Department/Unit: Finance / Financial Controls / Back Office

Date of Issuance: June 4, 2025 

Deadline of Applications: July 3, 2025

Required Languages: English

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract

Grade: Professional

Job Category: G

Recruitment Status: International

Contract Duration: Two-year fixed term appointment, with possibility of renewal

Job Profile

The Senior Financial Settlements Officer is responsible for coordinating the activities of the Back Office function and managing the relationship with the OPEC Fund’s custodian to maintain an excellent working relationship. The position is responsible for delivering a range of operational functions that support funding, investment portfolios, approving the settlement of trades, and issuing transaction confirmations executed by the Treasury Unit. Additionally, the Senior Officer manages Business Partner’s Master Data, in accordance with the institutional strategy and framework, and also represents the team in various system or instrument implementation projects and working groups. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Core Back Office Role:

• Executes day-to-day back-office clearance for all trade execution and portfolio servicing activities including trade review, settlement and documentation, trade confirmations, portfolio servicing across a range of products including bonds, debts, swaps, repos, deposits FX transactions and exchange-traded derivatives
• Monitors settlements of transactions, including purchase/sell, hedging and coupon payments
• Manages relationship with the OPEC Fund’s custodian, reporting, monitoring, reconciling the OPEC Fund's accounts and open new custodian accounts based on Treasury requirements
• Builds and maintains strong relationships with internal stakeholders, especially with Treasury trade execution desk and funding, as well as with external partners including market counter parts, and custodians, issuing and paying Agents
• Oversees collateral management, settlement of collateral (receiving and return, interest and other related payment) based on Risk Management’s guidelines, and reconciliation of collateral accounts
• Ensures consistency of OPEC Fund’s global payment activities across multi-currencies through the OPEC Fund’s House Bank accounts with efficient and accurate implementation of payment
• Confirms House bank accounts are monitored efficiently to secure sufficient liquidity for the OPEC Fund’s operational and disbursement requirements
• Works closely with the Information Technology Unit to ensure the use of up-to-date technology for financial-related database management and foster system upgrades
• Verifies the consistent interpretation and application of controls framework requirements across the team’s processes and work program
• Collaborate across internal and external organizational boundaries in finding solutions and delivering results
• Provide leadership and guidance to the Back Office team

Coordination

• Effectively prioritize and delegate work assignments within the team, developing and implementing solutions that create positive experiences and interactions with the Back Office team, trade execution desk and counterparts
• Coordinates and communicates closely with Treasury and other counterparties as well as external service providers such as the OPEC Fund’s custodian
• Acts as focal point for Operations, Loan Management, Procurement and House Banks in resolving issues with debit-payments and repayments

Accounting

• Supervises the necessary accounting procedures corresponding to settlement activities
• Validates the accounting of Member Country contributions, maintenance of related databases and calculation of balances and annual share price
• Validates treasury transactions, valuations based on regular periods, calculation of accruals, realized/unrealized gains or losses, interest income on accrual basis and other tasks

Reporting

• Reviews and contributes to periodic reports for disclosure of the OPEC Fund’s financial reports and for use by the OPEC Fund’s Management and Governing Board
• Responds promptly to internal and external inquiries, underpinning the OPEC Fund’s strong customer service image

Carries out other tasks assigned by the Director, Financial Controls, that are related to the job function.

Qualifications and Experience

• Master’s degree in Finance, Banking, Business Administration, or a closely related field
• A minimum of 10 years relevant professional experience, of which five (5) years should have been in an international development institution
• Profound understanding of financial instruments including loans, bonds and swaps from back-office perspective is required
• Proficiency with one or more treasury management systems (e.g. SAP, Bloomberg, etc.) is required
• Proven successful experience in leading and managing people and guiding and motivating teams is an asset
• Fluent in English. Good working knowledge of Arabic, French or Spanish is an added advantage.

Competencies

• Ability to Work Under Pressure - The capacity to remain composed, focused and productive when facing tight deadlines, high-stakes situations and demanding workloads.
• Collaboration and Teamwork - The ability to effectively work with colleagues, stakeholders and partners to achieve shared goals.
• Customer Centricity  - The ability to focus on comprehending and addressing customer needs; consistently deliver exceptional service and foster strong, lasting customer relationships. 
• Decision making - The ability to analyze information comprehensively to make well-informed decisions; assess both immediate and long-term ramifications. 
• Effective Planning and Follow Up - The ability to set clear goals and priorities; skillfully organize tasks for efficiency; consistently follow through on commitments and plans. 
• Problem Solving Ability - The ability to identify issues adeptly, delve into root causes, and devise pragmatic solutions; demonstrate ingenuity and resourcefulness in overcoming challenges.