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 Finance function at ALU is focused on building a disciplined, scalable operating model across Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Treasury, Payroll, and FP&A, supporting a multi-entity, multi-country institution.

The Senior Accountant role sits within the core finance structure, at the intersection of Treasury and Accounting. It is responsible for ensuring effective cash management, payment execution, and financial control, while supporting the integrity of financial records and reporting.

Working closely with Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, and FP&A, the role plays a key part in maintaining liquidity, enabling smooth day-to-day operations, and supporting the broader finance team in delivering accurate and timely financial information.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Senior Accountant - Treasury is a core execution and control role within the finance function.

This role is responsible for day-to-day treasury operations, cash management, and bank control, while supporting broader accounting and month-end close processes.

This is a hands-on operator role, requiring strong attention to detail, ownership, and the ability to work across fragmented systems and incomplete data environments. This role will be the anchor for treasury execution, bank integrity, and cash control across the institution. The role sits at the intersection of Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Treasury, ensuring that cash positions are accurate, reconciled, and actionable on a daily basis. 

You will play a critical role in:

• Establishing cash visibility and control
• Driving bank and wallet reconciliations to completion
• Supporting payment execution discipline
• Anchoring month-end close 

As the function matures, this role will take on ownership of core accounting areas (intercompany, tax support, and balance sheet), contribute directly to month-end close, and assume responsibility for reporting across selected entities/subsidiaries. 

This role reports directly to the Finance Operations Director (FOD) and operates under the oversight of the VP Finance (VPF). This role has one reportee, the Treasury & Compliance Coordinator.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Treasury Operations Ownership & Cash Control 

• Own the end-to-end integrity, visibility, and control of cash across all ALU entities, accounts, and payment channels
• Define and enforce treasury operating standards, including:
• Daily cash visibility requirements
• Reconciliation timelines and ageing thresholds
• Payment execution protocols
• Review and validate daily cash position reports prepared by the Treasury & Compliance Coordinator
• Provide forward-looking cash insights, including:
• Liquidity constraints
• Funding gaps
• Timing mismatches between collections and disbursements
• Act as the central point of coordination for cash impact across functions:
• Accounts Payable: payment readiness
• Accounts Receivable: collections and cash application
• Payroll: salary and statutory disbursements
• FP&A: cash forecasting and reporting
• Ensure all teams operate against a single, aligned cash position

2. Oversight of Payment Execution

• Oversee execution of all treasury activities performed by the Treasury & Compliance Coordinator, including:
• Payment processing (across all ALU jurisdictions)
• Bank platform activity
• Cash monitoring
• Validate payment batches prior to release, ensuring:
• Proper approvals
• Complete documentation
• Alignment with cash availability
• Enforce discipline across bi-monthly payment cycles (15th and month-end)
• Validate payment batches against supporting documentation and approvals
• Act as control gatekeeper, flagging:
• Out-of-process spend
• Policy breaches
• Payment prioritisation issues 
• Ensure full traceability and audit ready documentation

3. Bank, Wallet & Reconciliation Control

• Own end-to-end bank reconciliations across all entities and accounts. Emphasis on the accuracy and completeness of all reconciliations across:
• Bank accounts
• Mobile money / card channels
• Intermediary payment platforms
• Review reconciliations prepared by the Treasury & Coordinator and:
• Challenge unreconciled items
• Enforce timely resolution
• Approve final balances for reporting and close
• Drive clearance of historical reconciliation backlogs
• Ensure all balances tie to NetSuite GL and supporting schedules
• Escalate systemic issues (data gaps, integration issues, timing breaks)

4. Month-End Close – Treasury Integration

• Own treasury deliverables within the month-end close process, ensuring:
• All bank accounts are reconciled and signed off
• Cash balances tie accurately to the general ledger
• Cut-off is properly applied to receipts and payments
• Review and approve:
• Cash schedules
• Bank reconciliations
• Payment cut-off reports
• Coordinate with FP&A and reporting teams to ensure accurate cash representation in management accounts
• Support preparation of cash and liquidity reporting for management accounts
• Progressively take ownership of:
• Balance sheet reconciliations
• Journal entries (cash, accruals, prepayments, intercompany)
• Support preparation of cash and liquidity reporting for management accounts
• Progressively take ownership of:

