The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is an intergovernmental organisation set up for the promotion of free trade and economic cooperation between its four Member States: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, in Europe and globally. The EFTA Secretariat provides services to the EFTA States. In Brussels this entails support in the management of the EEA Agreement, in particular in ongoing decision making for the continuing evolution of the EEA Agreement, and the Geneva office manages the EFTA Convention and EFTA free trade agreements.

This position is open to nationals of the EFTA Member States (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein).

Scope
EFTA is recruiting a Senior Officer to become Head of the Finance department within the Administration division which is predominantly based in Brussels and provides internal services and support to the whole organisation.

The Head of Finance reports directly to the Director of Administration, leads a small team of two assistants and supervises the financial tasks of an Officer in Administration. The team is committed to excellence in its deliverables and responsibilities and works closely together with HR, IT and building services. The position entails working hands-on with budgets, accounting, controlling, financial reporting and forecasting, procurement, expense management, cash management and payrolling.

S/he is responsible for the day to day interpretation and execution of EFTA’s Financial Regulations and Rules and works with the Head of HR to ensure consistent application of the Staff Regulations and Rules on salaries, allowances, benefits and expenses.

S/he will be required to assist EFTA’s management in its contacts with national administrations in the duty stations as representatives of EFTA Member States, external service providers and auditors.

Main tasks include:
• Supervising and performing all financial operational and reporting activities of EFTA;
• Preparing EFTA’s annual budget;
• Liaising with chosen investment bank(s) on the staff savings fund;
• Liaising with insurance companies for all insurances for staff and the Secretariat;
• Reviewing and proposing updates to the Financial and Staff Regulations and Rules;
• Operating as adviser in larger purchases and making sure that these are made in accordance with EFTA’s procurement rules;
• Assisting the Financial Mechanism Office, legally part of EFTA, in all financial matters concerning their administrative budget and expenses;
• Representing EFTA in the workgroups involved with a relocation project.