Senior Financial Analyst

ABOUT ALU ALU provides higher education for a higher purpose. Our students declare missions, not majors.They develop the real-world skills to take on the world’s most pressing challenges. And they take ownership of their learning from day one through our peer and student-led approach – because ALU believes in the power and agency of young people to start shaping the future right now. Together with a world-class faculty and staff, our students are igniting a ripple of positive impact across Africa and the world. We are dedicated to fostering an open yet secure environment, balancing the safety of students, staff, and visitors with respect for individual rights, and safeguarding responsibilities. HOW WE WORK The ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new. The African Leadership University is committed to ensuring the safety and Well-being of all students under our care. As part of this commitment , we have a comprehensive safeguarding policy in place , which outlines our Zero-tolerance approach to any violation of safeguarding. ABOUT THE TEAM The Senior Financial Analyst brings business acumen and commercial judgment to the Financial Performance & Reporting team. This senior analyst owns the topline revenue intelligence function, tracking, interpreting, and communicating student revenue performance, collections trends, and financial outcomes to institutional leaders. Working under the Associate Director of Financial Performance & Reporting, you will transform reconciled data into performance narratives, manage the donor and grant reporting relationship, and serve as a thought partner to academic and operational stakeholders. This is a role for a finance professional with strong business instincts, excellent communication skills, and the ability to comfortably sit at the intersection of numbers and strategy. You make the data mean something to the people who need to act on it. ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES Topline Revenue Performance Management - Own the monthly revenue performance reporting cycle: student fee revenue, collections rates, discount trends, deferred income movements, and receivables ageing. - Develop and maintain revenue intelligence dashboards tailored to senior management and Board audiences — translating complex data into clear performance narratives. - Track and analyse student cohort revenue trends, segmented by programme, campus, scholarship status, and payment modality. - Identify revenue risks and opportunities (collection gaps, billing anomalies, discount leakage) and present actionable recommendations to the Associate Director and VPF. - Monitor and report on collections performance against targets; provide weekly/monthly collections summaries to the Finance Operations team and leadership. - Partner with the Registrar and Enrolment teams to align financial forecasts with academic and student data, ensuring one coherent revenue picture. Management Reporting & Financial Performance Analysis - Lead the preparation of monthly management accounts commentary and quarterly Board financial packs — ensuring narrative clarity, actionable insights, and variance explanations. - Conduct variance analysis and trend identification across revenue and expenditure lines; develop and present narratives for senior management and Board reporting. - Reconcile statutory financial statements with management accounts to ensure consistency between compliance reporting and internal performance data. - Support the Associate Director in preparing forward-looking analysis: investment cases, cost optimisation opportunities, and resource allocation recommendations. - Produce ad-hoc financial analysis and scenario modelling to inform strategic decisions, new programme launches, and funding proposals. Donor & Grant Reporting - Own donor financial reporting end-to-end: prepare accurate, timely donor reports, ensuring transparency on fund receipt, allocation, and utilisation. - Partner with the Fundraising and Programme teams to track fund collections, expenses, and budget vs actuals per grant — reconciling financial records with donor commitments. - Develop new programme budgets for grant applications in collaboration with the Fundraising team, aligned with ALU's strategy and chart of accounts. - Review draft financial reports from the Data Analyst, add narrative and context, and finalise for submission under the Associate Director's oversight. - Serve as the relationship interface between the Finance team and Fundraising/Programme teams on grant compliance matters. Financial Planning & Forecasting - Co-lead the annual budgeting cycle with the Associate Director: facilitated departmental submissions, challenged assumptions, and consolidated institutional forecasts. - Maintain rolling revenue forecasts, integrating enrolment projections, collections assumptions, and pricing changes into forward-looking models. - Support sensitivity analysis and long-term sustainability modelling, contributing business judgment to technical models built by the Data Analyst. - Translate strategic priorities into financial targets and contribute to the institutional performance framework. Business Partnering & Stakeholder Management - Act as a thought partner to academic and operational leaders on financial performance, surfacing risks and improvement opportunities in plain language. - Support in preparing Board and ExCo financial presentations, ensuring data accuracy, visual clarity, and strategic framing. - Partner with the Business Planning & Transformation teams to integrate financial KPIs into institutional performance dashboards and planning cycles. - Collaborate with the Finance Operations Director (FOD) to ensure smooth handoffs between operational transactions and management reporting. - Support external stakeholder reporting (Board, regulators, donors) with validated data and clear analysis. Tools & systems Tool Expected Use NetSuite (ERP) Extract AR ledger, grant-coded transactions, deferred income data; run saved searches and exports Google Sheets / Google Suite Primary working environment for all trackers, reconciliations, dashboards, and reporting files SQL Working knowledge query writing for data extraction and reconciliation (advantage) Salesforce Extract billing, opportunity, and payment data; validate against NetSuite; support donor register Google Suite (Slides / Docs) Format dashboards and reports for leadership and donor audiences Excel Advanced financial modelling, scenario analysis, and sensitivity tables Power BI (desirable) Build or contribute to institutional financial dashboards as the function matures REQUIRED EXPERIENCE Essential qualifications - Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field. - 5–7 years of experience in financial management, FP&A, or management reporting — with demonstrated business partnering experience. - Strong financial reporting and analysis skills: variance analysis, management accounts, Board reporting. - Experience working with revenue-generating operations: student fees, subscriptions, project-based income, or equivalent. - An excellent written and verbal communication applicant needs to be able to translate financial complexity into clear narratives for non-finance audiences. - Experience managing donor or grant financial reporting, including budget vs actuals and utilisation tracking. - Strong grounding in financial accounting and reporting principles, with the ability to challenge and validate underlying numbers - Prior experience in audit (Big Four preferred) or a role with significant exposure to financial close and reporting processes - Demonstrated experience supporting or owning month-end close processes in a structured environment - High attention to detail with a focus on data integrity, controls, and completeness - Ability to operate across both analytical (FP&A) and control/reporting environments - Comfortable working with ERP systems (e.g., NetSuite) and large datasets, with an understanding of how transactions flow into reporting - Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to enforce deadlines and challenge slippage constructively OTHER COMPETENCIES Desirable qualifications - Experience in education, non-profit, or international development financial environments. - Familiarity with Salesforce for revenue and pipeline tracking. - Exposure to institutional performance frameworks, KPI design, and balanced scorecard approaches. - Understanding of revenue recognition principles, deferred income, and student receivables accounting. - Power BI or data visualisation tool experience (consuming dashboards and shaping requirements). Personal Attributes - Commercial and strategic thinker: connects financial data to institutional outcomes and business decisions. - Exceptional communicator: writes and speaks with clarity and precision for executive audiences. - Relationship builder: trusted by academic and operational leaders as a credible finance partner. - Ownership mindset: takes accountability for the quality and timeliness of reporting outputs. - Comfortable with ambiguity and foundational work: able to build structure in a function that is still being established.