

Location:   Bangkok, Thailand; or another WCS Country Office in the Region

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is an international conservation NGO headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City working to save wildlife and wild lands and to meet global conservation challenges in over 60 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. 

WCS has recently re-organised into a set of regional programs, which includes the Greater Mekong Region, covering the Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam programs, in addition to region-wide engagement on a variety of conservation matters.

To support this regional program, WCS seeks a dynamic, well-organized, hard-working, and committed team player to oversee the budget and finances of the region, and to provide direct support to the Regional Director in managing the operations of the Regional Program. The Regional Business Manager will continually assess and document the financial health of the Regional Program and develop both short and long term financial plans for the Region. S/he regularly provides reports for management in the region and headquarters.

This position reports to the Regional Director of Greater Mekong. This position will involve regular travel to WCS Country Offices within the region (Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam) approximately 25% of the time. It is preferred that the position is based out of Bangkok, or another WCS Country Office in the Region.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Financial Management and Planning: Ensure Regional Director has the financial information they require to manage and fundraise for the Region; Provide monthly key performance indicators for each country and all multi-country grants; Work with Regional Controller to resolve any issues with finances in the Region; Annual presentation of short and long term financial plans for each country with detailed variance analysis on prior plans; Report regularly to headquarters about the financial state of the Region.

• Budget Leadership: Manage and maintain the Regional Program budget; Lead the annual WCS budgeting process for all countries in the Region; Responsible for working with Country Finance teams to understand and report on full program costs; Responsible to manage the region’s Unrestricted allocations; Serve as the budget lead for regional grants; Review country budget adjustments, budget to actual reports, and ensure regular and timely budget updates.

• Proposal Review: Working in coordination with NY grant departments, approve all proposal budgets from the Region – ensure budgets are covering costs and are contributing to strengthening the Regional Program; ensure budgets are in line with long-term financial plan for the Region; ensure budgets are developed in compliance with WCS policies and undergo appropriate reviews.

• Grant Management: Ensure regional grant administration is on track; Coordinate preparation of financial reports for regional grants; Review and approve grant financial reports prepared by Country Programs; Support Country Programs in understanding WCS grant management processes, systems, tools and donor compliance requirements. 

• People Management: Work with Regional Director to manage regional staffing; Oversee HR issues in the Region; Support the recruitment and training of grant/finance/administration staff as needed.

• Perform other duties as determined by the Regional Director.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS:

The successful candidate must have strong interpersonal skills and display evidence of good leadership, business partnering and influencing skills. S/He must have excellent written and oral communication skills and be comfortable participating both as an effective contributor, leader and listener in group settings. S/He must be well organized, self-motivated, resourceful, effective and efficient at coordinating multiple resources to get things done, with attention to detail; can work on multiple tasks at multiple levels and switch between them; can foresee and plan around obstacles.

• Bachelor degree required, MBA preferred. Related program of study such as finance, accounting, economics or business highly preferred.
• Proven financial management experience in an international organization (5+ years) including staff management experience.
• Effective “roll up the sleeves” work ethic; Demonstrated ability to work with a diverse team. Must be solution-oriented, and have strong problem solving and analytical skills.
• English fluency required
• Excellent computer and systems skills required with respect to MS Office applications (advanced skills in MS Excel required) and major financial accounting and reporting software (SAP or equivalent)
• Experience with grants management and grant reporting in a multi-funder environment required.

Interested candidates, who meet the above qualifications, should apply by sending an application letter and CV together with the names and contact information of three references to asiaprogram@wcs.org  Please include “Regional Business Manager” in the subject line of your email. Candidates must also apply online via the WCS career portal at: http://www.wcs.org/about-us/careers

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews.  The job will be filled when a suitable applicant is found, so interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, and definitely before 31 May 2017.