Position: Finance Manager

Duration: Full-time

Job Location: Cameroon (Yaounde), Kenya (Nairobi),  Senegal (Dakar), Zambia (Lusaka), Zimbabwe (Bulawayo)

Start of service: As soon as possible

Job Summary

Paradigm Initiative (PIN) seeks an experienced Finance Manager to provide strategic financial leadership and oversight across six countries (Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia, and Zimbabwe). The Finance Manager will ensure the organisation’s financial health, integrity, and sustainability by driving planning, budgeting, reporting, and compliance.

This role demands a finance leader with strong analytical skills, cross-cultural competency, and the ability to design and implement financial strategies in a multi-country nonprofit context.

Reporting To:

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Position under supervision:

Senior Officer, Finance.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Financial Strategy and Leadership

• Develop and implement financial strategies that support organisational goals and ensure long-term sustainability.
• Provide financial leadership and guidance to the Programmes, Communications, People and culture, Operations, Partnerships, and engagements teams.
• Establish and enforce financial policies and procedures that ensure efficiency, accountability, and transparency. 
• Lead financial planning and analysis to support decision-making and strategic initiatives.

Budgeting and Financial Planning

• Lead the annual budgeting process across all departments and country offices, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
• Monitor project and programme budgets, providing regular variance analysis and recommendations.
• Prepare financial components of grant proposals, ensuring cost-effectiveness and donor compliance.
• Implement robust financial forecasting systems to strengthen resource allocation.

Financial Management and Reporting

• Oversee financial operations across six countries, ensuring consistency and compliance with organisational policies.
• Deliver accurate financial reports to Management, Board, and donors on schedule.
• Ensure financial monitoring of grants and projects, providing regular updates.
• Implement and maintain financial systems and controls to safeguard PIN assets.

Donor Relations and Grant Management

• Serve as the lead financial contact for donors and funding partners.
• Ensure compliance with donor requirements and timely reporting.
• Manage grant administration, including budgeting, reporting, and compliance monitoring.
• Cultivate positive relationships with financial stakeholders and partners.

Compliance and Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with all countries’ tax laws, fiscal regulations, and statutory requirements..
• Oversee internal and external audits across offices.
• Identify and mitigate financial risks through controls and risk management strategies.
• Ensure accurate and timely statutory filings in all countries of operation.

Leadership and Capacity Building

• Lead, mentor, and support finance team members across all countries.
• Foster a culture of transparency, accountability, and financial literacy.
• Deliver financial training to non-finance staff.
• Promote collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the finance team.

Competencies:

Integrity and Honesty

• Demonstrates impartiality, fairness, and ethical conduct in all decisions and actions.
• Acts consistently in the organisation’s best interest, without personal gain or abuse of authority.
• Maintains truthfulness and transparency in communication and behaviour.
• Proactively addresses unprofessional or unethical behaviour.

Strategic Financial Leadership

• Provides forward-looking financial insights to guide organisational sustainability.
• Demonstrates strong analytical and forecasting skills that inform strategic decision-making.
• Aligns financial strategy with organisational priorities and changing external environments.

Technical Financial Expertise

• Applies advanced knowledge of nonprofit accounting standards (GAAP/IFRS) and financial software (QuickBooks, Excel, etc.)
• Ensures accuracy in budget development, variance analysis, and donor reporting.
• Maintains compliance with multi-country fiscal regulations.

Stakeholder Management

• Builds and maintains substantial donor and partner relationships.
• Communicates financial information effectively to diverse, cross-cultural audiences.
• Negotiates with integrity and represents the organisation professionally.

 Leadership and Team Management

• Mentors, motivates, and manages finance staff across multiple locations.
• Promotes inclusivity, collaboration, and capacity-building across teams.
• Ensures team KPIs and development plans are consistently monitored and achieved.

Operational Excellence

• Delivers accurate outputs on time with high attention to detail.
• Balances multiple priorities effectively under pressure.
• Identifies and resolves problems with sound judgment.

Risk Management and Compliance

• Identifies, assesses, and mitigates financial and operational risks.
• Maintains effective internal control systems and ensures statutory compliance.
• Oversees timely and error-free audits.

