Building Tomorrow, an international nonprofit organization, working to provide literacy and numeracy for all children, is seeking a technical, strategic, passionate Global Head of Finance to provide financial leadership and hands-on management across all BT entities. This role ensures accurate, compliant financial operations, supports audit and grant compliance, drives budgeting and forecasting, and provides strategic finance insight to leadership, the board, and donors.
THE ORGANIZATION
Founded in 2006, Building Tomorrow is a dynamic social impact organization working to unlock the potential of millions of learners through community-powered education in rural East Africa. We believe that the most sustainable and scalable solutions to the global learning crisis are rooted in communities themselves.
Through a network of over 500 Building Tomorrow Fellows and more than 21,000 Community Education Volunteers, we partner with local communities and governments to identify, enroll, and support out-of-school children while improving foundational literacy and numeracy for those already in school. To date, Building Tomorrow has enrolled more than 140,000 out-of-school children and reached over 950,000 learners with our evidence-based Roots to Rise (R2R) learning camps. Our bold goal: to reach five million learners by 2029.
With offices in the United States, Uganda, and Rwanda, Building Tomorrow’s dedicated team of over 340 full-time staff—the vast majority based in East Africa—works hand-in-hand with communities and governments to strengthen education systems from the ground up.
Our work has earned recognition and support from leading global partners and institutions, including The Mastercard Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, Echoing Green, Big Bang Philanthropy, Forbes Magazine, the Library of Congress Literacy Awards, and the Klaus J. Jacobs Awards.
For more information, visit www.buildingtomorrow.org.
POSITION HIGHLIGHTS
Building Tomorrow seeks an exceptional Global Head of Finance to serve as the organization’s senior financial leader, guiding a growing, mission-driven enterprise operating across three entities—BT Inc. (USA), BT Uganda, and BT Rwanda.
The Global Head of Finance will provide both strategic direction and hands-on oversight of Building Tomorrow’s financial systems, ensuring strong fiscal stewardship, compliance, and financial sustainability as the organization expands its impact across East Africa. This position calls for a leader who thrives at the intersection of purpose and performance—someone equally comfortable analyzing a multi-country financial model as they are mentoring a finance team or engaging board members around financial strategy.
Reporting to the Chief Dreamer, the Global Head of Finance will be a trusted advisor to the senior leadership team and the Board of Directors, helping drive data-informed decision-making, resource optimization, and long-term growth. The role is based in East Africa and can be performed remotely, with occasional travel to field offices in the region.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Strategic Financial Leadership
- Serve as a strategic thought partner to the COO, Chief Dreamer, and Board, translating organizational strategy into fundable operating plans and measurable performance expectations.
- Own a driver-based, multi-year (3-5 years) financial model across entities and countries, linking program strategy and outcomes, headcount, delivery assumptions, and funding scenarios.
- Build and maintain unit economics and cost-to-serve models to inform program design, resource allocation, and scale decision-making.
- Lead scenario planning and investment cases to inform expansion, partnership terms, and capacity investments.
- Design and iterate the systems-change cost model, including cost-down pathways, operational implications, and quality guardrails that protect impact.
- Establish a monthly performance cadence: rolling forecast, top driver variance narrative, and a decision log that clarifies tradeoffs and implications.
Financial Operations, Risk, & Compliance
- Oversee financial management across the U.S., Uganda, and Rwanda, ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant financial operations.
- Produce and analyze consolidated monthly, quarterly, and annual financial reports for internal and external stakeholders.
- Ensure compliance with GAAP, donor regulations, and all local statutory requirements.
- Lead and coordinate annual audits across all entities, including preparation of the consolidated financial statements and IRS Form 990.
- Strengthen and maintain financial controls, policies, and procedures that safeguard assets and ensure accountability.
- Identify and implement process and systems improvements to increase efficiency, transparency, and accuracy.
- Design, implement, and monitor robust internal control frameworks across US and East African entities to mitigate risks related to fraud, data integrity, and regulatory non-compliance
- Direct global treasury functions, including cash flow optimization and the development of strategies to manage foreign exchange volatility and liquidity across USD, UGX, and RWF.
