Finance Manager

Programme Finance Manager
Salary: £55,000 £61,000
Permanent, Full-time
Hybrid working 2 days in office
Location: Central London

An established international development charity is seeking a Programme Finance Manager to lead financial oversight across a diverse portfolio of global programmes and grants. This is an excellent opportunity for a qualified accountant to play a senior role in ensuring strong financial governance, donor compliance and effective programme delivery within a mission-led organisation.

About the Role
Reporting to the Head of Finance & Operations, the Programme Finance Manager will be responsible for the financial management, reporting and control of a substantial portfolio of grant-funded programmes. You will lead programme finance activity across budgeting, forecasting, grant accounting, cost recovery and compliance, working closely with programme and partnerships teams.
This is a highly visible role with responsibility for providing accurate and insightful financial reporting to senior management and governance committees, as well as ensuring that donor requirements are met across a wide range of institutional funders. You will also manage and develop a small programme finance team, setting standards, overseeing workloads and ensuring the quality and timeliness of outputs.
The role offers a strong blend of strategic oversight and hands-on leadership, supporting organisational planning while maintaining robust financial controls across complex, multi-year and multi-currency grants.

Key Priorities in Your First Six Months

• Lead programme budgeting and forecasting cycles, including multi-year grant projections
• Ensure timely and accurate month-end close, balance sheet reconciliations and grant reconciliations
• Oversee donor financial reporting, ensuring compliance with grant agreements and narrative alignment
• Strengthen grant tracking, cost recovery and co-financing models
• Support audit processes, including organisational and grant-specific audits
• Provide clear financial analysis and reporting to senior management and governance committees
• Review and improve programme finance systems, tools and processes
• Line manage and support a team of programme finance professionals

About You
We are seeking a CCAB-qualified accountant with strong experience in programme or grant finance, ideally gained within an international development, humanitarian or NGO environment.

You will bring:

• Proven experience managing donor-funded programmes and grants
• Strong knowledge of charity accounting, audit and financial controls
• Experience working with institutional funders (e.g. government, multilateral or foundation donors)
• The ability to manage complex budgets, cost recovery and cash flow forecasting
• Experience leading and developing finance staff
• Excellent Excel skills and strong attention to detail
• The confidence to partner with non-finance colleagues and influence at senior level
• You will be comfortable balancing technical rigour with collaboration and motivated by working in a values-driven organisation with a global outlook.