Job Brief
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Vital Strategies works with governments and non-governmental organizations around the world to strengthen public health systems and advance policies that help people live longer, healthier lives. It partners with countries to turn data into action, combining technical expertise, strategic communication, and implementation support to address the world's leading causes of illness, injury, and death.
We believe our programs are strengthened when they are developed and supported by people with diverse life experiences whose understanding of social and cultural issues can help make our work and workforce more inclusive. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or creed, gender, national origin, ancestry, actual or perceived age, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, marital status, sexual orientation or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws. As such, our commitment is to promote equal employment opportunities (EEO) for those seeking employment.
- PLEASE NOTE: Russell Reynolds Associates has been exclusively retained for this search. Prospective candidates are invited to send their CV and a cover letter to VitalStrategiesCEO@russellreynolds.com . All inquiries, recommendations and discussions will be considered strictly confidential. Any applications not sent through Russell Reynolds will not be considered.*****
Vital Strategies works with governments and non-governmental organizations around the world to strengthen public health systems and advance policies that help people live longer, healthier lives. It partners with countries to turn data into action, combining technical expertise, strategic communication, and implementation support to address the world's leading causes of illness, injury, and death.
Guided by its vision of "a world where everyone, everywhere is protected by equitable and effective public health systems," Vital Strategies works in partnership to reimagine evidence-based, locally driven policies and practices that advance public health. By helping governments design and implement solutions that can scale rapidly, the organization addresses some of the world's most important health challenges while improving the lives of millions of people.
Vital Strategies employs a global team of more than 400 professionals working in more than 80 countries across six continents, with offices and affiliated entities in New York City, Addis Ababa, Jinan, New Delhi, Paris, São Paulo, and Singapore. Its priorities are driven by the greatest potential to improve and save lives. Programs are concentrated primarily in low- and middle-income countries throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific, while also leading significant initiatives in the United States, including a comprehensive overdose prevention program supporting seven states.
Vital Strategies’ main areas of impact include:
▪ Promoting Health: Vital Strategies works to reduce consumption of unhealthy products and apply proven strategies to reduce noncommunicable disease (NCDs). Areas of focus include tobacco control, food policy, alcohol policy, NCD prevention and treatment, and mental health.
▪ Protecting Communities: Vital Strategies addresses climate change and environmental hazards, which are among the fastest-growing threats to public health. Areas of focus include climate and environmental health, urban health, and lead poisoning prevention.
▪ Preventing Harm: Vital Strategies works to prevent injuries, which disproportionately affect youth and young adults. Areas of focus include road safety, overdose prevention, and gender-based violence prevention.
Vital Strategies’ core approaches include:
▪ Data Systems & Public Health Intelligence: Building surveillance systems, modernizing civil registration, and creating digital tools that enable governments to make real-time, evidence-based decisions.
▪ Policy Solutions: Advancing and accelerating policies proven to improve health, using legal analysis, political mapping, and economic and health impact estimates.
▪ Strategic Communication & Advocacy: Designing strategic communication and advocacy campaigns that build public support and drive policy change.
To learn more about Vital Strategies, please visit https://www.vitalstrategies.org .
The Role
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) serves as a strategic thought partner to the CEO and Board of Trustees while overseeing all aspects of global finance, grants management, compliance, enterprise risk management, and financial operations for a complex international nonprofit organization. The role requires a unique blend of strategic leadership, operational rigor, global nonprofit expertise, board engagement experience, donor stewardship, and the ability to manage financial complexity across multiple countries, funding streams, and stakeholder groups. The CFO must balance long-term organizational sustainability with operational excellence, ensuring strong internal controls, regulatory compliance, effective resource allocation, and high-quality financial decision support across the enterprise.
While Vital Strategies welcomes candidates from across the globe, the CFO is expected to be an active, in-person member of the executive leadership team. The successful candidate will be based in, or willing to relocate to, the New York metropolitan area and be present in the New York office at least two to three days per week to foster collaboration, organizational leadership, and engagement with key internal and external stakeholders.
Key responsibilities of the role include, but are not limited to:
Strategic Financial Leadership
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO, Executive Leadership Team, and Board of Trustees on financial strategy, organizational sustainability, enterprise risk, and resource allocation.
- Lead long-range financial planning and scenario modeling to support organizational growth and strategic priorities.
- Provide proactive financial insights and analytics to support executive decision-making.
- Provide financial leadership and strategic analysis to support the development of new revenue streams, partnerships, and business models that strengthen the organization's financial resilience and mission impact.
- Develop and implement financial strategies aligned with organizational mission and global operational realities.
