Jobs at VisionSpring

Description

• Are you ready to use your finance and accounting acumen to restore vision for millions of people in frontier and emerging markets? 
• Would you like to work for an organization that combines the best of business and social impact practices?
• VisionSpring, an international social enterprise, seeks a highly motivated Sr. Finance Manager with international experience to support our growing Finance team. 
• The incumbent is responsible for managing day-to-day local bookkeeping, maintaining accurate and timely financial records by entering, processing, and reconciling transactions in accordance with established procedures and formats for business units located in Africa. 
• S/he will prepare reports and schedules to facilitate budget preparation, tax filing, monthly and annual financial reporting, and successful year-end audits. 
• The incumbent will serve as the primary finance liaison to the sales and operations teams, managing accounts receivable, accounts payable, and expenses for field teams, and ensuring financial compliance for restricted grants. 
• This position will be supporting the operations of countries in Africa and will report to the Global VP Finance and to the Regional Director, Africa.  
• The Sr. Finance Manager may be located in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya or Uganda. 

About Us

• VisionSpring increases lifelong earning, learning, safety, and well-being through eyeglasses for people vulnerable to poverty. We believe in the wonder of clear vision for everybody. 
• We sell and deliver radically affordable optical products and services, and develop markets for eyeglasses—a 700-year-old technology that has failed to reach 1 billion people in need of vision correction, most of whom live on less than $4 a day.
• We serve low-income consumers, not as beneficiaries but as customers. Our customers expect quality, affordable products and eyecare services, and will spend limited discretionary income for the immediate and tangible benefits of vision correction.
• As a social enterprise, we are purpose first. We blend philanthropic and earned revenue, draw on non-profit and business practices, and use sales and efficiency metrics and social impact measures to bring vision correction to ever more people. 
• We catalyze collaborative action in an expansive, multisector partner network and use our evidence and experience to influence systems change and close the global clear vision gap.
• We believe in scaling our impact, not our organization. We are a lean team of doers.
• Our big goal: Everyone who needs eyeglasses will have them by 2050.

What You'll Do
Bookkeeping:

• Overall responsibility and accountability for the day-to-day financial operations.
• Support the accounting and reporting process for all countries in Africa region.
• Provide journal entries and accruals at the end of each month.
• Approve/support payment processing and customer receipts, maintaining both accounts payable and accounts receivable, respectively.
• Reconcile local bank accounts daily.
• Provide oversight to the general ledger that supports active financial management and donor reporting.
• Complete responsibility for legal entity accounting & local reporting.
• Troubleshoot bookkeeping-related problems.
• Attain optimal resolutions when matters go awry.

Reporting and Budget Preparation:

• Analyze financial data for purposes of timely monitoring of progress/performance, financial outlook, and forecasting.
• Drive SKU-wise / category-wise profitability analysis and monitoring.
• Monitor cash flows and fund requirements.
• Prepare monthly, quarterly, and year-end financial reports for review – internal, external, and Board as per schedule.
• Drive annual business planning for VisionSpring’s work in multiple countries in Africa and other regions (as required).
• Prepare / support preparation of donor reporting.
• Perform additional administrative tasks as directed.

Audit Preparation:

• Work with the Global Finance Leadership to provide reports and schedules for annual audit and tax filings, including 990 and 1099 reporting.
• Support timely completion of global audit requirements of VisionSpring.
• Monitor changes in financial and accounting protocol/laws in countries in the region to maintain compliance.
• Coordinate timely completion of required audits in each of the countries.
• Complete responsibility for legal entity audit and compliance.

Global Finance Support:

• Serve as the primary finance liaison to the Sales teams, managing customer invoicing, accounts receivable, and field team expenses.
• Work with the Operations teams managing vendor payments linked to purchasing activities for goods available for sale. Must be experienced in cost accounting for, and reporting of, goods available for sale in a B2B environment and service accounting.
• Coordinate vendor payments through VisionSpring’s payment platform to ensure accurate recording of all payments and maintenance of supporting documentation.
• Manage the financial recording of all restricted grants and ensure the accurate coding of expenses assigned to such grants.
• As VisionSpring expands in key market countries, support and oversee local bookkeeping and accounting, financial review, and support.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree required in Accounting, Finance, or another relevant field. Chartered Accountant (CA) / Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or equivalent will be preferred.
• Strong understanding of the practices and procedures of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as applied to financial accounting and reporting.
• Minimum of (5) years of professional bookkeeping experience.
• Must have general accounting experience using computerized accounting systems, such as QuickBooks, SAP, or others. working knowledge of SAP (minimum 2 years experience) will be an added advantage.
• Ability to prepare and analyze financial statements and reports.
• Technology savvy, including excellent Excel skills.
• Fluency in spoken and written English language with high verbal/written communication skills.

