Duma Works is supporting Born Free Foundation to recruit a Finance and Projects Assistant to join the team in Kenya.
Location: Flexible remote with regular presence at our office in Karen, and occasional visit to our field offices in Meru and Amboseli
Level: Grade 3, Band A Full-time 35 hours per week
About the Charity
Born Free works tirelessly to ensure that all wild animals, whether living in captivity or in the wild, are treated with compassion and respect and are able to live their lives according to their needs. As a leading wildlife charity, we oppose the exploitation of wild animals in captivity and campaign to keep them where they belong – in the wild.We promote Compassionate Conservation to enhance the survival of wildlife, especially threatened species in the wild, and to protect natural habitats while respecting the needs and safeguarding the welfare of individual animals. We seek to have a positive impact on animals in the wild and protect their ecosystems in perpetuity, for their own intrinsic value and for the critical roles they play within the natural world.Set up initially as Zoo Check in 1984 by Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna and their son Will Travers, Born Free has worked tirelessly for nearly 37 years to prevent captive animal suffering and phase-out zoos. Will continues to lead the organisation as Executive President, and Virginia remains active on the Board of Trustees, working closely with the team to share our vision and programmes on public forums.
The Opportunity
We are recruiting an experienced and motivated Finance and Projects Assistant with a proven track record of delivering to deadlines in a busy and dynamic environment. This is a varied role that will process transactions, perform reconciliations, and help ensure that financial controls and policies are followed across the Kenya office and partner organisations. The role will also entail supporting administrative activities.
The Role
The Finance and Projects Assistant is a new role to support our growing activities that will ensure financial data is entered correctly and promptly into the finance system, that expenditure is properly authorised, and audit trails exist to support all transactions. This includes day-to-day processing of entries into the ledgers of both the Kenya office and Ulinzi Africa Foundation and supporting administrative activities. Ulinzi Africa Foundation is East Africa’s first NGO to raise awareness of the challenges faced by rangers in their fight against poaching and Born Free Foundation is a proud supporter. The successful candidate will have a “can do” attitude, an eye for accuracy, a methodical approach to their work and excellent customer service skills.
Key tasks will include:
- Processing invoices and staff expense claims, ensuring they are correctly coded, and that VAT is treated appropriately;
- Processing of income received through the bank, ensuring it is correctly reflected in the accounting system;
- Preparing the monthly payment file and loading this onto internet banking, ready for approval;
- Ensuring proper documentation is obtained and filed appropriately to support the audit trails for all transactions;
- Ensuring payments and expense claims are appropriately authorised in line with the Kenya office policies;
- Preparing control account reconciliations and bank account reconciliations;
- Support administrative duties e.g., Fleet management, update and maintain Kenya asset register, LPO issuance, petty cash management for Nairobi, Amboseli and Meru offices;
- Continuously monitor budget commitment for all programmes/ projects and advise the FM on any significant occurrences/variations
- Support Ulinzi Africa Foundation financial management;
- Liaise with the UK office to ensure consistent application of financial processes across Born Free Foundation;
- And other duties assigned
The successful candidate should ideally demonstrate the following attributes:
- The ability to plan, prioritise competing demands and deliver to tight time frames in a small, fast-paced and dynamic team;
- An excellent understanding of basic accounting and book-keeping (debits, credits, principles of reconciliations);
- A basic understanding of VAT principles;
- Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to explain financial process and their rationale to people from a non-financial background;
- A good level of Excel skills, including an appreciation of how IT can be used to reduce manual intervention and improve processing speeds;
- Must be accurate, attentive to detail and accustomed to high volume productivity and apply organisation’s policies and procedures at work.
- Experience of using accounting packages, ideally Sage 50;
- Ability to learn and quick to understand systems and data flows;
- An empathy with the work of the Foundation, and the desire to drive it forward, bringing energy and determination to its mission;
- Decisive and straightforward; low ego and a team player; high levels of drive and energy; a sense of humour; honesty, integrity and reliability;
- Bachelor’s degree in accounting, and CPA graduate.
The candidate will report directly to the Financial Manager. This role has no direct reports.The excellent benefits package includes a generous annual leave entitlement, working from home with regular team meetings (Covid permitting) to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, wellbeing support, and a competitive pension.Born Free is an Equal Opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates, regardless of age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital/civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity. We welcome requests for flexible working.
Apply
Duma Works is assisting Born Free Foundation in its recruitment efforts.
Click here to submit your application through the Duma Works portal. Please direct all applications and inquiries to Duma. Applications are by a CV with a covering letter that should demonstrate your skills, experiences and attributes that make you suitable for the role.
This position will remain open until filled.
N.B.
* You will receive a confirmation email and an alert to take a basic screening test online. The email with the test may not arrive immediately. Please be patient. The email test will typically be 5-8 questions to help us understand your background.
If you apply and don’t meet these minimum qualifications, we will not be able to move forward with you application.