5. Intercompany Accounting & Balance Sheet Integrity

• Manage intercompany accounting and reconciliations across ALU entities
• Ensure timely and accurate balances for consolidation and reporting
• Investigate and resolve intercompany mismatches
• Maintain clean, auditable supporting schedules for key balance sheet accounts

6. Tax & Compliance Oversight

• Oversee preparation of tax schedules and statutory obligations (VAT, WHT, CIT support) prepared by the Treasury & Compliance Coordinator 
• Prepare annual tax computations and supporting schedules 
• Support statutory filings and external audits with required documentation
• Work with internal and external stakeholders to ensure compliance readiness
• Maintain organised documentation for all tax-related processes

7. Entity / Subsidiary Reporting 

• Take ownership of financial reporting for assigned entities/subsidiaries
• Ensure completeness and integrity of:
• Trial balance
• Balance sheet
• Supporting schedules
• Support consolidation readiness and reporting accuracy
• Statutory audits
• Donor audits

Tools & systems

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

Essential qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
• 4–6 years of experience in accounting or treasury roles
• Strong experience in:
• Liquidity management and cash control
• Payment processing and treasury operations
• Month-end close processes
• Experience working with ERP systems (NetSuite preferred)
• High attention to detail with a focus on accuracy, completeness, and control
• Strong grounding in financial accounting and reporting principles
• High attention to detail with a focus on data integrity, controls, and completeness
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to enforce deadlines and challenge slippage constructively

OTHER COMPETENCIES

Preferred

• Experience in multi-entity / multi-currency environments
• Exposure to intercompany accounting and consolidation processes
• Experience supporting tax computations and statutory processes
• Background in audit or structured accounting environments, with significant exposure to financial close and reporting processes
• Experience in education, non-profit, or international organisations

Personal Attributes

• Ownership mindset: Takes full accountability for cash integrity, reconciliations, and outputs end-to-end..
• Control-oriented: Naturally focused on accuracy, completeness, and auditability; builds and enforces strong financial controls.
• Attention to detail: Operates with precision in cash-sensitive environments; identifies and resolves discrepancies proactively.
• Structured and disciplined: Brings order to fragmented processes; enforces timelines, standards, and consistency across workflows.
• Execution-driven: Delivers reliably in high-pressure, time-sensitive environments (e.g., payment cycles, month-end close).
• Analytical and problem-solving: Able to interpret financial data, investigate variances, and resolve complex reconciliation or cash flow issues.
• Strong judgement: Makes sound decisions on payment prioritisation, risk escalation, and control exceptions.
• Leadership through oversight: Effectively manages and develops junior team members; reviews, challenges, and elevates output quality.
• Collaborative and cross-functional: Works effectively across AP, AR, Payroll, and FP&A; aligns teams around a single cash view.
• Clear communicator: Communicates financial issues, risks, and insights clearly to both finance and non-finance stakeholders.
• Integrity and accountability: Trusted to operate in a high-risk, cash-intensive environment with strong ethical standards.
• Adaptable and resilient: Comfortable operating in a rebuilding environment; able to navigate ambiguity and evolving structures.

ABOUT ALU

At the African Leadership University (ALU), we're more than just an institution—we're a catalyst for transformation. Our mission is to develop a new generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders who will shape Africa's future. Through our innovative curriculum, focus on experiential learning, and vibrant pan-African community, we empower students to become changemakers, problem-solvers, and innovators. At ALU, we're not just teaching; we're nurturing the leaders who will drive Africa's progress and prosperity in the 21st century

