Vice President, Finance and Operations

Overview: The Luminos Fund, a fast-growing international nonprofit bringing education opportunities to the world's most vulnerable children, seeks an experienced and strategic leader to serve as its next Vice President of Finance and Operations. This mission-critical role will oversee the organization's finance, accounting, human resources, IT, audit and compliance, and grant management functions. Partnering closely with the CEO and global leadership team, the VP of Finance and Operations will ensure fiscal integrity and operational excellence through effective policies, standards, and systems.

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Location: US (Boston or East Coast preferred); UK (London)

Key Internal Relationships: Works in collaboration with the leadership team, management team, country office colleagues globally, and the Luminos Fund Board of Directors. Manages a team of three to five direct reports.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership

• Provide clear, strategic direction and leadership across finance, administration, IT, and human resources, fostering cohesion among a diverse team of professionals and cultivating a culture of excellence, learning, and accountability.
• Serve as an active member of the leadership team, maintaining a comprehensive understanding of Luminos' programs and operations to guide financial strategies and decisions in alignment with budgetary and operational priorities.
• Ensure the finance and administration team is appropriately resourced, structured for success, and empowered to achieve organizational goals.
• Collaborate with Programs, Development, Communications, and other relevant departments to ensure effective and timely communication with donors and implementing partners regarding funding opportunities, including grant management and fundraising.
• Lead organization-wide process improvement initiatives and hold overarching responsibility for policy development and implementation with compliance monitoring.

Financial Management

• Drive the organization's financial and operational sustainability, ensuring robust systems and processes across the organization that are fit for purpose, responsive, and compliant.
• Assess organizational performance on an ongoing basis against both Luminos annual budget and organizational goals.
• Develop and submit an annual budget, ensuring that organizational activities are managed within parameters with accurate reporting on progress and challenges.
• Lead effective and efficient budgetary planning, forecasting, and cost management processes in line with sector best practices.
• Oversee all financial functions of the organization, including investments, audit activities, accounts, ledgers and reporting systems, ensuring adherence to the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) and regulatory requirements.
• Oversee relationships with external audit and accounting firms as well as the annual audit process across all Luminos entities, ensuring all audits receive unqualified opinions.
• Ensure effective utilization of restricted funding sources and accurate financial reporting to a range of foundation and bilateral donors.
• Guide overall strategy of financial grant management, including budget development, internal financial monitoring, and reporting to donors and other stakeholders.
• Actively engage with the Board on finance and administrative matters.
• Provide insightful and actionable financial and operational information, analyses and modelling to the CEO and Board on investment and financial decisions, influencing both strategy and operational decisions (for example relating to geographic scope).
• Support the Finance team, in collaboration with Human Resources, to oversee and manage the employee benefits plan, ensuring that payroll processes and salary payments are managed professionally and in line with legislation in the country of operation.

Human Resources

• Oversee the Global People Officer and all human resource matters for the organization, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and strategy.
• Translate strategy into actionable steps to implement organizational goals and performance management.
• Ensure HR policies are relevant, implemented, and refined to meet employment regulations in the countries where Luminos operates.
• Work closely with HR to ensure talent that meets program needs, a culture of excellence, and highly engaged teams.
• Ensure proactive employee lifecycle processes and services (recruitment, onboarding, learning and development, performance management, offboarding).
• Ensure streamlined HR operations and cross-team coordination for HR compliance, payroll, and benefits.

Operations Management

• Guide continuous improvement and compliance in collaboration with country offices by leading governance, risk management and internal audits to enhance financial and other organizational systems, processes and controls.
• Oversee all compliance and legal matters and processes for Luminos' entities and in-country partners, including local labor laws, tax filing, registration, annual subsidiary board meetings, etc.
• Ensure compliance with statutory reporting requirements across countries.
• Ensure all Luminos financial and administrative policies are implemented with the highest levels of integrity, and that staff and partners are in compliance with child protection, whistle-blower, and other critical risk management policies.
• Oversee contracting processes with local partners and suppliers, including due diligence checks to ensure compliance with OFAC and other US international grantmaking requirements.
• Ensure that staff across all division and country offices receive the financial, risk, and systems management resources and training they need to succeed in their positions.
• In collaboration with country offices and human resources, oversee office leases and utilities contracts around the world, ensuring that offices are fit for purpose and meet legal and duty of care obligations to staff and program participants.