Board, Finance Committee & Audit Committee Engagement
- Prepare and present financial reports, dashboards, forecasts, and strategic analyses to the Board of Trustees.
- Serve as primary management liaison to the Finance Committee and Audit Committee.
- Translate complex financial information into clear and actionable insights for non-financial stakeholders.
- Support board governance, fiduciary oversight, and enterprise risk discussions.
- Coordinate materials and presentations for board and committee meetings. This includes Finance, Audit and Board meetings for 501(c)(3) and 501(c)4 entities.
Global Finance & International Operations Oversight
- Oversee global financial operations across multiple international offices and entities.
- Ensure strong internal controls, financial accountability, and compliance across all country operations.
- Partner with international office leadership to strengthen financial management capacity and operational efficiency.
- Oversee multi-currency financial management, global banking relationships, cash flow management, and treasury operations.
- Ensure consistency in financial policies, procedures, and reporting across international offices.
- Provide fiduciary oversight and guidance to international offices as needed
Audit, Compliance & Risk Management
- Lead all organizational audits, including consolidated audits and audits for international offices.
- Oversee preparation and coordination of approximately six international office audits annually.
- Ensure compliance with U.S. and international regulatory requirements, donor regulations, and nonprofit accounting standards.
- Oversee enterprise-wide risk management related to financial operations, compliance, grants, and internal controls.
- Maintain and strengthen systems of internal control and financial governance.
- Oversee the organization's insurance program, including policy renewals, coverage adequacy, and broker relationships, to protect organizational assets and manage risk exposure globally.
Grants, Contracts & Donor Financial Management
- Oversee a newly formed Grants Management department, ensuring strong financial stewardship of foundation, government, and donor funding.
- Ensure compliance with federal grant regulations, donor restrictions, and contractual obligations.
- Lead negotiations and financial review of donor agreements and funding arrangements.
- Review and approve budgets, contracts, proposals, and grant submissions.
- Partner with program leadership to ensure accurate financial planning and grant implementation.
- Provide leadership, oversight, and operational management of the organization’s entire portfolio of grants and contracts.
- Ensure all funding proposals, budgets, and financial submissions adhere to organizational cost principles, donor requirements, and industry best practices, while promoting consistency and financial sustainability across all awards.
- Oversee financial compliance, reporting, and risk management for all externally funded awards, ensuring adherence to the requirements of private foundations, government agencies, and multilaterals.
- Work with the newly hired VP, G&C to design, centralize, and continuously strengthen grants and contracts functions, including policies, procedures, systems, training, and implementation frameworks to support compliant and efficient award management, while overseeing sub-awards, sub-contracting and procurement- related activities and building staff capacity through clear guidance and technical resources.
- Play a key role in the proposal development process, including analysis of funder requirements, identification of risk to program development teams and leadership, development of cost proposals and related pricing strategies, and negotiation of funded awards.
- Develop a strong relationship with key donors.
Federal Compliance & Indirect Cost Recovery
- Maintain strong knowledge of U.S. federal grant compliance requirements, including Uniform Guidance and cost allocation methodologies.
- Lead development, negotiation, and management of indirect cost recovery (ICR) rates.
- Ensure organizational compliance with federal funding requirements and reporting obligations.
- Advise leadership on financial implications of federal funding strategies and compliance risks.
Budgeting & Financial Planning
- Lead the organization-wide annual budgeting and forecasting process.
- Partner with divisional and departmental leaders to develop, negotiate, and manage operating budgets.
- Support leaders in balancing programmatic priorities with financial sustainability.
- Oversee internal and external budgeting processes, including proposal budgets for donors and funding agencies.
- Drive accountability and transparency in financial planning across the organization.
Treasury & Banking Relationships
- Oversee domestic and international banking relationships and treasury management.
- Manage organizational liquidity, investment oversight, and cash management strategies.
- Ensure effective financial controls related to banking operations and international fund transfers.
- Partner with external financial institutions and advisors as appropriate.
Investments & Retirement Plan Oversight
- Oversee investments and reserve management in partnership with the Board and external advisors.
- Manage and monitor the organization’s 403(b) retirement program and related fiduciary responsibilities.
- Ensure governance, compliance, and performance oversight for retirement and investment programs.
Leadership & Organizational Management
- Lead and develop high-performing global finance and grants teams.
- Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, customer service, and continuous improvement.
- Strengthen financial literacy and operational partnership across the organization. Provide training to finance and non-finance staff.
- Lead the modernization and continuous optimization of the organization's financial systems, processes, and reporting capabilities to enhance efficiency, scalability, and decision-making.
