Lead, Expenditures Governance & Efficiency (Nationals Only)

 SITUATION IN ORGANIZATION

Reports to Head Methods, Systems and Compliance

To lead the governance, oversight, and continuous optimization of organizational expenditures by implementing cost control frameworks, enhancing financial efficiency, and ensuring compliance with internal policies and external regulations. The role strategically manages high-value spending controls across both OPEX and CAPEX portfolios, directly influencing financial performance and sustainability.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Expenditure Governance Framework

• Design and implement a robust expenditure governance framework covering over US$ 10 billion in annual revenue, US$ 4 million spending across operational, capital, and project-based expenditures.
• Develop financial authority matrices, risk thresholds, and control checkpoints across more than 120 departments and cost centers.
• Conduct monthly compliance assurance reviews on high-risk spend categories and escalation reports for non-adherence.

Efficiency and Cost Optimization

• Lead organization-wide efficiency initiatives that target annual savings of US$ 40–50 million through strategic sourcing, vendor renegotiation, and spend rationalization.
• Manage spend performance reviews across more than 6,000 active contracts, with a combined lifecycle value exceeding US$ 3 billion.
• Introduce spend visibility dashboards and cost-driver analytics to reduce maverick spending by at least 25% year-over-year.

Policy, Compliance, and Risk Management

• Own and regularly update 20+ policies and procedural documents related to expenditure control,financial governance, and procurement compliance.
• Partner with Internal Audit and Risk to mitigate control failures and ensure adherence to internal governance across 15+ audit zones.
• Ensure consistent application of policy across more than 2,500 monthly purchase requests and 1,800 payment transactions.

Stakeholder Engagement and Leadership

• Act as the governance focal point across Finance, Procurement, Legal, and Operations to manage policy alignment and strategic interventions.
• Support and challenge spend justifications of Table of Financial Authorities threshold above US$ 20 million, with escalation directly to CFO and CEO governance boards.
• Lead quarterly governance forums and spend review committees with over 30 executive stakeholders.

Reporting and Strategic Insights

• Deliver executive dashboards, KPIs, and exception reporting covering over 500 active projects and US$ 2 billion CAPEX allocation.
• Provide monthly expenditure performance insights to senior finance leadership and budget committees.
• Analyze vendor utilization, payment cycles, and deviation trends to support improved working capital management.

JOB DIMENSIONS

Annual Revenue: US$ 10 Billion

Contract Portfolio Size: 6,000+ contracts (OPEX & CAPEX)

Monthly PRs/Purchase Orders Monitored: 2,500+

ACTIVITIES

• Develop and maintain the expenditures governance policy and supporting procedural documents.
• Review and analyze spending patterns across operational, capital, and project expenditures to detect inefficiencies and cost leakage.
• Drive cost reduction initiatives and prepare business cases for major efficiency projects.
• Perform financial due diligence and compliance validation on purchase requisitions above defined risk thresholds.
• Track and report governance KPIs, including policy compliance rates, audit exceptions, and realized cost savings.
• Coordinate cross-functional governance and efficiency reviews with procurement, projects, and finance controllers.
• Provide guidance and training sessions to business units on expenditure policy awareness, compliance expectations, and efficiency best practices.
• Maintain a centralized repository of approved exceptions, justifications, and lessons learned from expenditure reviews.
• Lead internal workshops and external benchmarking to identify innovative practices in expenditure management.
• Support system automation efforts (e.g., SAP workflows, GRC controls, BI dashboards) that enhance expenditure visibility and decision-making.
• Liaise with the legal and risk teams to ensure governance models are contractually enforceable and audit ready.
• Monitor regulatory developments and ensure expenditure policies are aligned with applicable financial regulations and corporate mandates.
• Handling contractor contracts, which may involve large-scale projects worth millions and require strict the role operates in a complex, multi-functional organization with high financial exposure and accountability.
• Expenditure governance is a critical enabler for achieving corporate cost optimization goals, especially in capital-intensive industries where projects can exceed US$ 1 billion each.
• The position requires cross-departmental collaboration with stakeholders at all levels, including C-level decision-makers, project sponsors, finance controllers, procurement officers, and external auditors.
• The organization is undergoing digital transformation through ERP upgrades (e.g., SAP S/4HANA) and the integration of governance, risk, and compliance tools, requiring the role to be highly adaptable to systems and process change.
• The expenditure governance function is positioned as a first line of defense, ensuring financial discipline,risk mitigation, and transparency in all spending decisions.
• The environment demands high ethical standards, proactive risk identification, and strategic financial insights to support sound decision-making and regulatory adherence.
• As part of a lean governance structure, the role is expected to be both hands-on in analytics and strategic in design and policy alignment, often managing competing deadlines and complex business expectations.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• Education: Bachelor’s in finance, Accounting, Business Administration; Master’s or professional
• certifications (CPA, CMA, CIA, CISA) preferred.
• Experience: 8–12 years in financial governance, cost control, or expenditure oversight roles within large scale organizations or governmental entities.
• Systems: Advanced SAP ERP user, experience with GRC tools, Power BI or similar analytics platforms.
• Expertise in financial governance, spend analysis, and policy enforcement.

• Strong analytical and data visualization capabilities.

• Excellent negotiation, communication, and cross-functional leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cost efficiency projects at an enterprise scale.