Position: Sr Manager/Manager – Financial Operations and Grants
Employer: Inclusion Economics India Centre at IFMR
Location: Delhi
Reporting to: Associate Director of Finance and Admin
The Role:
The role supports the organisation’s end-to-end financial management, grant finance, compliance, audit, administration, procurement, and team management. It ensures accurate financial accounting, budgeting, reporting, cash-flow management, and timely payments, while monitoring grant utilisation and compliance with donor and statutory requirements. The role manages the financial lifecycle of grants, supports audits, strengthens internal controls, and ensures proper documentation. It also oversees procurement, assets, vendors, and administrative operations. In addition, the role supervises and develops the finance and administration team and builds financial management capacity among non-finance staff. All responsibilities listed below are to be executed in close coordination with the rest of the finance team, research managers and other budget holders, and in strict compliance to the DoA (Delegation of Authority) matrix.
Responsibilities:
Financial Management & Accounting
- Oversee day-to-day financial operations including reviewing invoices, payment requests and supporting documents, approve/recommend transactions within delegated authority, process staff reimbursements and travel advances, address finance queries from staff, vendors and project teams.
- Manage Financial Accounting in Zoho Expenses Management application.
- Prepare quarterly and annual financial reports for partners and other internal stakeholders.
- Monitor budget utilization in MIS and flag variances.
- Monitor receivables and payables.
- Ensure timely vendor payments
- Review monthly financial transactions for accuracy and get the identified discrepancies rectified.
- Oversee effective utilization of office advance and its settlement as per IFMR policies.
- Work in close coordination with IFMR on financial accounting.
Grants & Donor Financial Management
- Manage the full financial lifecycle of grants — from award setup, budget coding, and fund allocation through closeout and final reporting.
- Conduct pre-award financial risk assessments of donor organizations
- Prepare timely, accurate financial reports for donors in line with individual grant agreements and reporting schedules.
- Monitor grant utilization and ensure funds are used as per approved budgets.
- Monitor project cash flows and prepare timely funding requests or drawdown forecasts to ensure projects have continuous liquidity.
- Track multiple funding streams and ensure correct cost allocation where projects are co-funded.
- Review grant contracts and donor award letters to ensure terms are feasible and compliance rules are understood before signing. Set up appropriate project codes in the Financial systems
- Prepare Project Initiation (PI) form, Project closure form, Grant transfer form as required.
- Coordinate with research teams while raising donor invoices.
- Ensure expenses are aligned with project budgets.
Compliance, Audit & Internal Controls
- Ensure compliance with donor-specific financial regulations as well as national statutory requirements (tax, labour law, FCRA where applicable).
- Coordinate and support internal and external/statutory audits, as well as donor-commissioned audits.
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of regulatory changes affecting grant management and foreign funding compliance.
- Maintain accurate financial records, ledgers, and supporting documentation (vouchers, invoices, contracts) in line with organizational and donor requirements in Zoho application.
- Strengthen financial controls.
- Review financial policies and recommend process improvements to the Leadership
- Address audit findings and implement corrective actions.
Administration & Procurement
- Oversee administrative functions including office management, procurement, and logistics.
- Ensure effective asset management and inventory control.
- Oversee vendor contracts and service agreements.
- Troubleshoot as required with Zoho, MMT and Uber or any other vendor.
- Ensure compliance with organizational policies.
- Maintain and implement robust internal controls to safeguard assets and prevent fraud.
Team Management & Capacity Building
- Supervise and mentor finance and administrative staff.
- Train non-finance staff (Research managers, field teams) on budget management, procurement processes, and expense documentation requirements.
- Liaise with HR on staff cost allocation across grants.
- Build team capacity through mentoring, training and development.
- Allocate responsibilities and monitor team performance.
Perform additional tasks delegated by ADF from time to time as per requirement.
Qualification:
- Bachelors/Masters in Commerce / Finance
- 8-10 years of progressively responsible experience in a relevant capacity (e.g. managing research grants, budgeting, contract management, accounting, and/or finance)
- Experience in managing and supervising teams, including delegation, performance management, and providing feedback and support, is essential.
- A strong track record demonstrating financial management skills including developing and monitoring budgets, financial analysis, and financial reporting.
- Setting up administrative and financial systems for new projects and programs
- Must be fluent in English with skills in written communication and report writing
- Demonstrate high integrity in dealing with financial matters and build a similar culture across in the organization
How to Apply:
If you are interested in this position, please fill out our Screening Questionnaire; you will be asked to upload a single PDF containing your CV, cover letter, writing sample, and academic transcripts. Label your file “Last name, First name – Sr. Manager/Manager - Financial Operations and Grants”.
To view other open positions, visit theInclusion Economics Opportunities page. We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds, particularly women, people of color and other marginalized communities which have historically been underrepresented in the field of economics.
About Us:
Inclusion Economics’ vision is a world where research and dialogue ensure economic justice, social opportunity and environmental protection. Drawing upon economics, political science, and related fields, we conduct cutting-edge research to understand how policy can promote inclusive, accountable economies and societies. Our core research focuses on gender as it relates to labour economics and broader economic empowerment; political economy and governance; and climate and environmental economics. We also aim to build a culture of evidence and increase data literacy in the public sector, strengthening leaders’ ability to identify and implement evidence-informed policies. Throughout the research life cycle, we engage closely with policy counterparts to ensure we address questions of immediate relevance, and we regularly communicate data-driven insights with policy counterparts and the general public.