• Contract Type: Permanent full-time or flexible part-time (0.8 FTE) contract
• Location: Northern Rivers NSW (Lismore, Ballina, Byron Bay area)
• Working arrangements: Flexible – regular attendance in the Northern Rivers office is required, however this may be combined with working from home.
• Reports to: CEO
• Supervises: Administration assistant, finance officer (Solomon Islands), and oversees work of external service providers
• Intervention/area of focus: Business and financial management, compliance, strategic business management

Who is Nakau?

The Nakau Programme Pty Ltd (Nakau) was established in 2015 as a social-purpose Australian company. We work with Indigenous People and customary landowners across the Pacific Islands to develop community-owned carbon projects that support nature, people, culture and climate resilience.

Our purpose is to substantially increase the area of ecosystems protected, restored and managed under community-based conservation arrangements, which are financed sustainably and enhance Indigenous Peoples’ rights and well-being, while reducing vulnerability to climate change impacts.

We partner with local organisations, communities and governments across five Pacific Island countries. Nakau operates under a blended finance model where we receive grant funding from donors through overseas development assistance programs, and generate finance through carbon credit sales, consultancies and investment.

Nakau’s portfolio of projects is growing and as our Business and Finance Manager you will play a critical role in supporting day-to-day operations, developing and overseeing our financial strategy, and supporting the small executive team to grow the business in line with the company’s strategic vision.

This role is ideal for someone strongly committed to social justice and sustainability who wants to apply their expertise to supporting a social enterprise. We are a highly adaptive, dynamic organisation suited to people who wish to work as part of a small team to make a large impact.

The Position

The Business and Finance Manager will lead Nakau’s business team, and undertake the following responsibilities:

Business management

• Manage day-to-day business operations, including administration, finance, and human resources, ensuring smooth and efficient business operations across the organisation
• Continuously evaluate business processes and identify opportunities for improvement to enhance efficiency and increase effectiveness
• Develop/oversee company organisational policy development and compliance
• Manage Nakau’s sales inventory and data, including disbursement of revenue to community partners
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key clients (buyers), resellers, external service providers and stakeholders, including negotiating contracts

Financial management

• Maintain relationships and oversee the work of external financial consultants engaged in delivering services to Nakau
• Manage implementation and maintenance of financial systems, ensuring data accuracy and process efficiency
• Prepare financial statements, including monthly donor reports, income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements
• Preparation of project audits
• Oversee organisational tax and compliance

Strategic

• As a member of Nakau’s leadership team, contribute to the development and execution of business strategies that align with Nakau’s goals
• Provide business analysis (e.g. financial forecasts and budgets) to inform planning, decision making and assessment of opportunities
• Identify business and financial risks to Nakau, and develop mitigation strategies to ensure long-term viability and compliance

In addition to the above, the Business and Finance Manager may be required to undertake other business-related tasks or activities as directed by the CEO.

ABOUT YOU

If this job is for you, you will be excited and undaunted by the challenge of helping a growing business develop. Ideally, you’ll have worked in a developing business before or have the experience of a mature business you can bring to the team.

You’ll be someone who demonstrates maturity of judgement, flexibility, creativity, responsiveness, initiative, ability to empower others, and the ability to follow through. You’ll have the ability to take a considered approach, the ability to work within a small but growing organisation, have openness to learning, a sense of humour and an unconditional personal commitment to social justice and sustainability.

Strong knowledge of accounting principles, practices, and standards is required. Experience in managing donor grants and working with the not-for-profit sector is beneficial. You will ideally have more than 10 years of experience in business and financial management and demonstrate leadership and innovation in previous work.

Ability to design and manage systems for efficient business operations is needed. You must be a great communicator who can work in a cross-cultural environment and be consultative and collaborative. We are looking for someone who can share our vision and match the high level of integrity we set for ourselves and our operations.

Qualifications:

A bachelor’s degree or higher in business administration, management, finance, marketing, or a related field relevant field is highly desirable.

Accounting or bookkeeping qualifications are considered beneficial.

REMUNERATION

Remuneration will be commensurate with experience, in the range of $100,000 – 115,000 per annum pro rata + superannuation. Annual leave of 5 weeks per year, pro-rata. Nakau also provides a working from home allowance.

COMMENCEMENT

21st October 2024 (negotiable)

Further information

Further information about Nakau is available online:

Website: nakau.org

Facebook: NakauProgramme

Instagram: @the_nakau_programme

Please contact [email protected], using the subject line: Business and Finance Manager enquiry via EthicalJobs, for specific enquiries regarding the position.

A position description is attached.