Finance Manager

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases _initiative_ (DND_i_) is an international, not-for-profit research and development (R&D) organization that develops and delivers new treatments for neglected diseases that affect millions of the world’s poorest people.

Together with more than 200 public research and industry allies worldwide, we use the power of partnership, innovation, open science, and advocacy to find solutions to a great injustice: the lack of medicines for life-threatening diseases that disproportionately impact poor and marginalized people. Driven by collaboration, not competition, and by patients’ needs, not profits, we promote equitable access, foster inclusive and sustainable solutions, and advocate for a more effective global biomedical R&D system that meets the needs of neglected patients.

Since our inception, DND_i_ has delivered nine new treatments for people with sleeping sickness, visceral leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, HIV, hepatitis C, and malaria that have saved millions of lives. We now aim to deliver an additional 15-18 new treatments by 2028 - addressing R&D gaps for neglected tropical diseases and viral infections, including new pandemic-prone diseases (such as COVID19) and climate-sensitive diseases (such as dengue) with a focus on the needs of patients in low
- and middle-income countries.

Counting Brazil’s Fiocruz as a founding member and numerous collaborations with science and access leaders in Latin American region, DND_i _established itself in Rio de Janeiro in 2004. An integral part of DND_i_’s global network, DND_i _Latin America nurtures R&D and access partnerships in the broad region eco-systems, including for Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, hepatitis C and dengue, while contributing to DND_i_'s global strategy. It also undertakes advocacy in support of neglected patients and leads capacity-building projects through multi-country clinical research and drug discovery platforms, including the Chagas Clinical Research Platform and RedeLEISH and the Lead Optimization Latin America (LOLA).

**Purpose of the position**:
The Finance Manager is responsible for leading LATAM Budgets processes, grant management for projects in the region, financial records, reports, and any other financial process of LATAM entities, including accounting and bookkeeping of all current vouchers in Navision. The position is key in ensuring finance routine activities occur smoothly, accurately and on time in respect of DND_i_’s policies, regulations, and local/regional laws.

As part of the global finance team, the person will engage in global projects and will also play a coordinating role in Internal control review (ICR) function.

Overall, the person is expected to act as the finance business partner for DND_i_ in the region, ensuring confidentiality in guaranteeing resources are spent adequately as well as respect of DND_i_’s overall policies and the national/regional legislation.

**Specific job responsibilities**:
**1**st** area - Budget**:

- Leads the process of the initial budget and its revisions for LATAM and NA offices and is responsible to conduct budget meetings for some projects outside the region.
- Responsible to lead kick off and debriefing meetings to take place before and after budget exercises with budget managers in the region.
- Alerts project managers on budget over or underspending trend and/or high unforeseen expenses.
- Ensures a bi-monthly dashboard is prepared and communicated to relevant stakeholders.

**2**nd** area - Accountancy and Treasury**:

- Validates all transactions in Navision on a weekly basis, respecting projects, and donor codes, and proper costs’ repartition in budgets. Also ensures proper documentations are storage in SharePoint latest the 15th of the subsequent month.
- Together with the Procurement Manager and other related staff, ensures a good relationship with vendors aiming on best suitable solutions for DND_i_ in terms of financial conditions (payment delay, invoicing regularity, payment method, etc.).
- Ensure all payments are done according to DND_i_’s financial policies and on due dates.
- Validates payments on banking system respecting LATAM signature policy thresholds.
- Approves Cash requests and Grant award calculations, which should be revised after budget exercises.
- Ensure partners financial reports are submitted according to contracts.

**3**rd** area - Year-end and mid-year closing**:

- Ensure year-end and mid-year closing are properly done in respect of HQ deadline.
- Leads within the Finance LATAM team the collection of the in-kind contributions from relevant stakeholders (working close with project teams to respect deadlines).
- Ensure all partners' financial reports are submitted on time.
- Ensure statutory audit reports are submitted on time.
- Support Senior Accounting Officer during statutory audit planning and fieldwork.

**4**th** area - Internal Control**:

- Coordinates the process of standardization, from a fin