Education and Experience:

• Master’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or related field
• Professional accounting qualification (ACCA, CPA, or equivalent)
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in financial management
• At least 5 years of experience in a senior finance role with multi-country responsibility
• Extensive experience in non-profit financial management and donor reporting
• Proven experience working with international donors and funding partners
• Experience managing finance teams across multiple locations
• Fluency in English required; French language skills strongly preferred

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• In-depth knowledge of financial regulations in all six countries of operation
• Strong understanding of international non-profit accounting standards
• Excellent financial modelling and analysis skills
• Advanced proficiency in financial management software
• Strong negotiation and relationship management skills
• Ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Financial Operations Oversight

• In collaboration with the finance team, ensure 100% accuracy and on-time processing of payroll, invoicing, statutory deductions, reimbursements, and other transactions.
• Review and validate monthly financial reports that the finance team prepares on or before the 10th of each month.
• Funders and External Reporting
• Ensure all funders’ financial reports are submitted before donor deadlines, with no more than one requested revision per report.
• Coordinate and deliver an annual error-free audit with a management letter submitted by March 30, ensuring full compliance with audit standards.
• Oversee quarterly financial reports and ensure timely input into organisational reporting systems (e.g., board updates, grant renewals, institutional assessments).

Budgeting and Strategic Financial Planning

• Lead the organisation-wide annual budget development and submission to all teams within one month of the internal deadline.
• Conduct a monthly review and variance analysis of the approved annual budget, ensuring adjustments are made where necessary.
• Facilitate monthly strategic finance meetings with the ED and COO to review performance, forecasts, risks, and opportunities.

Financial Policy, Systems, and Compliance

• Complete the annual update of PIN’s Financial Policies and Procedures Manual by Q3, ensuring alignment with global nonprofit accounting standards (GAAP).
• Introduce and integrate at least one new global finance system, tool, or tactic per year that improves transparency, efficiency, or staff satisfaction.
• Ensure monthly remittance of all statutory payments (FIRS, LIRS, NSITF, etc.) on or before government deadlines.

Leadership and Team Performance

• Supervise and mentor Senior Officers to ensure an 80% achievement rate in annual performance evaluations.
• Conduct monthly check-ins and quarterly performance reviews with direct reports, setting clear KPIs and development targets.
• Serve as the finance department lead in cross-departmental coordination (e.g., project budgeting, procurement planning, program forecasting).

Asset Procurement and Financial Risk Management

• Approve and supervise the procurement of high-quality assets and items within 2 weeks of approved request, ensuring cost efficiency and vendor integrity.
• Monitor asset tagging compliance and ensure quarterly PIN asset inventory updates across all offices.
• Ensure that all finance-related asset requests and replacements have a maximum of 3 days of downtime after issue reporting.
• Evaluate financial risks across the organisation and develop quarterly cost-optimisation strategies, recommending savings without compromising quality.

Strategy and Growth Advisory

• Develop and monitor the implementation of financial strategies that directly support:
• Organisational sustainability
• Strategic Management Plan objectives
• Best Place to Work culture (e.g., transparency, team access to finance insights)
• Present monthly financial performance insights and projections to Leadership on or before the 10th of each month to inform organisational decision-making.
• Work as co-chair of the DRIF preparation process and outcomes. 

This role is hybrid, and the successful candidate must reside in the following countries: Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal, Zambia, or Zimbabwe.

Remuneration and Benefits:

Remuneration is between $33,000 and $36,000 gross annual salary and reimbursements (housing, transportation allowance, pension, meal allowance, utility allowance, dependant allowance, communication allowance), depending on years of quality and relevant experience. 

Other benefits included are a 13th-month salary upon confirmation, paid vacation, training and development, birthday allowance, medical cover for self, spouse, and up to 3 children, dependent allowance, staff loan scheme, staff lunch, paid maternity leave, and paid paternity leave.

You can submit your application via https://paradigminitiative.bamboohr.com/careers/49

The application closes on October 16, 2025, but the position will be filled as soon as we find the right fit. If you are the right fit, do not delay sending your application.

Submitting multiple applications for this job opening may reduce your chances of being shortlisted. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Paradigm Initiative is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.