Officer, Finance

Monrovia, Liberia 

Bridge Liberia

In 2016, Liberia’s President and its Ministry of Education announced Partnership Schools for Liberia (PSL), an innovative public private partnership designed to transform the primary public education system. Eight education providers - with proven track records in delivering high-quality education - were paired with public primary schools across Liberia; while teachers remained on the Government payroll. After a change of  national Government, PSL became the Liberian Education Advancement Programme (LEAP). 

LEAP is now in its sixth year; supporting 312 schools overall across the country; within that we support 60,800 students. Our schools are based in some of the most remote counties, such as Maryland in the south-east.

Government teachers have been re-trained, supported and equipped to succeed in the classroom. Four Independent Studies and Randomised Control Trials have  shown the efficacy of the programme. For us there was a statistically significant improvement in learning outcomes.  In a gold standard RCT, students supported in our programme were found to benefit by an equivalent of 2.5 years more of learning in just 3 years.

LEAP was designed to be self-sustaining once the Ministry of Education raises its education budget to $100 a child per year; until that moment it remains reliant on philanthropic support.

Today, we work across the country, in all of Liberia’s 15 counties, to ensure that all children have access to a high quality education and that Sustainable Development Goal 4 focussed on Quality Education becomes a reality for all children in Liberia. 

You will join a group of dynamic and passionate Liberians taking concrete action to help address the education crisis in Liberia and ensure a better future for the children of Liberia.

Finance

The Finance Group partners with country and global leadership to achieve financial sustainability of our operations and make our mission come true. We provide strategic partnership to global leadership on raising capital and actionable feedback on our financial performance. We are continually focused on judicious use of resources whether for each one of our territories or for the entire organisation.

Across our rapidly scaling multi-unit enterprise, we provide leadership to build a world-class financial infrastructure. This includes the design and development of financial systems, policies, procedures (taking into account current and fast growing high volume transactions, teams, numbers of geographically distributed business units) and provision of shared services for financial operations by a centralised team specialising in Accounting, Accounts Payable, Payroll, Treasury and Financial Planning & Analysis.

About the Role

The Officer, Finance plays a critical part of daily Finance functions in implementing Finance policies and interacting with external business partners and internal departments. The Officer, Finance should expect to work in a very fast-paced environment supporting a company. The right hire for this position is driven, competitive, analytical, attentive, resourceful, organized and constantly seeking improvement. He or she pays attention to detail and is proficient at ERP systems and excel. The ideal candidate needs to have a flexible schedule and is willing to put in additional hours. This role will report to the Director, Finance

What You Will Do

•       Ensure vendor invoices are received and paid timely
•       Ensure company financial accounts, advances, are paid timely
•       Utilize database software to organize and analyze financial account information
•       Handle account inquiries internal & external sources such as tax authorities, vendors & banks.
•       Assist perform internal audits on financial activities as necessary
•       Assist generate and reconcile financial reports for review for regulatory authorities

What You Should Have

•       Passion for Bridge’s vision of democratizing the right for all children to succeed
•       Accounting/Finance Degree or professional qualification
•       At least 3 years of relevant experience in accounting/ financial accounts
•       High integrity with zero tolerance for any unethical business practices, 
•       Strong analytical / critical thinker and organizational skills
•       Self-starter; highly driven individual that will take ownership from the get-go and proactively look  for improvement.
•       Demonstrated ability to work with a very diverse workforce and excellent interpersonal skills and eye for detail.
•       Proficiency in Excel and Navision

You’re also

• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.
• A creative problem-solver – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, Bridge works in often fragile, sometimes volatile low-resource communities and with complex government systems. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand. 
• A relentless advocate – The children we serve and teachers we empower never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like. Every decision you make considers their benefit, experience, and value.
• A malleable learner – You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others. You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.
• A data-driven decision-maker – When making decisions, you don’t rely on your intuition alone. You collect data, you analyze it and make decisions with clear justifications.
• A curious investigator – You ask why a lot. You don’t just take what you see and accept it. You wonder why it is that way, and are aware that the world we see is created by human choices and actions – and it could be different. You wonder, and see the world as wonderful even when you want to change a part of it that is unjust.