- Establish a regular internal audit cadence and 'spot-check' protocols for field offices to ensure decentralized operations remain aligned with global fiscal policies.
- Update and maintain a comprehensive Global Finance Manual that standardizes operations while remaining compliant with local statutory requirements.
Grant, Donor & Partner Management
- Oversee financial management of restricted grants and donor-funded projects, ensuring accurate tracking, reporting, and compliance.
- Own the costing architecture for proposals, ensuring budgets are full-costed, competitive, and delivery-realistic.
- Partner with Strategic Partnerships and Programs teams to develop proposal budgets and financial narratives; implement a Finance review gate for final budget sign-off prior to submission.
- Serve as the financial liaison to major donors and partners, providing transparency and building confidence in Building Tomorrow’s fiscal management.
- Ensure timely submission of high-quality donor financial reports that meet funder expectations and compliance requirements.
Team Management & Capacity Building
- Manage, coach, and develop finance staff across BT Inc., BT Uganda, and BT Rwanda, fostering a culture of excellence, accountability, and continuous learning.
- Strengthen financial management capacity within country offices through training, mentorship, and systems development.
- Champion a collaborative, cross-functional approach that integrates finance into all aspects of the organization’s decision-making.
Board & Leadership Engagement
- Provide insight and metrics into financial risk and controls, financial performance, and strategic progress and implications
- Participate actively in senior leadership and strategic planning meetings, contributing to organizational decision-making beyond finance.
- Develop KPI (performance) and KRI (risk) dashboards that inform leadership and the board.
MUST HAVES
- Proven success (10+ years) leading finance in a nonprofit, social enterprise, or multi-country organization, ideally with U.S. and African operations.
- Deep understanding of nonprofit accounting standards (GAAP), donor compliance, multi-currency financial management, and mitigating foreign exchange risks across continents.
- Experience designing and implementing internal control frameworks and leading financial system migrations in a multi-country environment.
- Experience managing complex grants and contracts ($5m and above) from major institutional donors (e.g., foundations, multilateral agencies).
- Strong analytical, strategic, and systems-thinking skills; familiarity with data visualization tools able to translate financial data into strategic insight and meaningful KPI and KRI metrics.
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with a track record of building relationships across cultures and functions.
- Commitment to Building Tomorrow’s mission of expanding access to inclusive, quality education in Africa.
- Proficiency with accounting software (QuickBooks Online or equivalent) and financial reporting tools.
- Availability for biweekly or as-needed meetings on US Eastern Time.
- Ability to link your experience and skills directly with the Building Tomorrow behaviors (listed below) and skills Building Tomorrow is seeking in the ideal candidate.
WE WANT YOU TO APPLY IF…
- You have an unshakeable passion for education equality, believing access to an inclusive, quality education is a basic human right.
- You possess creative ingenuity, being progressive in your thinking and approaching challenges old and new. You are intrapreneurial and unafraid to pilot new ideas.
- You are relentlessly determined, refusing to accept the status quo, persistently striving to create new opportunities to reach more children, allowing them to reach their maximum potential.
- You believe in collaborative engagement. You believe more can be achieved together than alone, believe in the power of cultivating relationships, and see everyone as an equal partner.
WHAT WE OFFER
Compensation will be commensurate with experience. Benefits package includes health insurance, contributions to an independent staff savings scheme, paid personal leave, and sick days.
TO APPLY
Visit www.buildingtomorrow.org/careers to apply.
If someone referred you to apply for this position, please provide his or her name in your cover letter. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
Building Tomorrow maintains a dedication to promoting gender equity, diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion, and recruits, employs, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of protected characteristics. Building Tomorrow will not tolerate illegal discrimination or harassment under an applicable law in any jurisdiction where it operates. Building Tomorrow will not tolerate illegal discrimination or harassment under an applicable law in any jurisdiction where it operates.