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 ROLE

A Campus Operations Lead holds a pivotal role in managing the comprehensive operational activities of the campus environment. The primary responsibility is to ensure the efficient functioning of various aspects of campus operations, including facilities management, security protocols, and relevant administrative support services. The role serve as a central point of contact for addressing operational issues, resolving conflicts, and implementing solutions to improve overall campus functionality. In addition, the Campus Operations Lead acts as an expert in all facilities related issue to provide the best possible experience for all ALU stakeholders.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Facilities Management 

• Ensuring a high service quality among ALU’s service providers on the campus including managing and sourcing vendors and revising current contracts.
• Preserving the value of ALU’s assets including frequent monitoring of cleanliness, maintenance and proper use of equipment.
• Ensuring the security of students on campus by working with the appointed service providers on risk assessment, security patrol management, security protocols, and managing security data including student movement.
• Acting as the point person for all ALU’s departments, and having overall responsibility for ensuring all operations teams are prepared to support the success of on- campus events including in the case of any operational emergency.
• Overseeing Health and Safety on site through monitoring, risk simulations, and tracking regulatory and policy requirements in conjunction with Health and Safety expert.
• Ensuring regulatory and legal compliance of campus infrastructure such as fire safety
• Working with external consultants where necessary to improve operational effectiveness and efficiency
• Engaging with municipalities, district councils, property association, or relevant authorities, concerning campus needs requiring approval outside of ALU.
• Acting as the intermediary and liaison between service providers and students in the case of challenges encountered, or complaints lodged against either party.
• Coordinating required checks and inspections of the buildings to ensure that all specialized maintenance and cleaning interventions are addressed in a timely manner.
• Manage external stakeholders including landlord, external service providers and local authorities to ensure that any ALU projects are approved and carried out as per requirements
• Recruit, train and supervise all interns and staff under the Operations department to enable them to carry out their duties properly
• Design and manage any project required by ALU as per ALU’s requirements.
• Ensure that all activities and events undertaken at ALU are carried out with the support of the Operations department with proper risk management.
• Manage and Ensure Cross-departmental participation where appropriate of all Operations activities.

Systems Building and Tracking

• Oversee the creation and documentation of systems and processes, policies, protocols, and SOPs for ALU and with service providers to standardize our operational delivery, promote accountability and facilitate knowledge transfer across ALU campuses.
• Running crisis simulations to proactively identify and develop new SOPs, training opportunities and procurement recommendations.
• Running routine emergency procedures eg fire drills, to prepare community in case of emergency.
• Formulate strategic and operational objectives for the operations department and ensure it is implemented, monitored and reviewed as and when required.
• Monitor performance of the Operations Department and ensure proper reporting and provide the Campus Director with an overall view.
• Analyse and optimise resources to reach Operations KPIs.
• Manage all Operations department dashboards tracking Operations KPIs.

Procurement

• Managing the campus operations budget including additional procurement, and the associated budgetary approval, by coordinating with ALU Finance.
• Plan the Operations Department yearly budget forecast, Operational and CAPEX, and ensure that monthly spendings are within the allocated budget.

Performance Management

• Tracking, managing and reporting performance using data-driven methods for all campus operations; Overseeing selection, training, and succession of external operations partners and students assisting in campus operations roles.
• Manage contracts of service providers for both ALU including drafting and reviewing of KPIs and SLAs periodically.
• Such other duties in respect of the Company as may be reasonably assigned by your team manager.
• Identify and implement ways to constantly improve the quality of customer service of the Operations department.
• Ensure level of service provided by the Operations department is at its optimal for ALU.
• Manage ALU service providers onboarding from the Request for Proposal phase up to implementation.

Line Management

• Line manage all Operations Staff members to ensure performance objectives are properly set and reviewed throughout the year.
• Lead Operations team annual planning process and ensure it is consistent with organisational strategy at ALU.
• Assist all Operations staff to ensure they have the right tools to achieve Operations goals set.

Requirements

•  Masters in Operations and Logistics, or Facilities Management or Building Services or Engineering or equivalent
• Experience: 5 - 7 Years Experience in Facilities management is a must.  Preferably in the higher education sector

Location: Mauritius