Budget Coordinator

Job Description

Macfadden, a PAE company, is seeking a Budget Coordinator to support the Office of Africa (OA) within USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA). BHA leads and coordinates the U.S. Government’s humanitarian assistance efforts overseas in response to natural disasters and protracted crises. The Bureau also supports early recovery efforts that restore and protect basic systems and services and invests in risk reduction programs that prevent or reduce risks associated with chronic and recurrent hazards.

As a member of OA’s Management and Integration Team (MIT), the Budget Coordinator will support OA’s financial management functions, serve as a key point of contact with BHA’s Budget and Finance Division (BFD), and strengthen OA’s capability in the areas of budgeting and financial management.

The responsibilities of the Budget Coordinator include:

• Analyze financial data, expenditures, and projected financial commitments in close coordination with OA leadership and BFD.
• Maintain a strong knowledge of BHA and USAID financial systems—Abacus, GLAAS, and PhoenixViewer—in order to support OA with day-to-day financial and budget functions, including running reports, recommending process adjustments and improvements, and tracking the overall Office budget allocation.
• Serve as a technical resource and liaison between OA and BFD, coordinating communications and frequently asked questions and providing day-to-day support.
• Provide technical support and guidance to OA staff on day-to-day budget and finance related issues.
• Coordinate the annual budget process for OA:
  • Disseminate annual budget guidance from BFD to OA.
  • Coordinate associated budget-related meetings across the office and with BFD.
  • Develop and share an annual budget calendar and detailed instructions.
  • Help facilitate the allocation of budgets to Divisions and Teams once budgets are approved.
• Collaborate with OA Leadership to develop and share financial management guidance for the Office.
• Coordinate and monitor the accruals process, in coordination with BFD, on a quarterly basis and provide information and guidance as necessary to OA staff.
• Collate budget documents.
• Prepare periodic financial reports for OA Leadership upon request.
• Manage and respond to budget taskers.
• File and store key budget and financial documents and information.
• Perform other general administrative duties as needed by the MIT.

Operating Year Budget (OYB) Development

• Support OA’s annual and supplemental program budget requests, narratives, and supporting materials, in close coordination with BFD, for International Disaster Assistance, Title II, Community Development Funds, and other funding accounts, and feed into the bureau-wide annual OYB exercise managed by BFD.
• Support the justification of OA’s OYB requests and respond to any other requests made by BFD.
• Work closely with OA’s response and technical staff to understand BHA’s humanitarian assistance programming priorities.
• Maintain awareness of the appropriations process and review appropriations legislation, in coordination with BFD as needed, including any special language or restrictions pertaining to OA’s funding that could impact OA’s humanitarian assistance programs.
• Support and coordinate within OA for any BFD requests related to budgetary and financial inputs to BHA budget formulation, execution, and financial reporting process.

Budget Execution – Strategic Planning

• Support the planning and execution of a complex office budget that consists of programs to address ongoing emergencies and disaster risk reduction programs.
• Assist in analyzing humanitarian needs, trends, and available resources and present such analysis in verbal and written briefings, charts, and graphs.
• Track the status of OA’s humanitarian assistance resources and provide regular budget status updates to OA senior management and team leaders.
• Prepare and support reports and briefings on OA’s budget position, priorities, and plans.

Budget Execution – Financial Processing and Tracking

• Develop familiarity with all USAID and BHA corporate financial and procurement management systems used to manage and program OA’s budgetary and financial resources.
• Process OA’s financial transactions using BHA’s program management system along with BHA’s procurement systems as needed and reconcile OA’s financial data between the systems to ensure accuracy.
• Maintain budget- and finance-related records for OA’s humanitarian assistance and development program funds.
• Facilitate the financial components of joint programming between BHA and other parts of USAID, utilizing USAID’s corporate systems.

Budgetary and Financial Reporting

• Prepare reports in response to ad hoc inquiries from OA staff, BHA’s budgetary stakeholders, and auditors in close coordination with BFD.
• Manipulate and query BHA and USAID corporate systems to produce standard reports and ad hoc reports, utilizing Microsoft Excel as necessary.

Other Budgetary and Financial Management Duties

• Coordinate with BFD as needed on the quarterly and annual reviews of unliquidated balances, including researching and facilitating de-obligations of unliquidated funds as appropriate.
• Support BHA’s internal control processes for OA, especially as they relate to financial management of BHA’s humanitarian assistance program funds, and support the preparation of OA’s submission for the annual Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act exercise.
• Develop expertise in basic budgetary and financial management concepts, such as the principles of appropriations law, funds control violations, and pertinent USAID budgetary or financial policies.

Education, Experience, and Skills Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and at least eight (8) years of relevant work experience in a combination of finance, accounting, international relations, humanitarian assistance, budgeting, and/or a related field. Preferred experience with US Government budgeting processes and financial systems, or processes and systems of a similar nature.

OR

• Master’s degree and at least six (6) years of relevant work experience in a combination of finance, accounting, international relations, humanitarian assistance, budgeting, and/or a related field. Preferred experience with US Government budgeting processes and financial systems, or processes and systems of a similar nature.

OR

• At least 10 years of work experience in a position culminating in the set of duties and responsibilities similar to those of this position. Preferred experience with US Government budgeting processes and financial systems, or processes and systems of a similar nature.

Qualified candidates should:

• Demonstrate applied knowledge of the MS Office Suite (Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint) and Google applications;
• Have substantial experience with budget- and finance-related responsibilities;
• Possess strong communication and organizational skills;
• Be able to multi-task in a fast-paced environment with multiple, overlapping deadlines;
• Work well with others to ensure that tasks are completed well and on time;
• Be able to problem-solve and think critically;
• Have strong attention to detail;
• Be flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances; and
• Be willing to go the extra mile.

Ability to obtain and maintain a US Government issued Secret clearance for the duration of your employment. Only applicants who currently hold an active Secret or higher-level security clearance or who are eligible to receive a Secret security clearance will be considered for this position.