Controller, Director of Accounting & Finance

As an organization whose mission is to translate science into global public health impact, working on vaccines and therapeutics, IAVI has a vaccine policy which states that subject to applicable law, we require all U.S. and Puerto Rico based employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19, unless they have an approved medical or religious exemption or accommodation. We are committed to supporting our employees during this process as we work to ensure a safe and healthy work environment.

Position Description

Job Title: Controller, Director of Accounting & Finance

Location: New York, NY

Reports to: Deputy Chief Financial Officer

Position Summary:

Are you an experienced non-profit accounting leader who’s eager to join a growing, mission-driven public health focused organization?

IAVI is seeking a Director & Controller, who will serve as a critical leader in defining the accounting and financial strategy. The Controller will be responsible for oversight of all accounting and financial reporting activities, creating and updating policies, as well as working closely with the Finance Leadership team in providing and ensuring accurate timely financial data. The Controller will lead all day-to-day accounting operations and supervise a team of staff members including functional responsibility for accounting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, audit, and financial reporting. The Controller will also lead change, improve efficiency and automation, and be responsible for government reporting calculations (ie. NICRA rate calculations).

Key Responsibilities:

Financial Strategy and Leadership

• Oversee all accounting responsibilities for the organization, including oversight of the regional hubs.
• Partner with, and support, the Deputy CFO and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer (CFAO) in establishing annual objectives, forecasts, and make recommendations on long-term resource allocation (liquid reserves) and financial planning.
• Partner actively with Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A), and Grants, Contracts and Compliance (GC&C) teams regarding ongoing business and on ad-hoc projects.
• Support the Deputy CFO and CFAO in engaging the Board’s audit and finance committee around issues and trends in financial business models and operational delivery to ensure IAVI’s financial sustainability.
• Foster financial leadership, efficiency, and discipline throughout the organization through the development and administration of financial policies and procedures.
• Develop tools & systems to provide critical financial and operational information to the Finance Leadership Team to make actionable recommendations on both strategy and operations.
• Provide critical information to the Finance Leadership Team on financial risk assessment.

Financial Management

• Oversees all accounts, ledgers, and reporting systems, ensuring compliance with appropriate GAAP and funder requirements (2CFR 200, OMB Single Audit, CAS, FAR, DARS, etc.), regulatory requirements (including IRS Form 990, States filings, etc.), OMB Single Audit requirements and all applicable federal, state, and local regulatory laws and rules for financial and tax reporting.
• Coordinate and manage the annual audit process.
• Maintain and update IAVI Manual of Accounting Policies and Procedures.
• Consistently analyze financial data and present financial reports in an accurate and timely manner; clearly communicate interim, and annual financial statements; monitor progress and changes and keep the CFAO and Deputy CFO abreast with IAVI’s financial status.
• Manage the global treasury function of IAVI: develop and update multi-currency cash flow forecasts; develop strategies that ensure the stability of IAVI’s cash position;
• Manages the appropriate use of funds, assuring the investment of excess funds; also manage and track the performance of investment assets in keeping with policies and investment guidelines.
• Establish guidelines to protect organization against fluctuation in foreign currencies.
• In collaboration with Grants, Contracts and Compliance team (GC&C), develop policies and procedures to ensure effective and compliant management of grants and cost allocation, and oversight of sub-awards and vendors.
• Oversee all financial, project/program/grant accounting and contract invoicing; help with preparation of financial reporting materials for government, sponsored, corporate, and foundation grants.

Financial Systems Strategy Leadership

• Analyze current financial processes and make recommendations on improvements, creating better controls, higher levels of automation, and more efficiency for the tasks being performed by the finance team.
• Ensure that the organization’s financial systems are efficient, reliable, user friendly and cost effective; Create new and improved systems and processes that maximize current technological resources to meet IAVI’s operational and business needs.
• Work with leaders across functions to create and support a culture of data-driven operations and decisions.

Management and Organizational Development

• Provide leadership, direction, and management of the controllership team; leveraging strengths of the controllership team, foster necessary learning programs to reach optimal individual and unit performance.
• Recruit and train regional hubs controllership staff; provide mentorship and capacity development to controllership staff globally.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of financial and administrative service delivery; assess and monitor workload, administrative and support systems, and internal reporting relationships.

Education and Work Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field is required; CPA is highly preferred.
• Minimum 10 years’ professional accounting experience is required.
• Minimum of 5 years’ of accounting experience in the not-for-profit sector working with US Government Grants and Contracts and Foundations is required.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience with people management responsibilities is required.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Experience with GAAP is required.
• Experience working in non-profit financial accounting is required.
• Knowledge of and experience with U.S. government cost principles and contracting, CAS, and FAR is highly preferred.
• Experience negotiating and modeling indirect rates (NICRA, etc.) is required.
• Experience with the monthly financial close process and creating/presenting financial statements/management reports to review monthly performance is required.
• Experience creating complex financial models including expertise in Excel with knowledge of pivot tables, lookups, and other complex formulas is required.
• Experience with consolidation of multiple entities and currencies is highly preferred.
• Experience overseeing implementation of process and quality improvement management principles to increase efficiencies and automation is highly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality, accurate work within tight deadlines.
• Ability to work independently as well as function as a team player.
• Experience with cloud-based complex financial technologies (e.g. Sage Intacct, Vena, Concur) is highly preferred.
• Ability to influence and lead a large group of multi-disciplinary team members that do not report directly to the incumbent.

Organizational Overview:

IAVI is a nonprofit scientific research organization dedicated to addressing urgent, unmet global health challenges including HIV and tuberculosis. Our mission is to translate scientific discoveries into affordable, globally accessible public health solutions. Through scientific and clinical research in Africa, India, Europe, and the U.S., IAVI is pioneering the development of biomedical innovations designed for broad global access. We develop vaccines and antibodies in and for the developing world and seek to accelerate their introduction in low-income countries. IAVI programs and partnerships are grounded in the regions of the world where the disease burden is the greatest, and our approach emphasizes sustainability. Our network of clinical research center partners in Africa and India helps strengthen in-country research capacity and supports the training and education of the next generation of scientists. The global impact of our science includes fundamental contributions to understanding the biology of HIV infection, which IAVI and others are applying toward advancing vaccine science and immunology. IAVI accelerates scientific discovery and development by fostering unique collaborations among academia, industry, local communities, governments, and funders to explore new and better ways to address public health threats that disproportionately affect people living in poverty. Our global reach, including a clinical research network in five countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in India, has allowed us to make fundamental contributions to understanding the epidemiology, transmission, virology, and immunology of HIV. This work played a key role in facilitating the design of promising HIV vaccine candidates, as well as the discovery of broadly neutralizing antibodies that are now being advanced as promising approaches for HIV prevention. Our integrated capabilities in vaccine and antibody discovery, development, and clinical research take advantage of bio-pharmaceutical industry expertise to accelerate the development and testing of prevention methods for HIV and other diseases. Through the Product Development Center, we support external researchers with technical and scientific expertise to accelerate the development of their own products.

Compensation and Benefits Information for US-Based Candidates:

The annual base salary for this position is targeted at $150,000.00 - 170,000.00

Please note, there may be some variation based on experience level. In addition, this position offers competitive benefits such as annual bonus, generous retirement savings plan, three health insurance plans to choose from, and other benefits.