Preferred experience:

• (1) Working with organizations that have multi-country operations in Africa; and/or (2) Working with an organization having both product and service offerings.
• Must be highly organized and detail-oriented.
• Must meet the highest standards of ethics and personal integrity.
• You will impress us if you have any of the following: (1) CA or studying for CA; (2) Work with organizations that have international operations especially not-for-profit; (3) Experience supporting an annual external audit process; (4) Experience in an FMCG business, nonprofit organization, or enterprise with job/project-based accounting (percentage of completion accounting method); (5) Experience preparing financial updates for leadership, including contributing to PowerPoint presentations.

About You:

• You are a proficient and experienced finance and accounting professional: You Excel at making sure debits and credits are recorded correctly. For you, it’s more important to do it right the first time. If you are unsure about the right way to record an entry, you find out how it should be done before recording it quickly.
• You value precision and easily keep track of the smallest details: Numbers are prepared on time and you strive for accuracy. You create clarity for external parties – investors, auditors, and vendors.
• You are analytical: You can read and understand budgets and financial statements, and you are quick to notice when line items don’t add up.
• Your world needs to be predictable, so you make it so: Instinctively you adhere to routines and timelines and help others appreciate the need for structure and repeatable processes. You are always looking for a better way to get recording and reporting done more efficiently.
• You can roll with punches: You recognize and expect that some weeks will be more intense than others. You are ready to deliver at the highest level to close the books every month, complete audits, and file taxes on time.
• You have a critical eye and are not afraid to be the first person to speak up: if anything looks amiss. For you, organizational accountability is personal.
• Friends would describe you as trustworthy and structured, smart with a low ego, resilient, and highly ethical.

Compensation

• Based on experience, education, and location.
• We offer comprehensive benefits, including health insurance.

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Description

• Are you ready to utilize your writing and storytelling skills to amplify the impact of a pioneering social enterprise that is transforming the vision of millions of low-income customers, enabling them to work, learn, stay safe, and care for their families?
• VisionSpring, an international social enterprise, seeks a highly motivated Sr. Proposal Writer with global experience to support our growing Resource Mobilization team. 
• The Senior Proposal Writer will play a critical and valued role in developing high-quality, compelling proposals to secure funding from bilateral and multilateral donors, philanthropic foundations, corporate donors, and individual funders. 
• Your work will directly contribute to our mission of transforming the vision of millions of low-income customers, enabling them to work, learn, stay safe, and care for their families.
• This position requires extensive experience in technical writing for global development donors, with a proven track record of winning proposals for major institutional donors. 
• The ideal candidate will possess strong storytelling skills, the ability to translate complex programmatic information into persuasive narratives, and a deep understanding of donor priorities and funding landscapes.
• This position will support the operations of countries in Africa and report to the Global VP of Resource Mobilization, who is based in the United States. 
• This role operates in a remote work model, reflecting our commitment to providing opportunities to talented individuals regardless of their location. We value diversity and inclusion, and we encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply. Candidates may be located in Nigeria, Ghana or Kenya. 

What You'll Do
Proposal Development and Writing:

• Master writing with the VisionSpring “voice,” and develop the capacity to tell our story to a variety of audiences.
• Serve as the lead writer for competitive proposals, ensuring clarity, coherence, and alignment with donor requirements.
• Concept notes, full proposals, and expressions of interest (EOIs) tailored to various donor types, including bilateral and multilateral funders (e.g., USAID, World Bank, FCDO, EU), philanthropic foundations, corporate donors, and individual funders.
• Collaborate closely with program, finance, and M&E teams to develop compelling content that reflects the organization’s capabilities, impact, and strategic priorities.
• Adapt writing style and messaging to meet specific donor guidelines, compliance requirements, and thematic focus areas.

Grant Reporting and Documentation:

• Review and edit grant reports to ensure consistency, clarity, and adherence to donor guidelines.
• Collaborate with country teams and program leads to develop high-quality content for donor reports, impact assessments, and project updates.

