Head, Program Finance, Pan African Programs - Entrepreneurship Development & Agriculture at MasterCard

The role reports to the Director, Program Finance - Pan African Programs

The Finance Head, Program Finance – is a critical leader responsible for providing strategic and tactical financial leadership closely supporting their Finance Director across the PANA program portfolios. This role serves as the primary business partner to the Program Heads and the program team, ensuring full alignment of financial strategy with programmatic outcomes.

The Finance Head is also responsible for the financial risk management initiatives related to their area of operation and will ensure robust compliance frameworks and foster a culture of accountability and informed decision-making across the platform of operation.

WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE

• Act as a trusted advisor to the Program Heads of the PANA platforms, providing insights to drive impact and long-term sustainability.
• Partner with all Leads reporting to the Program Head to ensure financial plans and operations are aligned with strategic objectives.
• Represent Program Finance at Thematic meetings, helping shape strategic direction and operational priorities from a financial lens.
• Implement and execute Program Finance strategy, ensuring financial sustainability and operational excellence in the PANA Platform in the thematic space of operation.
• Embed Thematic Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) processes for programs and serve as a key contributor to risk identification and mitigation strategies.
• Proactively identify financial and operational risks, working with cross-functional teams to design appropriate mitigation plans.
• Execute all financial aspects of PANA programs including planning, budgeting, financial controls, disbursement, compliance, and monitoring for the thematic areas of responsibility.
• Assess and present funding sufficiency and financial viability for achieving strategic objectives across PANA thematic areas of responsibility.
• Assess financial implications of new programs and partnerships to inform decision-making.
• Drive the annual due diligence and work planning processes with program and partner teams.
• Implementation of financial systems, policies, templates, and processes that enable scalable, efficient operations with feedback loop for continuous improvement.
• Implementation of financial controls and compliance with internal and external regulatory requirements in thematic areas of responsibility.
• Provide timely, accurate, and insightful financial reports and analyses to inform programmatic decisions.
• Collaborate closely with the central accounting team to support external audits, regulatory requirements, and tax matters.
• Build, lead, and develop high-performing finance teams.
• Foster a performance-oriented culture, provide coaching and professional development, and support change management initiatives across finance teams.
• Create an inclusive and collaborative work environment and foster positive relationships and trust to build a unified team and drive impact.
• Maintain strong relationships with PANA program partners finance teams to enable effective financial governance.
• Work with assurance, compliance, audit, and risk teams to create a holistic and unified risk and compliance strategy across the thematic area of responsibility.

WHO YOU ARE

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Finance, Commerce, or a related field; an MBA or Master’s degree is an added advantage.
• Professional certification (e.g., ACCA, FCCA, CIMA, CPA, CA) is required.
• Membership/Fellowship in a recognized professional accounting body.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive financial experience, with at least 5 years in senior leadership.
• Experience in managing cross-functional and cross-border teams.
• Strong background in program finance, financial planning, risk management, and strategic advisory roles.
• Demonstrated ability to effective business partnering and leadership.
• Strong command of financial systems, accounting operations, and internal controls.
• Expertise in financial and non-financial data analysis for strategic decision-making.
• Proven ability in financial forecasting, budgeting, and scenario planning.
• Deep understanding of enterprise risk and compliance frameworks.
• Enterprise mindset with demonstrated capability to lead beyond functional silos.
• Strategic thinker with a bias for action and innovation.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills across cultures and stakeholder levels.
• Strong ethical grounding, integrity, and sound judgment.
• Ability to build alignment and influence across diverse teams and leadership structures.
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• Possess excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures.
• Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity.