Financial Compliance Officer Job at Nature Conservancy

Africa Regional Lead, Conservation Strategy at The Nature Conservancy

YOUR POSITION WITH TNC

The Conservation Impact System Team (IST) in the Chief Conservation Office plays a critical role in supporting global conservation implementation by managing TNC’s conservation system that supports teams in planning, measuring and adapting their work to accelerate progress and maximize impact. There are two core practices and learning areas the Impact System Team supports as TNC works to achieve our 2030 Goals: 1) monitoring, evaluation and learning to improve data quality and drive accountability to impact; and 2) adaptive management at the strategy and portfolio level to drive accelerated impact. The Conservation Strategy Team (CST) is dedicated to this second core practice & learning area of the IST (adaptive management to drive accelerated impact). The team is responsible for the continued development and implementation of TNC’s strategy and portfolio management guidance and support to conservation teams, managers, and the Chief Conservation Officer.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

The Africa (AFR) Regional Lead, Conservation Strategy will lead the work of the CST in TNC’s Africa region, supporting conservation teams there to adaptively manage their strategies towards scaled impact, and supporting conservation leadership to manage and resource teams towards enabling that impact.
The AFR Regional lead will cultivate an understanding of what drives customer satisfaction (customer = TNC conservation teams) in AFR and will be charged with ensuring customer success. The lead will serve as a cross-cultural broker, ensuring that the offerings and methodologies are culturally relevant and meaningful to teams across Africa.
The AFR Regional Lead will build and maintain strong, trusting relationships with key leadership in AFR, collaborating with them to ensure regional leadership and TNC conservation teams have support in strategy development, adaptive management and portfolio management as they work towards impact. The AFR Regional Lead will also work with regional leadership to make prioritization decisions about where to focus time and resources, and how to influence enabling conditions in the region. The Africa Regional Lead will also collaborate closely with their Africa Regional counterpart on the Conservation Data Team.
The AFR Regional Lead will oversee the delivery of CST support, including directly providing support to teams, and as needed, the vetting, hiring and management of external consultants to augment delivery of CST support. They will take a learn-by-doing approach to the development, implementation, and iteration of strategy development, adaptive management & portfolio management support, to quickly learn what works and what doesn’t work and adjust accordingly.

RESPONSIBILITIES & SCOPE

Build enabling conditions for adaptive management in the AFR Region

Build trusting relationships with key TNC leadership in the AFR region
Work with Africa regional leadership to identify top priority teams needing adaptive management support, and focus support on them
Collaborate with AFR regional leadership, supporting prioritization and strategic decision-making to advance the impact and mission of adaptive management in the region
Collaborate with other AFR leadership team members to help influence and advance specific enabling conditions in the region for adaptive management

Provide targeted adaptive management coaching, aligned with regional needs

Provide customized conservation strategy, implementation and/or adaptive management coaching, facilitation, and/or training support to teams, while staying grounded in agile/adaptive management principles and values
Ensure support provided to teams is regionally and culturally appropriate, using a collaborative approach to design approaches and engaging local contractors as needed
Take a holistic view of support for conservation teams, identifying approaches that are well suited to the context teams sit within
Ensure conservation strategy and adaptive management support provided to teams is aligned with and supportive to the regional portfolio management process, and supports teams to close key evidence gaps identified through that process
Support other members of the AFR regional team to use adaptive management toolsets as they support other high priority teams and programs

Grow Conservation Impact

Measure / monitor value provided by CST support, ensuring that our work is leading to magnified conservation impact in the Africa region
Identify opportunities to scale up support models that meet the broader needs of the region and expand conservation impact at landscape scale.
Collaborate cross-conservancy to bridge, co-create, recommend, and create pathways to the regional needs that require collaboration to achieve beyond personal or CST scope
Identify potential opportunities to expand CST’s value proposition in a way that expands conservation impact while staying true to the mission of the CST
Support CST’s work in other regions by proactively recognizing potential collaboration areas, capturing and sharing learnings, and participating in cross-regional experimentation

