Finance and Operations Officer at Solidaridad Eastern & Central Africa Expertise Centre (SECAEC)

Main objective of the function

Solidaridad seeks to recruit a dynamic and self-motivated individual for the position of Finance and Operations Officer based in Nairobi, Kenya. S/he will be responsible for providing financial management, accounting and operations support. S/he will oversee project financial transactions which includes but is not limited to, accounts payable functions to include processing payroll, processing payroll, processing of invoices, expenditures monitoring and financial reporting, bank reconciliation and accounts analysis, preparation and processing of local tax returns and budget monitoring. The Finance and Operations Officer will also provide operations and administrative support to the regional and country teams.

Position in the organisation

The Finance and Operations Officer reports to Senior Regional Finance manager. Works closely with the Managing Director, Regional Finance Manager, quality team on operations and regional Solidaridad teams member’s.

Result areas

• Prepare, code, total and batch payment requisitions for subsequent checks by the Regional Finance Manager.
• Maintain projects General ledger in QuickBooks/ Network system and ensure reconciliations.
• Prepare payments against authorized requisitions.
• Prepare and report monthly projects financial reports and budget variance analysis
• File all financial and Field activity records according to the existing filing system.
• Ensure reconciliations of staff field travel cash floats and banking of any cash returns.
• Maintain petty cash account in QuickBooks and make surprise upcountry office petty cash counts.
• Support partner organizations in financial training in reporting and ensure their reports have adequate supporting documents.
• Supporting REC operations in human resource management in activities including systems in accordance to the labor law, tax and statutory requirements. Also the primary point of contact for operations for the countries assigned country.
• Statutory payments such as NHIF, NSSF, PAYE, and VAT are prepared and paid by the deadlines consistently.
• Perform other work duties assigned by the Regional Senior Finance Manager or the Managing Director.

Knowledge and experience

• Relevant academic level education – Bachelor’s degree or higher – in relevant field (e.g. finance and/or accounting) and local equivalent of chartered accountant certification
• Minimum four (4) or more year’s progressive professional accounting, financial, and operations management experience, preferably in the non-profit and/or development sector.
• Working experience with an audit firm will be an added advantage.
• Computer literate, Proficient in QuickBooks and comfortable with e-accounting packages
• Demonstrated working experience with international donor-funded project in East Africa
• Demonstrated proficiency in excel by using automated excel formulas to track unique documents.

Specific job requirements

• Ability to work independently and as a member of a team to support projects and local partners to effectively meet project needs.
• Ability to work effectively with governmental and non-governmental organizations and local communities in achieving project objectives.
• Excellent reporting skills and ability to relate sensitively to diverse groups.
• Self-driven, trustworthy, pleasant, and able to deliver results with minimum supervision.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills (in English and Swahili).
• Excellent critical, creative thinking and analytical skills.
• Experience in program administration, operating procedures, oversight and monitoring.
• Ability to work with database applications.
• Knowledge of project funding procedures and guidelines.
• Ability to work in diverse situations.