One Acre Fund Operations and Finance Associate

Most of the world's poor are farmers, representing the largest and most uniform group of poor people in the world. One Acre Fund is a successful, rapidly growing NGO in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi that is innovating a new way of helping farm families to achieve their full potential. Instead of giving handouts, One Acre invests in farmers to generate a permanent gain in farm income. We provide farmers with a "market bundle" that includes education, finance, seed and fertilizer, and market access. Our program is proven impactful – every year, we weigh thousands of harvests and measure more than 100% average gain in farm income per acre. We have laser-like focus on generating better lives for the people that we serve.

We are growing quickly. In five years, we have grown to serve 130,000 farm families with more than1000 full-time field staff. In three more years, we will at least quadruple in size, while adding several new countries. Our approach has won widespread validation, winning grants from the highly competitive Echoing Green and Skoll Foundations, and the global Financial Times/ IFC award for "basic needs financing" in 2010 and 2011. Website: www.oneacrefund.org

Job Description

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 and team-members. Your primary task will be to manage the operations of the finance team in the country you work. Your objectives will be to improve operational efficiency and financial sustainability by leveraging the bookkeeping and internal audit staff. You will increase the quality of service provided by the finance team to other departments and ultimately to the farmer through performance management and systems improvements. We are seeking an exceptional professional with 2-4 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 in Africa.

Typical tasks will include:

- Managing Financial Operations and Developing Staff. The Operations and Finance Associate will manage the team of bookkeepers who do data entry for our financial and client management systems. Managing and developing the talent of the finance team will be your most important role. You will also collaborate closely across with field operations to create tools and procedures, and will develop training, that ensures financial procedures are efficiently integrated with operational processes. The Operations and Finance Associate will work closely with the Associate Controller to ensure the accuracy of monthly financial information.

- Internal Audit Processes. The Operations and Finance Associate will manage the local internal audit team. The role of the internal audit team is to monitor all of our systems to ensure compliance with operational processes, from farmer level repayment to procurement. You will need to have an intimate knowledge of the field operations, and regularly monitor performance of your staff through field visits.

- Financial Analysis & Metrics. The Operations and Finance Associate will provide reports on district, country and organization wide budget performance, and will oversee the measurement of Financial KPI's and ensure appropriate action. The Associate will provide analysis and recommendations for improved efficiency and cost effectiveness.

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 minimum initial commitment of two years. Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:

• Strong work experiences. Examples include a demanding professional work experience in a finance or operations function (e.g. implementing a new procurement process, managing a logistics system, working as a business or finance analyst).
• Confidence with numbers.
• Leadership experience at work, or outside of work.
• Top-performing undergraduate background (please include GPA and test scores on your resume).
• 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 US-based management role.
• The ideal candidate will have at least one year demonstrated experience working in the developing world, although this is not a strict requirement.
• Rwanda - French required.
• Ability to cook/ laugh/ extraordinary patience – all desirable

Location: this job will be located in rural Burundi with frequent travel to Kenya

Preferred Start Date: Flexible

Compensation: Modest starting salary + significant benefits. This is a career-track role with meaningful salary increases and long-term placement with One Acre Fund for high performers.

Benefits: Health cover, immunizations, flight, room and board.

Career development: One Acre Fund will make significant ongoing investments in your career development through real-time mentoring, quarterly career reviews, and opportunity for increasing responsibilities that will challenge you and help you grow.

Sponsor International Candidates: Yes

To Apply

Email cover letter and resume to jobs@oneacrefund.org (Subject line: Operations and Finance Associate Search + name of the site that referred you)