Global Financial Controller – Maternity cover (12 months)

Finance & Economy

Overview

Lead financial reporting and audits for global operations. Manage financial integrity and accountability.

You have:

• A fully qualified accountant with a recognised accountancy body (e.g. ACCA, ACA, CIMA)
• Effective team leader, inspiring and motivating teams to achieve ambitious goals.
• Extensive experience ensuring accurate and compliant financial reporting to senior management and external stakeholders.
• Deep understanding of financial control policies and best practices in the context of a global organisation.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to provide clear, insightful reporting to senior management and Trustees.
• Proven track record in investing in the growth and development of team members.
• Commitment to upholding and role modelling the highest standards of integrity and ethical behaviour.

Save the Children International has an exciting opportunity for a Global Financial Controller (Maternity cover) to join our global team.

Team purpose The Financial Accounting and Control team exists to set a robust financial control framework and provide oversight to ensure effective operation. By ensuring our financial accounting processes meet all statutory and donor financial reporting and audit requirements and comply with accounting standards and tax regulations, we enable the organization to maintain financial integrity and transparency. Our work supports the overall mission and goals of the organization, ensuring it can operate with a strong foundation of financial accountability

Role purpose To lead SCI’s statutory financial reporting and annual audit, ensure a strong financial control framework across SCI global teams and country offices, and support country teams in managing an extensive programme of donor audits. This role is critical to strengthening SCI’s organisational integrity and accountability, and managing financial risks.

Job Title: Global Financial Controller – Maternity cover

Work Pattern: Remote/Home based

Reports To: CFO

Contract Length: 12 months (Augst 2025 – August 2026)

Grade: M4

Location: Any approved Save the Children International office location (For a full list of locations that Save the Children International can hire in, please visit: Work For Us | Save the Children International)

Time Zone: Europe, WCA, ESA, MENAEE Time Zones (UTC/GMT + / - 3 hours)

Right to Work: The successful candidate must possess the unrestricted right to work in their current or preferred location for the duration of employment.

Language Requirements: English

International Travel Requirements: Up to 10%

Budget Responsibility: $1.8 million budget covering team operational costs and costs of annual audit

People Management Responsibility: Number of people managed in total: 16

Manager of a team: Yes

Team Manager (manager of multiple teams): Yes

Principal Accountabilities

• Provides inspiring leadership to SCI’s global financial accounting and control team, building strong professional capability and a culture of continuous improvement. Works with Director of IP Finance to build professional skills and culture of financial control in country office Finance teams. • Builds and implements an effective framework of financial control policies and processes, holding country offices to account against KPIs. Owns the organisation’s Scheme of Delegation and financial data model. • Ensures SCI has global financial accounting policies and processes to meet accounting standards in UK (for SCI), Switzerland (for SCA) and other relevant jurisdictions. Defines and embeds best practice, ensuring appropriate documentation, guidance and training on policies, and advising on financial accounting issues. • Oversees the preparation and submission of all financial statements, ensuring accurate reflection of the charity’s financial performance and compliance with all regulatory requirements. • Manages and leads the annual audit processes, working closely with external auditors to deliver accurate and timely financial reporting. Supports country teams in managing several hundred donor audits each year and their local statutory audits. Drives audit efficiencies in SCI and across members. Ensures action plans are agreed to address audit findings and control weaknesses in a timely manner. • Works closely with Transformation Department and IT department to ensure SCI’s systems support our reporting requirements and control policies, and to support delivery of projects. • Establishes SCI’s tax strategy, drives tax compliance and supports global teams and country offices on tax matters. • Provides prompt and insightful reporting to senior management and Trustees on financial accounting, control, tax and audit matters

Experience and Skills

1. Team Leadership: Effective team leader, inspiring and movitating teams to achieve ambitious goals.
2. Financial accounting: Extensive experience ensuring accurate and compliant financial reporting to senior management and external stakeholders. Strong knowledge of charity SORP, statutory reporting requirements, and auditing standards
3. Financial control: Deep understanding of financial control policies and best practices in the context of a global organisation.
4. Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills to provide clear, insightful reporting to senior management and Trustees
5. Talent Development: Proven track record in investing in the growth and development of team members, with a commitment to nurturing and unlocking the potential of teams.
6. Ethical Leadership: Commitment to upholding and role modelling the highest standards of integrity and ethical behaviour, ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
7. Financial systems: Significant experience with complex finance systems. Proven ability to manage large-scale projects effectively – encouraging collaboration, innovation and high performance.

Education and Qualifications

• A fully qualified accountant with a recognised accountancy body (e.g. ACCA, ACA, CIMA)

Key Relationships:

Internal (excluding direct team and manager)

• Country Directors and Country Finance Directors
• Legal Team
• Risk Team

External

• External auditors, KPMG

Working at Save the Children International

Save the Children is the world's leading organisation for children, employing ~25,000 staff. We save children's lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Through our work in 116 countries, we put the most deprived and marginalised children first.

We know that great people make a great organisation, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

The work here is challenging but is also immensely rewarding. At Save the Children, you will be in good company, working with talented, like-minded individuals who are determined to ensure that all children survive, learn, and are protected. Your contribution will help ensure children's voices are heard at the highest levels, and that we achieve our global strategy, Ambition for Children 2030, and reach every last child.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

DEI is core to our vision, values and global strategy. Save the Children is committed to creating a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation, and one which will support us in our vision to ensure every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation.

We are committed to equal employment opportunities, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, caring or parental responsibilities, age, or beliefs and religion. We are committed to diversifying our staff to better represent the communities we serve and actively welcome underrepresented groups to apply.

Reasonable adjustments will be made should any candidate invited to interview require this.

Application Information

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application. A full copy of the role profile can be found here via the job listing. It is recommended that you save a copy of the role profile as it will no longer be available after the advert closes.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the job advert may be closed earlier than advertised subject to the volume of suitable applicants. Please submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.

Due to the high volume of applications we receive, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Candidates who are successfully shortlisted should expect to hear from us within 2 weeks of the advert deadline.

Our recruitment process:

Application review by our recruiting team based on your CV and cover letter

Two-stage competency-based interviews with the hiring team

Some recruitment may include an additional assessment or case study stage, or a third stage interview

If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, followed by your contract subject to passing background checks

We need to keep children and adults safe so our selection process includes rigorous background checks and reflects our commitment to the protection of children and adults from abuse. All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our Code of Conduct and all policies and procedures relating to Anti-harassment, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, and DEI and Equal Opportunities.

Save the Children does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 9 days ago - Updated 56 minutes ago - Source: savethechildren.net