Financial Systems Accountant

Job Title: Financial Systems Accountant
Team: Financial Reporting
Contract: Permanent
Level: Intermediate
Please refer to our Capability Framework
Salary: Competitive for Not-for-profit organisation
Location: London (strong preference) or Amsterdam
Start Date: 1 April 2023

ABOUT US

EIT Climate-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) is Europe’s foremost climate innovation initiative. We understand that keeping global temperature rise below 1.5˚C demands unprecedented change. It requires new social dynamics, ways of doing business, capital flows, policymaking, economic models, and new ways of living. That is why our mission is to leverage the power of systems innovation to transform whole places, industries, and value chains by 2030, working across sectors to develop and scale ambitious, mission-led programmes.

Established in 2010 and headquartered in Amsterdam, we orchestrate a community of more than 400 organisations including large corporations and SMEs, municipal and regional governments, universities, and research institutes, as well as non-governmental organisations and uncommon actors. Historically, we have been funded by our founder and core funder, the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), but we are currently transitioning to a multi-funder model.

EIT Climate-KIC colleagues are based in one of our local offices across Europe or work remotely from home based in one of the countries where we have a branch. We meet at our local offices to exchange and connect and use online collaboration tools work with each other and with our Community. On occasion, we meet in-person as teams, and once per year as an organisation.

As a mission-driven organisation dedicated to climate transformation, we consider the climate impact of our own actions, for example travel, catering, or IT equipment.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Financial Systems Accountant plays a critical role within the Financial Reporting area of EIT Climate KIC’s finance team. This includes overseeing the finance modules and processes within our ‘Haus / Unit 4’ ERP system to ensure they provide a robust control environment and serve the fast-moving needs of the organisation. The role will also manage the transactional element of the organisation’s accounts payable activity, managing a small team of direct reports to ensure a high level of performance in areas such as supplier invoice processing and completion of payment runs to pre-determined schedules.

The role will report to the Group Financial Controller and will act as the key finance partner to the ERP Product Owner and other key non-finance colleagues across the business, ensuring that finance deliver a quality service to stakeholders to enable them to achieve their objectives, whilst achieving high levels of financial control and compliance.

Key Responsibilities

• 
  Oversee all financial processes and controls within the fast moving, dynamic organisation.
• Be the figurehead within the finance team for driving improvements to processes and developing supporting documentation to strengthen the control environment.
• Act as the key partner to the ERP Process Owner, developing the system to deliver strong, robust processes which enable the organisation to operate efficiently and effectively.
• Develop the ERP roadmap and participate fully in development projects.
• Be visible as the key contact for communicating and promoting good financial controls throughout the organisation.
• Manage and take ownership for the organisation’s accounts payable activity, managing a small team to deliver a quality service to the organisation’s stakeholders.
• Develop a framework and timetable for payable transactions and develop confidence within the organisation of finance’s ability to deliver to pre-agreed deadlines.
• Take responsibility for finance masterdata within the ERP system, developing processes to control changes and ensuring live data remains up to date at all times.
• Develop and provide ERP reporting solutions to enable the wider financial reporting team to streamline their regular reporting tasks (e.g. month-end reconciliations, receivables statements, VAT return reporting).
• Contribute to audit projects including statutory and funder driven assignments.
• Line management of a small team of transactional processing staff, setting objectives and managing performance to help develop their capabilities and achieve their career aspirations and goals.

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting or equivalent professional finance qualification / certification.

Experience

• Proven experience of minimum 5 years as a Senior Financial Accountant, Financial Controls Manager or similar role required, including management of small, transactional finance teams.

Skills

• Fluent in English, other languages a plus.
• Experience with financial modules of ERP systems vital, in particular Unit 4 experience would be a distinct advantage.
• Experience with common software applications such as Excel, Microsoft Office.

• Proactive mindset
• Cooperative with strong communications skills
• Service-oriented attitude
• Problem solver and solution oriented
• Calm, assertive approach to team leadership
• Team player
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with multiple stakeholders
• Ability to deal with ambiguity yet produce clear actions / direction

Location

Candidates must have the right to work in the EU prior to applying for the position. Ideally, the successful candidate will be based in the London or Amsterdam offices, but we support full remote or hybrid forms of working and offer a high degree of flexibility.

At EIT Climate-KIC we are wholeheartedly committed to building a diverse and representative team and an inclusive workplace that values different life experiences and perspectives, and encourages personal development, learning and growth.

When recruiting, we look to achieve diversity in the candidate pool. We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups and are happy to consider reasonable adjustments to that will foster success in potential employees from diverse backgrounds and life situations. And because our team has differing needs and personal circumstances, we offer a high degree of flexibility to accommodate all working patterns.

Candidates must have the right to work in the EU before applying for the position. Ideally, the successful candidate will be based close to an EIT Climate-KIC office, but we support full remote or hybrid forms of working and offer a high degree of flexibility.

HOW TO APPLY

Please use our application form and include your CV and a covering letter that describes how your profile, skills and experience match the role. Please also include your salary expectations and where you are (or would like to be) based.