Quality Assurance and Knowledge Management:

• Ensure all proposals meet donor formatting, page limits, and submission requirements, while coordinating with relevant teams to facilitate compliance checks.
• Maintain a repository of successful proposals, case studies, and organizational capabilities statements to improve efficiency in proposal development.
• Develop templates for concept notes, proposals, grant reports, and pitch decks to streamline proposal development processes.
• Monitor proposal success rates, identify areas for improvement, and update content to reflect evolving industry trends.

Requirements

• Candidates should possess a B.A. Degree in Business Management, History, Literature, Linguistics, Journalism, Education, Marketing, Communications, English, Creative Writing, or related field.
• Minimum 8 - 10 years of experience in technical writing and proposal development for international development organizations.
• Proven track record of winning proposals for bilateral and multilateral donors (e.g., USAID, World Bank, FCDO, EU, GIZ, UN agencies).
• Experience writing proposals for philanthropic donors, corporate partners, and high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs).
• Strong knowledge of international development sectors, such as global health, education, livelihoods, and economic development. Experience in the vision sector is a plus
• Excellent ability to synthesize technical programmatic content into compelling, donor-friendly narratives.
• Strong research skills and familiarity with donor funding landscapes, compliance requirements, and proposal evaluation criteria.
• Exceptional writing, editing, and proofreading skills with keen attention to detail.
• Experience managing complex proposal development processes, including coordinating inputs from multiple teams across different time zones.
• Ability to work independently, meet tight deadlines, and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Technology savvy, including excellent Word and Excel skills.
• Fluency in spoken and written English language with high verbal/written communication skills.
• Preferred experience: (1) Working with organizations that have multi-country operations.
• Must be highly organized and detail-oriented. 
• Must meet the highest standards of ethics and personal integrity. 

About You:

• You are passionate about social enterprise models and building relationships with partners and stakeholders. That makes you an exceptional organizational ambassador.
• You are an exceptional writer and storyteller. You find joy in personal collaboration with internal stakeholders across time zones to uncover the colorful details that make your stories compelling.
• You shine when communicating with internal and external organizational stakeholders, and your words inspire excitement about what we can do together.
• You enjoy creating structure, have exceptional focus and follow-through, and prioritize before you act.
• You are flexible and thrive in environments where each day is unlike the next.

Compensation

• Based on experience, education, and location.
• We offer comprehensive benefits, including health insurance. 

go to method of application »

Description

• Are you a change maker, excited about capturing, organizing, analyzing and visualizing data, who wants to play a pivotal role in restoring vision for millions of people in low-income settings?
• VisionSpring, an international social enterprise, seeks a Global Data and Reporting Lead who will scope, develop, quality assure and execute data and reporting projects in line with VisionSpring’s mission and vision. 
• She/he will play a key role in developing VisionSpring’s data architecture and programs data integration strategy, building the infrastructure that enables stakeholders from program managers to our Leadership Team to our funding partners to make confident, data-led decisions about VisionSpring’s programs across Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia.
• In collaboration with the Global Director, Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (currently based in the UK), the Global Data and Reporting Lead will manage a portfolio of data and reporting projects which range in scope from data quality workstreams, collaborations with IT on automating data transfer between systems, the evolution of VisionSpring’s data reporting architecture, through to the development and oversight of reporting products in Excel, PowerBI and Salesforce. 
• The post holder will become a valued business partner for multiple departments, supporting VisionSpring’s program quality and growth ambitions. 
• They will ensure that our Resource Mobilization team is equipped with up-to-date, easily accessible facts and figures on VisionSpring programs so that we can create compelling funding bids and deliver impressive funder reports. 
• Our goal is to report externally with confidence, precision and a wow-factor of sophisticated, insightful data visualizations. 
• She/he will also work to ensure that our Programs team have easy access to insights harvested from trusted, accessible reports that are built on solid data quality foundations. 
• In addition, she/he will actively form and manage external partnerships with technical consultants, software suppliers and communities of practice in the sphere of data and reporting.
• The Global Data and Reporting Lead is a member of the Global Programs Office, reporting to the Global Director, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning. 
• The postholder will also provide technical coaching input to the work of three Monitoring and Evaluation Leads covering our Africa region, India and Bangladesh.