- Champion innovation, continuous improvement, and the adoption of leading financial practices, technologies, and emerging capabilities—including automation and artificial intelligence—to enhance operational efficiency, decision-making, and organizational effectiveness.
- Lead financial systems optimization and process improvement initiatives.
Candidate Profile
Vital Strategies seeks a strategic, collaborative, and globally minded financial executive to serve as a trusted advisor to the President & CEO, Board of Trustees, and Executive Leadership Team. The successful candidate will combine exceptional financial and operational expertise with the leadership skills to guide a complex international organization through its next phase of growth and evolution. They will possess the executive presence to influence strategic decision-making while maintaining a deep commitment to operational excellence, strong governance, and financial stewardship.
The successful candidate will bring significant experience leading finance functions within a complex nonprofit, international, or similarly matrixed organization. They will have demonstrated success overseeing sophisticated financial operations, grants and contracts management, compliance, enterprise risk management, and global finance across multiple jurisdictions. Equally important, they will be an authentic partner who builds trust across functions and geographies, develops high-performing teams, and fosters a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and service.
Experience working within federally funded and/or internationally funded organizations is desirable, as is familiarity with nonprofit accounting, grants management, donor compliance, and multi-entity financial operations. The successful candidate will ideally possess an educational background in finance, accounting, business administration, or a related discipline. A bachelor’s degree is required and an MBA or relevant masters’ degree is preferred. A CPA or CMA is also preferred. The ideal candidate will have at least 15-20 years of experience at a senior level working in a complex international organization, or will have an equivalent combination of education and experience.
In terms of the performance and personal competencies required for the position, we would highlight the following:
Setting Strategy
- A strategic advisor capable of translating complex financial information into thoughtful recommendations that support executive and Board decision-making.
- The ability to balance long-term financial sustainability with organizational mission, global operational realities, and programmatic priorities.
- Demonstrated success leading organizational transformation, strengthening financial infrastructure, and driving continuous improvement across finance and related functions.
- An enterprise perspective with the judgment to anticipate risks, evaluate tradeoffs, and develop pragmatic solutions within a complex international environment.
Influence and Relationship Building
- An authentic partnership orientation with the ability to build trusted relationships across executive leadership, program teams, international offices, the Board of Trustees, and external stakeholders.
- Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to translate sophisticated financial concepts into clear, actionable insights for diverse audiences.
- Demonstrated success partnering with Boards, Finance Committees, and Audit Committees while supporting strong governance and fiduciary oversight.
- A collaborative, service-oriented leadership style characterized by humility, transparency, responsiveness, and a high degree of emotional intelligence.
Executing for Results
- Demonstrated success leading complex global finance operations while ensuring strong financial stewardship, operational discipline, compliance, and effective internal controls.
- Experience managing sophisticated funding environments, including foundation, government, and other restricted funding sources, while ensuring compliance with donor requirements and applicable regulations.
- The ability to establish priorities, execute effectively in dynamic environments, and lead organizations through periods of growth, transformation, and change.
- A commitment to leveraging technology, data, and process improvement to strengthen financial operations and organizational effectiveness.
Team Leadership
- A demonstrated ability to recruit, develop, retain, and inspire high-performing teams while fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and accountable culture.
- Experience leading geographically dispersed teams and partnering effectively across cultures, functions, and organizational boundaries.
- A leader who empowers others through coaching, mentorship, and the development of financial and operational capabilities across the organization.
- An attitude of humility, continuous learning, and openness to feedback, leading by example and encouraging innovation and professional growth.
Mission Alignment and Personal Characteristics
- A genuine commitment to the mission of improving global public health and strengthening equitable public health systems.
- An appreciation for the complexity of operating within a global, mission-driven organization that partners with governments, donors, and civil society organizations around the world.
- Sound judgment, integrity, resilience, and the ability to navigate ambiguity with confidence and composure.
- Warmth, collegiality, intellectual curiosity, and a collaborative spirit, coupled with the ability to balance strategic thinking with operational rigor.
Contact And Compensation
Vital Strategies’ goal is to compensate for this position at a competitive level. The estimated compensation package is expected to be in the range of approximately $270,000- $320,000 in base salary. Vital Strategies does not offer an annual bonus opportunity. That said, the final salary and total compensation of the candidate selected for this role will take into consideration various factors, including, but not limited to, scope of role, level of experience, stature in the industry, professional accomplishments, internal equity, the organization’s budget and will be subject to Fair Market Value evaluation. In addition to salary, the selected candidate will be eligible to participate in the Vital Strategies standard benefit package. Additional details regarding benefits are available upon request. The approximate range listed is a good faith determination of potential base compensation as a component of the total compensation for the role at the time of this job advertisement and may be modified in the future.