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

BA/BS degree and 7 years related experience or equivalent combination of education and experience
2 years experience acting as a project lead
Deep understanding of agile methodology and experience working in a hyper-agile environment.
Deep understanding of human-centered design and experience utilizing it for product design.
Experience coaching and/or facilitating teams in agile collaboration settings.
Experience in managing and tracking complex and/or multiple projects.
Experience collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams.
Deep multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience within Africa
Current resident of any country in Africa in which TNC is registered (Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Gabon, Angola)
Willingness to work a flexible schedule to align with a variety of time zones
Experience with self-directed navigation of complex and open-ended projects to achieve outcomes.
Knowledge of, and commitment to, centering equity, justice, diversity, and inclusion principles and practices in a professional setting.
Experience with and/or commitment to nature-based solutions for the climate and biodiversity crises, which also benefit people and communities.
Excellent interpersonal skills
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DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Experience in Conservation and/or development space
Experience in the entrepreneurial and/or innovation space
Experience working in a learning-driven organization
Experience with organizational change, systems thinking, and/or systems change
Ability to leverage the latest technology to achieve desired results
Disciplined with a high say/do ratio (frequently does what they say they are going to do)
Excitement about working on an agile team that is continually adapting their own ways of working
Experience with a growth mindset, creativity, and resourcefulness
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning experience
Fluency in French and/or Portuguese

This position may be based in any Africa region where TNC has an established entity. The region has a strong preference for someone in Nairobi, Zambia or Cape Town.

Director of Finance, Africa at Nature Conservancy

We’re Looking for You:

We’re looking for someone with strong experience leading a diverse, multi-disciplinary team to serve as a Finance subject matter expert on our team. The ideal candidate should have exceptional communication and collaboration skills and experience designing, organizing, and directing complex projects. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the ongoing mission of conservation by directing and shaping the work of our Finance and Operations team.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic direction and leadership for all finance functions for the Africa Program and TNC Africa related entities.
Responsible for the financial management and fiscal sustainability of the Africa Program.
Oversee the day-to-day functional activities and personnel in the Africa Program’s Accounting, Treasury, Audit and Compliance, budgeting, and reporting areas.
Manage complex programs and projects and develop practices and processes to improve finance operational efficiency and effectiveness.
Facilitate and lead strategic dialogues with senior-level stakeholders, identify key issues, requirements, operating efficiencies to develop actionable solutions.
Co-lead the fiscal year budgeting process, ensuring the accuracy of budgets and their completion within set deadlines with a focus on developing budget templates, alignment to proposed activities, and staffing plans as well as ensuring requisite cost recovery.
Prepare and present financial analysis and management report to the TNC Leadership Teams, and the Africa Council.
Responsible for managing, maintaining, and reporting financial information, and monitoring management controls and processes to ensure compliance with TNC policies and procedures, relevant legal and regulatory frameworks, and financial/management best practices.
Serve as the sponsor for the enhancement of financial function and tools used by the Africa program. They will manage priority vendor relationships.
Ensure programmatic commitments, TNC policies and procedures, financial standards and legal requirements are met and managed for ethical compliance
Work closely with central finance for TNC wide initiatives and compliance needs
Manage the development and implementation of a strategic, integrated, and collaborative approach to maximize success, including organizing communications.
Provide consultation, guidance, and oversee training programs related to the Business Unit.