About You

• Mission-driven, entrepreneurial leader. You build a mission-driven unit to support the delivery of the organization’s long-term outcomes through data and reporting. You foster ideation, iteration, and learning and you are an analytical thinker. You prize useful, fit-for-purpose reports over design perfection.
• Curious and passionate about data. You are curious about how our programs work and keep asking questions until you understand them well enough to execute high-quality reporting that enables improvement to their effectiveness and efficiency. You are a passionate advocate of data use and infect others with this enthusiasm.
• Customer centric. You center data and reporting designs around defined value propositions for business users, seeking out and customer feedback and valuing customer experience.
• Inclusive player-coach. You mentor and develop people so that VisionSpring becomes an ever-more data-led organization. In a diverse, growth-stage organization, you create opportunities for participation and increased responsibility. You model vulnerability and accountability and roll-up your sleeves to deliver when needed.
• Resource mobilizer. You work hard to understand the worlds of VisionSpring’s funders, supporting our Resource Mobilization teams to build cases for support rooted in rigorous data and reporting. You are driven to build useful, accessible self-service tools and summaries that can answer the bulk of queries. You love nothing more than to get a ‘wow!’ reaction from a funding partner to a report you have created.
• Collaborator. You have a track record of delivery and managing projects that span multiple departments and stakeholders.

What You'll Do
Data architecture and strategy:

• Map the end-to-end data flows of VisionSpring's full range of programs from data capture systems via ETL processes to CRM systems and through to reporting measures. 
• Assess and document the strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• Develop a phased plan for developing VisionSpring’s data architecture, prioritizing infrastructure investments and process improvements that will yield the highest returns for business users.

Data visualization and reporting products:

• Capture the reporting needs of the full range of business users of programs reporting.
• Develop useful, insightful reporting products that meet business users’ needs, prioritizing reports that will deliver the most business value and building on the catalogue of tools and reports that already exist.
• Seek and capture user feedback and use this to improve reporting products.
• Stay abreast of software development and evolving best practices in data visualization and reporting.

Data analysis and insight harvesting:

• Working with MERL colleagues, capture the evidence needs of a range of business users and develop annual integrated plans for meeting those needs through a combination of data analysis and evaluation/research work streams.
• Build and maintain a library of self-service summaries and interactive analytical tools that enable business users to find the most common facts and figures.
• Provide ad-hoc analytical support to a range of business users, including Resource Mobilization, Marketing & Communications, Programs teams and members of the Leadership Team.

Data use capacity building:

• Foster a culture of data use at VisionSpring, coaching colleagues to understand how data analysis can support their work and further the organization’s goals. 
• Provide training at a range of levels, from technical training to in-country M&E leads through to training in the use of reporting products to business users.

Data quality improvement cycle:

• Identify and measure the extent of data quality issues (completeness, accuracy, timeliness) across the full range of VisionSpring’s programs data. 
• Understand the root causes of these issues, working closely with internal stakeholders.
• Put in place interventions to improve data quality and measure their effectiveness in improving data quality.

Requirements
Essential:

• 5+ years of experience in the fields of data and reporting and/or monitoring and evaluation with evidence of career progression.
• Experience of improving data quality and increasing the trust of users in the analysis they receive.
• Experience in communicating analytical findings to a range of audiences, for example, through visuals, documents, presentations, talks, podcasts or videos.
• Excellent business analysis skills – able to work confidently with a wide range of stakeholders across an organization to understand their business needs and think creatively about how data analysis and reporting can help them meet their goals.
• Excellent technical data processing and analysis skills. Confident using the full Microsoft stack as needed – from pivot tables to Power Query to Power BI. Strong understanding of ETL processes, database systems, KPI development, dashboard design, data analysis and data visualization. This expertise may come from an advanced degree in fields such as computer science, statistics, or data science – or from other formal training courses and hands-on experience if your background is in a different field.
• A passion for putting data and evidence to use in the service of social good.

Desirable:

• Experience of working with philanthropic, institutional or CSR funders – e.g. preparing funding bids or completing funder reports
• Experience of working in Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Bangladesh, or Vietnam, with the understanding of the realities of data collection in lower income settings.
• Expertise in specialist data visualization software (e.g. Tableau, Flourish, D3)
• Expertise in data protection, data privacy and data security, ideally related to the markets in which VisionSpring operates
• Familiarity with Salesforce as a CRM system. Expertise in Lightning reports would be a particular advantage.
• Expertise in vision care (e.g. the nomenclature of vision examinations).

Compensation

• Salary based on experience, education and location.
• Annual performance-based bonus.
• VisionSpring offers competitive benefits, including health insurance, gratuity funds, and generous vacation/personal time.