Job Description
The Finance Advisory Services (FAS) team is made up of in-country associates that are the trusted advisors to country leadership teams in the area of financial sustainability. Taking vast amounts of financial intelligence from budgets, spending patterns and projected work plans, FAS provides concise, actionable advice around how to allocate scarce resources to best achieve the country’s scale and impact goals. The goal of our small group of financial consultants is complete financial sustainability.
As a young organization, we are ready to hand over significant responsibility for specific, well-defined strategic initiatives as well as day-to-day management of our financial systems. As such, we are seeking an exceptional professional with 3+ years work experience, and a long-term career interest in international development. They will serve in a career-track position that combines financial and operational analysis with management experience.
We are seeking a candidate to be based in Kakamega, Kenya and support the country leadership team for our Kenya program.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities
Typical tasks will include:
Supporting Country Leadership to determine strategy by providing strong financial recommendations. Using the financial intelligence gained in the above priorities, the FAS Associate will work with the country leadership to ensure that a solid strategic plan is in place to meet all impact and scale goals.
Develop and Support Key Strategic Projects.
Supporting/developing data strategy for Operations Innovations, Field, and Logistics such as:
Building a repayment analysis tool
Building analytic capacity, to be specified (training staff, developing standards)
Maintaining fertilizer projection model
Other projects as needed
Financial Analysis and Driver of Sustainability. The FAS Associate is tasked with pushing the country towards sustainability; you will provide reports on district and country-wide spending to budget performance, and will oversee the measurement of Financial KPI’s, and detailed EOY projections that will include unexpected costs as well as financial risks, ensuring appropriate action. The Associate will provide analysis and recommendations for improved efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and product pricing.
Annual Budget Facilitator and Champion. With support from the rest of the Finance team, the FAS Associate will spearhead the annual budgeting process, including tools training, workshop facilitation with department heads and review of the compiled budgets.
Country Finance point of contact. The FAS Associate will act as the main country representative and project manage a variety of finance-related projects by working to connect our FP&A, Accounting, and Treasury teams with country teams. The Associate will also be the main point of contact for the org-wide finance leadership on the Kenya program. This includes presenting the country’s monthly results to all finance leadership across the organization, including providing a clear and concise explanation of the analysis on current results and future risks and projections.
Manage and Mentor Staff. To support the above-mentioned activities, you will recruit, manage and develop a small team (one to five) of experienced staff that will assist with your analysis and communications goals.
Career Growth and Development
One Acre Fund invests in building management and leadership skills. Your manager and a global support team will commit significant time in your career development. We provide constant, actionable feedback delivered through mentorship and through regular management consulting-style career reviews. We also have regular one-on-one meetings, where we listen to and discuss career goals, and work collaboratively to craft roles that each person can be passionate about. Because of our rapid growth, we constantly have new high-level roles opening up and opportunities in many functions.
Qualifications
We are looking for truly extraordinary candidates that will help take our organization to the next levels of impact and scale. This is a competitive posting for a career-track role with a minimum initial commitment of two years. Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:
3+ years work experiences. Examples include a demanding professional work experience in a finance function (e.g. SME management consulting, an entrepreneurial role, working as a business or finance analyst).
Confidence with numbers and providing quick, insightful analyses of the stories behind the numbers.
Ability to clearly communicate in a logical and structured way to an audience with widely varying levels of expertise and interests.
Ability and drive to work independently, while effectively prioritizing potentially conflicting demands from various teams.
Outstanding interpersonal skills, including both verbal and written communications.
Experience with process design and implementation.
Leadership experience at work, or outside of work, particularly in a matrix based organization.
Strong educational background.
A willingness to commit to living in rural areas of East Africa for at least two years – this is a long-term, career-track position with potential to grow into a management role.
Language: English required. Swahili strongly preferred.
