Finance Specialist at One Acre Fund

Job Description

The Finance Advisory Services (FAS) team is made up of in-country analysts 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 project work plans, FAS provides concise, actionable advice around how to allocate resources to best achieve the country’s scale and impact goals. The goal of our small group of financial consultants is complete financial sustainability to efficiently scale impact.

To help achieve this, the Financial Analyst will work across functions on budgeting and quantitative analysis to give strategic advice. We are looking for someone with high leadership potential. This a career track role where you will learn valuable skills in finance and accounting as well develop a management consulting toolkit.

There are 3 main areas of responsibility for the role:

• Budget (50%): You will work with departments in developing, updating, and tracking budgets. You will update monthly BVAs (Budget vs. Actuals) and associated financial reports for the sections of the entire program, working closely with our Accounting team. This requires excel skills and financial acumen, as well as the ability to maintain professional relationships and explain complex terms in simple language. Longer-term, you will own the entire budget process
• Analysis (30%): Building on your budget work, you will analyze financial data for trends and give advice to departments, particularly to improve efficiency. For example, you may develop a business case around developing internal capabilities for print or construction. Or you might support HR in designing a new policy to improve our transport policy. Again, this will require a mix of modeling and synthesize complex information into actionable recommendations.
• Cash Forecast (10%): You will have to estimate Kenya’s Cash-flow every month. This will require constant communication with departments to forecast any unbudgeted expenses.
• Strategic projects (10%): In some cases, you will also implement your recommendations, such as piloting an efficiency play in a district or improving our KPI tracking. This kind of projects require getting into the field to understand our program and financials.

Over time, you will take on larger and larger strategic questions, eventually driving large of financial strategy.

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 for many functions.

Qualifications

We are seeking exceptional professionals with 1 to 3 years of work experience, and a demonstrated long-term passion for development work. Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:

Work Experience:

• Candidates should have 1-3 years of strong work experiences in data analysis.
• You should be comfortable working in a fast-paced, innovative, results-driven environment.
• Candidates with management consulting, finance, and strategic planning backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.

Leadership: We are looking for candidates with demonstrated leadership experience at work, or outside of work. Examples of demonstrated leadership experience include managing a team or initiating a new project.

Education: Strong undergraduate background at a top East African or international university. Degrees in business, management, economics, statistics, finance or related fields preferred.
Quantitative skills: Demonstrated comfort learning finance, accounting, and statistics, quantitative analysis. Strong excel skills a and will be tested.

Communication: Excellent written and oral communication. Able to summarize and synthesize complex models and information.

Attitude:

• We are looking for passionate professionals who combine strong leadership skills with good humor, patience, and a humble approach to service to join our growing family of leaders.
• You should be comfortable with ambiguity and quickly learning new skills and subjects.
• You should be open to feedback, willing to admit mistakes
• Well organized: You will receive various information and tasks from various source. You will need to be well organized to make sure you do not lose any information.
• Growth: You should be open to feedback, willing to admit mistakes
• Other Skills: Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Language: English required; French is a bonus.

Preferred Start Date

Flexible

Compensation

We offer a modest starting salary that affords a high quality of life in our areas of operation. This is a career-track role with performance-based raises and the ability to expand responsibilities over time.

Benefits

Housing, transportation, and airtime allowances

Duration

Minimum three year's commitment, full-time job.

Please note that we are not able to sponsor a visa for this position.