Grants Finance Manager

Company Description
Systemiq is a system change company and certified B Corp, driving the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. We work across five critical systems—energy, nature and food, materials and circular economy, sustainable finance, and urban transformation—to deliver real, lasting impact.

We believe systems change starts with people change. That means curiosity, collaboration, and inclusion are at the heart of how we work.

Since our start in 2016, we have grown to more than 300+ people working across locations in Brazil, Germany, France, Indonesia, Netherlands, UK and the US. We are a pure-play sustainability-focused company, dedicated exclusively to sustainability projects.

We have an opportunity to join our Grants Team, which is led by our Global Grants and Partnerships Manager, and sits within our Operations Finance team. The Grants Team works across all our locations, supporting dozens of grants projects.

Grants funding is crucial for SYSTEMIQ’s work; annually it accounts for more than 50% of our project revenues. Management of such grant funding requires ensuring spend is impact‑oriented and in compliance with both funders’ contractual requirements and SYSTEMIQ’s standards.

You will also be a crucial part of starting out our presence in Nairobi, and helping to shape our work in the region in the grants space.

About the role

As a Project Grants Finance Manager, you will be responsible for delivering high quality management and oversight of several work streams that are supported by funding from government, philanthropy and corporate funding sources. You will manage a portfolio of projects, including a large multiyear multimillion grants project funded by NORAD.

You will work closely with a range of internal stakeholders, including senior management, project delivery teams, Systemiq’s Global grants team, and the global finance team, PMO and legal team during the entire lifecycle of projects. Project staff are based across all our locations, and most global operations staff are based in London and Jakarta. Your Line Manager will be our Global Grants Finance Manager, who is based in Berlin.

The key focus of the role is to ensure compliance with company processes and policies, as well as project contractual requirements on due diligence, financial management, expenditure and invoicing, procurement and project auditing and reporting.

In addition, you will play a key role in supporting and developing relationships with funders and delivery partners and helping us to build out our funding network for our grants work in the region.

• Develop project budgets and financial plans for project grant funding proposals
• Support our project teams to negotiate cost‑efficient budgets and demonstrate value for money
• Ensure project budgeting, staffing plans and preparation complies with company practice and client’s financial control requirements
• Complete formal proposal application processes

Project Delivery:

• Ensure project’s financial requirements are adhered to in relation to company policy, funder requirements and applicable laws and regulations
• Ensure compliance with company and funder procurement rules, and oversee large‑scale procurement and tender processes for goods and services
• Lead downstream subcontracting and subgranting, including large‑scale procurements for supply of goods and services
• Lead project audits, including sample data, field work and auditor communications
• Liaise with Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable to ensure correct invoicing for funders and suppliers, and track project cashflows
• Complete monthly financial forecasting and expenditure reconciliations to track cashflows and monitor financial position of our largest grants projects, supporting project planning and progress reporting against project delivery framework
• Prepare financial status reports for project and finance team leadership
• Prepare external financial, budgetary and accounting reports to clients / funders
• Liaise with PMO to set up new project finances and close finances of completed projects
• Provide guidance and documentation to the project team to…