Who We Are
At EarthEnable, we believe that our clients deserve our very best, that work should be fun, and that the best ideas could come from any part of the company. We celebrate each other’s wins, learn from our setbacks, and are deeply proud of the impact we make every day. We believe a home that doesn’t make you sick means more than living disease-free. It means pride and dignity in the place our customers most treasure: their homes. Being a part of our team means more than building housing products: it means building an organization and building a better future for rural families.
What We Do
EarthEnable is transforming the way people live, by making homes healthier for families across rural Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya. 80% of Rwandans live in homes with dirt floors which are dusty, unsanitary, and fertile breeding grounds for parasites and germs. While replacing a dirt floor with concrete has significant health benefits (e.g. reducing diarrhea by 50% and parasitic infections by 80%), concrete is unaffordable for many who need it, and is also responsible for 8% of global carbon emissions.
EarthEnable addresses this pressing and ubiquitous problem by selling high-quality, earthen housing products like our flagship floor that is 80% cheaper than concrete with 90% less embedded energy. Earthen floors, plasters, and blocks are composed of natural materials (gravel, clay, sand, and laterite) and sealed with a proprietary drying oil that makes them waterproof, strong, and polished. In our first decade of operations, EarthEnable has installed ~60,000 products for over 300,000 individuals and created livelihoods for over 1,300 people. See our new product – a full house – here!
About the Role
We are seeking a highly capable and detail-oriented Group Controller to lead EarthEnable’s accounting, financial controls, and compliance across multiple countries and entities. This is a critical leadership role responsible for ensuring financial accuracy, integrity, and discipline as EarthEnable continues to scale.
The Group Controller will oversee day-to-day accounting operations, statutory reporting, audits, and internal controls for the US parent entity and its operating subsidiaries in East Africa. This role works closely with the CEO, senior leadership, and country finance teams to ensure that high-quality financial information supports strong decision-making and donor, investor, and regulator confidence.
Key Responsibilities
- Group Accounting & Financial Close
- Own the monthly, quarterly, and annual close process across all EarthEnable entities.
- Ensure timely, accurate, and consistent financial statements at both entity and consolidated group levels.
- Oversee intercompany accounting, eliminations, and reconciliations.
- Maintain a clear and well-documented chart of accounts and accounting policies.
- Controls, Compliance & Audit
- Design, implement, and continuously improve internal controls appropriate for a growing, multi-country organization.
- Ensure compliance with local statutory requirements in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and the US nonprofit parent.
- Lead external audits, donor audits, and regulatory reviews from preparation through final sign-off.
- Oversee tax compliance, including VAT, payroll taxes, withholding taxes, and statutory filings.
- Systems, Processes & Documentation
- Strengthen accounting systems, workflows, and documentation to reduce errors and improve efficiency.
- Partner with FP&A, operations, and technology teams to ensure clean data flows from source systems into accounting.
- Drive standardization of accounting processes across countries while respecting local requirements.
- Improve documentation of accounting judgments, estimates, and policies.
- Team Leadership & Capacity Building
- Manage, coach, and develop country finance managers and accountants.
- Build a culture of ownership, accuracy, and continuous improvement within the finance team.
- Provide clear expectations, feedback, and support to help team members grow in responsibility and confidence.
- Strategic Finance Support
- Partner with the CEO and FP&A team to translate financial results into clear insights.
- Support strategic initiatives such as new product launches, geographic expansion, and financing structures.
- Ensure accounting implications of new programs, grants, loans, or partnerships are well understood upfront.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of progressive experience in accounting, audit, or controllership roles, ideally in a multi-entity or multi-country environment.
- Strong grounding in accounting principles and financial controls; professional qualification (CPA, ACCA, or equivalent) necessary.
- Hands-on experience with month-end close, audits, and statutory reporting.
- Strong Excel skills and comfort working with accounting systems and imperfect data.
- Experience in nonprofits, social enterprises, or donor-funded organizations is a plus.
- Passionate about EarthEnable’s mission and excited by the challenges of building systems in a fast-growing organization.
- Aligned with our values:
- Lead with love
- Do your best and never give up
- Embody fairness and integrity
- Work as one, work with joy
- Extremely detail-oriented while still able to see the big picture.
- Calm, structured, and reliable under pressure and deadlines.
- Strong judgment and integrity, with the confidence to raise issues early.
- Practical problem-solver who can work with “good enough” systems while steadily improving them.
- Collaborative, humble, and patient, with a sense of humor about building order in a sometimes janky environment.