What You’ll Bring:

Over 10 years of progressive experience leading Finance functions at a senior leadership level within international NGOs or multinational organizations, with regional or global operations in Africa.
Advanced Accounting or Finance degree and professional certification.
Experience conceiving, developing, and managing multiple projects and strategic goals.
Management experience of a large multidisciplinary team, including planning and delivering budgetary responsibilities
Experience in developing and presenting business strategy, marketing, and financial plans.
Experience generating financial reports and analyzing and interpreting data.
Experience developing and administering departmental budget or equivalent.
Experience working in a large, complex organization.
Experience handling confidential information.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Non-profit GAAP accounting experience.
Experience in developing and enhancing diversity and inclusion recruitment, retention, and workplace culture.
Multi-lingual skills, multi-cultural and/or cross-cultural experiences are appreciated.
Advanced understanding of financial best practices in non-profit management.
Persuasive and effective communication via presentations, conversations, and documents.
Experience managing a geographically dispersed team.
Expert knowledge of current and evolving trends in finance
Proficiency in synthesizing materials from multiple sources into a coherent and accurate summary.
Proficiency in working independently as well as jointly with colleagues on a team

Financial Compliance Officer Job at Nature Conservancy

RESPONSIBILITIES & SCOPE

Ensures programmatic commitments, TNC policies & procedures, financial standards & legal requirements are met & managed for compliance.
Responsible to lead and coordinate external, internal, country, donor, tax, statutory and government regulatory audits to ensure responsiveness, accuracy & timeliness of audits, monitoring and completion of corrective action plans and submission within timelines as required by local laws.
Lead person for audit engagements, planning and managing auditors to ensure they carry out audit activities promptly; guide audit implementation, and support in development and signing of audit reports.
Provides audit and financial preparation support to the Africa Region by reviewing financial statements and audited reports.
Promote and monitor a complete audit trail culture in the support documentation of all financial transactions.
Maintain register of audit recommendations from financial audits, follow up & keep track of implementation of audit recommendations until they are closed. Anticipate & identify financial compliance risk issues & challenges and the most appropriate solutions to address them. Lead and support region and country programs to implement these solutions.
In collaboration with management, plan and perform regular transaction processing reviews, other control reviews, fraud allegation reviews, and compliance assessments. Analyze results and provide recommendations.
Reinforces consistency in the organization’s financial policies & procedures and provides support related to relevant field. Regularly performs spot reviews to ensure these are adhered to.
Occasionally support in the review of accounting transactions such as journal entries and adjustments in line with internal guidelines and ensure proper procedure and support documentation for such entries are maintained.
Ensure tax and statutory filings, regulatory compliance requirements, other regulatory certifications and internal financial certifications for the region are made timeously.
Liaise with regions accounting vendors, Operations Administrators and Finance Specialist on audit, tax & regulatory filings and financial compliance certifications.
Maintains current knowledge of local government requirements related to finance and align with tax & other legal/regulatory requirements.
Provide advisory support and training to staff and partner organizations on financial compliance aspects e.g., Standard Operating Procedures, tax & statutory matters, regulatory matters and updates in accounting reporting framework.
Collaborate with World Office finance, audit, technical accounting and compliance leads and the regional level leadership in implementing and strengthening systems and continuous programmatic and process performance improvement. Participate in implementing finance initiatives rolled out to international BUs, on ERPs and accounting processes.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or related field and 4 years’ related experience or equivalent combination.
Experience with relational databases especially MS Excel and accounting packages.
Experience using accounting and financial reporting systems.
Experience in manipulating, analyzing & interpreting data.
Technical experience of spreadsheet programs, general ledger reports and other financial management tools.
Experience in supporting multiple projects in various locations and/or countries.
Experience with government regulations related to Not-for-Profit Sector, tax, reporting framework, grants and contracts.
Professional certification such as a CPA, ACCA or CIA, or an equivalent for the same.
Experience in auditing and tax matters.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Multi-lingual skills and/or multi-cultural experience appreciated.
Advanced expertise in Microsoft Excel.
Strong organizational skills.
Non-profit accounting experience preferred.
Excellent verbal and written communication and reporting skills.
Strong interpersonal skills, cooperative team player with the ability to multi-task.
Knowledge of current trends in finance, accounting and regulatory environments.
May require fluency in a foreign language to support global operations.
Technical expertise on complex accounting/financial issues with attention to detail and keenness for accuracy

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