Finance Director

at  Construct Education

Location: Cape Town (the role has international responsibility)
Required attributes: Motivated, adaptable, outcome-orientated, with strong financial skills, a control and operational excellence mindset, as well as keenly developed organisational and leadership qualities.
Education/Experience level: Qualified accountant with operational experience across all Finance operational and reporting aspects of a legal entity and demonstrable managerial experience.
Reporting Line: Into UK based Construct Chief Executive Officer with matrix reporting into Group CFO in Melbourne, Australia
Working Practices: Minimum two days a week in the office with option to work remotely for remaining days

REQUIREMENTS

• 7+ years as a Post Qualified (i.e. CA/CIMA/ACCA) Accountant across both financial and management accounting, ideally having had responsibility for all aspects of legal entity.
• Excellent organizational and leadership skills, with a proven track record of operational excellence and developing individuals and teams.
• Ability to successfully operate in an ambiguous growth environment. Given the size of the business and the Finance team a willingness to, and enjoyment of, dropping into the detail will be critical to success.
• A commercial and pragmatic approach to resolving business problems.
• Excellent numeracy, spreadsheet modelling, and accounting skills, as well as an ability to clearly articulate insights to non-financial stakeholders to aid the decision-making process.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills to build robust working relationships within a dynamic team environment.
• A high-level understanding of IT systems and processes, and their foundational role in the success of a rapidly scaling business.

ROLE SUMMARY:

We’re seeking a Finance Director with a unique set of skills to operate and enhance our finance function. You will be responsible for all aspects of finance for “Construct” a group of three legal entities across the US, UK and South Africa and two “sister” companies in the UK, all of which are consolidated into an Australian parent, Online Education Services Pty Ltd. Given recent legal entity changes a global GL implementation programme is about to commence in which you will represent the international entities within the group. We are also expecting this role to build a scalable centre of excellence in SA to service the international operations of the OES Group.
In addition to your core finance responsibilities, you will work closely with the Commercial Director (US) on pricing, the Director of Delivery (SA) in evaluating the ongoing financial performance, and HR (SA). As a member of the executive team you will also play a leadership role across the organization.
If you are exceptionally motivated, positive, proactive, pragmatic, resilient and deeply collaborative and can design and run an effective global Finance function, then you’re the candidate we’re looking for. You should be able to work independently, but use your experience to judge when, how, and what needs communicating across our global teams. We are looking for someone who can be an exemplar to our young and vibrant team.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Financial accounting and regulatory requirements; ensure all regulatory filings, audits, and tax submissions are completed promptly across all three jurisdictions (US, UK & SA).
• Management reporting; produce and evolve monthly management reporting to enable appropriate management interventions to optimize our financial performance.
• Prepare key performance indicators and ad-hoc reports to provide commercial insight to facilitate decisions across the company.
• Budgeting and planning; create and submit the annual budget.
• Provide input into broad business and strategic planning.
• Own the pricing calculator for the consulting arm of the business.
• Continuous enhancement of our reporting infrastructure, including the integration of financial and non-financial KPIs
• Payroll across all three jurisdictions; currently outsourced in US and partially in the UK
• Accounts receivable: Invoicing and cash collections
• Accounts payable: Payments to suppliers and payroll processing.