IT & Systems

• Ensure IT, risk, and financial systems are in place to support and drive strategic priorities.
• Ensure the requisite data management systems are in place to manage the demands of complex operations across multiple countries and contexts.
• Scope out, establish and oversee an IT function (to be delivered by staff and/or contractors) to meet varying needs across a complex global organization. This will include responsibility for procurement, asset management, troubleshooting, training, software selection, network access and information security as well as any other IT-related organizational needs.
• Champion technical savviness across a variety of software systems (Microsoft 365 HRIS, Sage Intacct, Salesforce, Slack, etc.) by assessing needs and collaborating on strengthening functionality, processes, and skillsets.

The Leader

Luminos seeks a seasoned, mission-driven finance and operations executive with flawless technical skills, strong judgement, significant people-management expertise, and integrity managing complex teams and systems.

• Exceptional leadership skills within a global organization, ideally within the humanitarian sector, and working with multiple funding streams. Proven success leading and managing finance, administration, and HR teams with at least 10 years' experience at senior leadership level.
• A deep knowledge of financial grant management and the grant proposal process within comparable global organizations.
• Strong knowledge of data analysis, forecasting & financial modelling, investments, financial reporting, budgeting, audit, tax, strategic planning, internal controls, and risk management.
• Strong knowledge of IT systems and process management within complex global organizations, along with extensive experience in design and implementation of global finance and enterprise-wide systems.
• Deep knowledge and understanding relating to the application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) and International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).
• Excellent change leadership skills with ability to develop and coach team members as leaders to deliver at peak capacity and meet organizational goals.
• Exceptional communication and relationship skills, with the ability to lead within a matrix structure and build strong collaborative partnerships across cultures.
• The ability to optimize team workflows, conceptualize issues, design solutions, make and communicate decisions, and execute through strong team leadership.
• A proven capacity to effectively manage under pressure and in challenging situations, problem-solve strategically, and make pragmatic, risk-based decisions.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to manage team dynamics and decision making, fostering a culture of collaboration and transparency.

Education & Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Finance, Accounting and/or Management.
• CPA preferred.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and other Microsoft Suite applications.
• Experience with Sage Intacct preferred.
• Experience working with Salesforce is a plus.
• Fluent in written and spoken English.

Travel

The ability to travel internationally to Luminos offices up to 10-20% of the time.

Luminos Core Beliefs and Values

1. We believe that every child is capable of learning a remarkable amount in a short period of time, if given the chance.
2. We keep children's joy and well-being at the heart of everything we do.
3. We embrace assessment as a key component of effective teaching and learning.
4. We celebrate and empower local leadership throughout our work with partner communities and governments.
5. We use research, program data, and skilled classroom observation in the tenacious pursuit of excellence.
6. We celebrate the unique contexts and cultures of the communities we serve in our curricula and pedagogy.
7. We act with the highest standards of integrity and care, ensuring mutual accountability among colleagues and partners.
8. We take the initiative to solve problems where we find them, managing details large and small, with urgency.
9. We act deliberately to ensure that our organization is inclusive for people of different genders, racial backgrounds, ethnicities, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, abilities, and other sources of diversity.
10. We build deep, authentic relationships with our supporters in celebration of the mutually transformative power of giving.

To apply, please complete the online application with your resume or CV. A thoughtfully written cover letter describing your interest and the value that you'll bring to the role is welcome but not required.

Salary will be commensurate with experience and location.

The Luminos Fund is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status.