Director of Finance and Operations

About the War Child Alliance

War Child Alliance is an international humanitarian organisation united by the belief that no child should be part of war. Ever. The Alliance works to improve the mental health and holistic wellbeing of children and young people affected by armed conflict, supporting them to recover, continue learning, stay safe and shape their own futures. Its core programme competencies span mental health and psychosocial support, child protection, education and youth empowerment, underpinned by research, advocacy and the development of scalable, evidence-based approaches.

War Child currently implements programmes and activities in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Ukraine and Yemen. It also provides remote technical support to partners in Burundi and delivers support to refugee children in the Netherlands. War Child’s international work is resourced through fundraising offices in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany and the United States of America, alongside institutional donors, foundations, corporate partners and individual supporters.

In 2023, five War Child organisations came together to establish the War Child Alliance and create Stichting War Child Alliance Foundation (WCAF) as a new international legal entity. From January 2024, programme implementation and global support functions were brought together within the Foundation, while the fundraising members retained responsibility for mobilising resources within their respective markets. This transition was designed to strengthen efficiency, shared decision-making, international influence and the ability to scale War Child’s evidence-based interventions. It also marked a significant shift away from separate organisational structures towards a more integrated, globally coordinated and network-governed model.

WCAF Institutional Transformation and Strategy

War Child is now moving through the next stage of this transformation. Its new focused strategy is centred on three interconnected priorities: developing and scaling evidence-based methodologies in child protection, education and mental health; accelerating the transition from direct implementation to locally and nationally partner-led programming; and strengthening organisational efficiency and agility in a changing humanitarian and funding environment. The accompanying restructure is reshaping global, regional and country teams, consolidating shared services and realigning systems, accountability, risk ownership and financial oversight.

The Director of Finance and Operations will therefore join at a pivotal moment—helping to stabilise and integrate systems, strengthen financial stewardship and controls, enable partner-led delivery, and ensure that the Alliance’s evolving operating model remains resilient, compliant, efficient and capable of delivering greater impact for children affected by conflict.

Main Purpose

The Director of Finance and Operations safeguards War Child Alliance Foundation’s financial health and operational resilience by leading finance, planning and control, internal controls, risk management, governance support, and enabling systems. The role ensures that War Child has the financial stewardship, operational infrastructure, and organisational assurance needed to support effective delivery, sound decision-making, and future scaling in line with its mission, strategy, and values.

Job Summary

This role sits within the senior leadership of War Child Alliance Foundation and leads the finance and operations function across financial management, operational systems, risk, governance support, IT/ICT, and organisational controls. The Director works closely with the CEO, senior leadership colleagues, board committees, and relevant functional leads to ensure War Child has the systems, controls, and stewardship required to operate effectively, manage risk, and support long-term impact.

• Provide strategic leadership to drive delivery and achievement of the organisation’s overall strategy, ensuring plans, resources, and priorities are aligned to agreed organisational objectives.
• Lead the development and delivery of War Child Alliance Foundation’s finance and operations strategy, ensuring strong stewardship of resources, operational resilience, and alignment with organisational priorities.
• Provide overall leadership for financial management, planning and control, internal controls, and organisational assurance, ensuring effective and compliant systems are in place across the organisation.
• Oversee long-term financial strategy, financial sustainability, and the effective use of financial insight to support decision-making, performance, and future growth.
• Lead the development and strengthening of enabling systems and operational infrastructure, including IT/ICT, data platforms, business continuity measures, and other systems required to support organisational effectiveness and scale.
• Ensure effective enterprise risk management processes are in place at strategic and operational level, with appropriate visibility, escalation, and accountability for key risks and incidents.
• Oversee governance support, board and committee servicing, and the quality of organisational processes related to compliance, assurance, audit, and record keeping.
• Promote strong cross-Alliance coordination and collaboration in finance, IT, governance, risk, legal, and operational effectiveness, ensuring shared mechanisms are practical and fit for purpose.
• Lead the development and implementation of minimum standards, policies, and procedures that support strong financial control, operational consistency, accountability, and legal or regulatory compliance.
• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing function, creating clarity, delegated leadership, accountability, and continuous improvement across teams and areas of responsibility.
• Contribute as a member of the senior leadership team to organisational strategy, planning, decision-making, risk management, and cross-functional leadership.
• Ensure performance management of department and teams against agreed KPIs to ensure organisational priorities and quality standards are met.

Each staff member is responsible for contributing to creating a culture committed to our mission, vision, internal safeguarding standards, JEDI ((Social) Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion) principles and the CHS (Core Humanitarian Standard) framework and are expected to actively promote this in their work.

These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the role.

Role Specific or Context Responsibilities:

• This role operates in a complex international and networked environment and requires the ability to balance strategic leadership with strong operational stewardship.
• The role works across multiple functions, governance bodies, and alliance stakeholders, and requires sound judgement in managing financial sustainability, organisational risk, internal control, compliance, enabling systems, and business continuity. It also requires the ability to strengthen systems and ways of working that support both day-to-day operations and future organisational scale.
• The role leads the engagement with the ISB Audit and Risk Committee.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Knowledge of finance, planning and control, internal control, and organisational stewardship.
• Understanding of risk management, governance, compliance, and assurance processes.
• Understanding of how IT/ICT, data platforms, and enabling systems support organisational effectiveness and scale.
• Ability to connect financial and operational insight to organisational priorities and decision-making.
• Ability to lead through complexity and balance stewardship, service delivery, risk, and improvement.
• Builds trusted relationships across diverse internal and external stakeholder groups.
• Communicates clearly and credibly in writing and in person, including on sensitive or high-stakes matters.
• Uses judgement to balance opportunity, sustainability, accountability, and operational practicality.
• Works collaboratively across functions and supports shared ownership of organisational goals.
• Understands the importance of integrity, safeguarding, inclusion, and values-led leadership in operational practice.

Experience:

• Led a finance, operations, or organisational stewardship function at senior level in a complex organisation.
• Developed strategy and translated it into clear priorities, systems, and measurable outcomes.
• Oversaw financial management, planning and control, internal control, or organisational assurance processes.
• Worked with boards, audit and risk committees, or comparable governance bodies.
• Strengthened operational systems, policies, or ways of working that support effective delivery and organisational resilience.
• Managed risk, compliance, or assurance processes in a multi-stakeholder or multi-country environment.
• Built and led teams across finance, operations, IT, risk, governance, or related support functions.
• Worked in an international, networked, humanitarian, development, or values-led environment.

Education:

• Relevant postgraduate qualification or equivalent senior leadership experience in finance, accounting, business administration, operations, organisational management, risk, or a related field is desirable. A recognised professional finance qualification may be useful depending on the final scope of the role.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required for this role.
• Additional languages may be useful depending on stakeholder groups and organisational context, for example Arabic, Dari, French, Spanish, or Ukrainian.

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