Head of Finance and Supplies Section

Reference no.: AP09-12

Grade: A4, according to the scales of the Co-ordinated Organisations.

Location:

ECMWF Headquarters at Shinfield Park, near Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom

Environment:

ECMWF is an international organisation established by a Convention signed in October 1973 and currently supported by 18 Member States and 13 Co-operating States. Its prime objectives are the operational production of analyses and medium-range forecasts of weather and ocean waves and scientific and technical research directed to the improvement of these forecasts.

Main duties:

The post is located in the Finance and Supplies Section of the Administration Department of ECMWF and the incumbent will report to the Head of Administration. The successful candidate will be responsible for a team of four staff.

The main responsibilities include:

• Drafting of annual budgets and the overall estimates of revenue and expenditure for the following years
• Preparation of any supplementary or rectifying budgets
• Preparation of annual Financial Statements of Accounts
• Drafting of internal financial rules and instructions
• Drafting of the working papers concerning financial matters, including proposed amendments to Financial Regulations for submission to the Finance Committee and Council
• Liaising with and assisting the auditors of ECMWF
• Overseeing of the cash flow and investment funds of ECMWF
• Responsibility for all banking arrangements and associated tasks
• Liaising with the Financial Controller in matters related to sound financial management of the Centre

Qualifications:

Candidates should have a university degree in accounting, finance or a closely related field and at least five years of current professional experience in a position of a similar nature.

As the ECMWF accounting system is in the process of moving to full accrual accounting based on either the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) or the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the successful candidate should have a good working knowledge of either set of standards.

This is a “hands on” position and the person selected for this role must be flexible, self motivated and have excellent organisational skills. Exceptional attention to detail, excellent communication skills and the ability to work under pressure and to tight statutory deadlines are also required.

Staff are normally recruited from among the nationals of the following Member and Co-operating States: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom.

Remuneration:

A4: £5,266.88 to £6,981.28 basic salary per month net of tax.

In principle, a staff member will be engaged at the lowest step of the lower grade of the post for which he or she is selected.

A deduction is made from the basic salary for the Pension Scheme and for Partial Invalidity (currently 8.8% for the Pension Scheme and 0.2% for Partial Invalidity). A further 1.46% of basic salary and related allowances is currently deducted for the ECMWF Supplementary Health Insurance Scheme.

Starting date: 1 April 2010

Length of contract: Maximum of four years for initial contract, with the possibility of renewal.

Applications: Application forms in word format can be downloaded from here (162kb) and completed on-line. If you download, you may (if near to the closing date) e-mail the completed form only back to ECMWF at jobs@ecmwf.int. Please note, however, that you must still send your full application form together with all the attachments to ECMWF by post. Under no circumstances should you e-mail your attachments.

Closing date: Completed applications for this post must reach the Personnel Section of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts not later than 25 septembre 2009.

[Version française] [Deutsche Fassung]

* The ECMWF Member States are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

The ECMWF Co-operating States are Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.