Strategic Finance Analyst

About the role

This role is built for someone who has thrived under the pressure of building financial models that directly influence major corporate decisions. You will own the construction and maintenance of the company's Long-Range Plan, creating base, stretch, and upside/downside scenarios that define the strategic direction of the business. The position requires you to translate complex operational drivers into rigorous financial statements, ensuring every line item is defensible and auditable. You will partner directly with the Head of Strategic Finance to develop market entry business cases that are used by the CEO and board to approve billions of dollars in credit. Your work will determine how the company structures its distribution costs and unit economics as it scales toward ten million customers. You will be responsible for special project modelling, including funding analyses and new product rollouts, that support the company's rapid expansion across Africa. This role demands the technical rigor of investment banking while offering the autonomy to shape the architecture of a growing business. You will own the narrative behind the numbers, ensuring that your models clearly communicate risk and opportunity to non-financial stakeholders.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Architect and maintain the enterprise Long-Range Plan, developing multiple scenarios with detailed assumptions documentation and clear linkage to operational drivers.
• Build audit-ready financial models from a blank sheet for special projects such as market entry analysis, distribution cost structures, and funding scenarios.
• Lead the translation of business strategy into financial statements, ensuring balance sheet, income, and cash flow statements tie out accurately under tight deadlines.
• Partner with commercial and operations teams to gather inputs, challenge assumptions, and translate real-world drivers into coherent financial models.
• Own the monthly and quarterly FP&A cycle, including budget versus actual variance analysis, performance commentary, and executive reporting packs.
• Act as the primary technical owner for model architecture, designing flexible structures that can adapt to new markets and products without complete rebuilds.
• Support the migration of planning processes into Anaplan, ensuring data integrity and scalability as the business expands across multiple countries.
• Develop and maintain documentation that allows other finance professionals to understand, challenge, and extend models long after you have moved on.
• Identify and resolve disconnects between strategic plans and financial outcomes, providing clear recommendations to leadership before decisions are made.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to the Head of Strategic Finance, translating board-level questions into actionable model insights within days rather than quarters.
• Proactively manage model risk by implementing robust checks, controls, and versioning practices that withstand audit and board scrutiny.
• Contribute to ad hoc analyses that inform board meetings, investor discussions, and major capital allocation decisions across the African footprint.
• Collaborate with data and analytics partners to improve the accuracy and timeliness of inputs used in financial planning and forecasting.
• Continuously challenge your own models and assumptions, seeking simpler, more robust structures that perform under stress and uncertainty.

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience building complex, three-statement models from scratch under deadline pressure, ideally from an investment banking, transaction services, or similarly rigorous modelling background.
• A genuine fluency in how operational drivers flow through to financial statements, understanding why each line item moves and how changes propagate through the model.
• Relentless attention to detail paired with the communication skill to defend your assumptions and explain your logic to someone who has never opened the model.
• Proven ability to work effectively in ambiguous environments, gathering and structuring information from incomplete data sets against immovable deadlines.
• Strong academic background with a quantitative degree or equivalent practical experience in finance, economics, or a related technical field.
• At least three years of progressive experience in financial modelling, strategy analysis, or a technically demanding finance role in a fast-paced environment.
• Comfort working with stakeholders across geographies and functions, including senior executives, operators, and technical teams.
• Fluency in English is required to communicate clearly with global leadership and stakeholders.
• Willingness to work from South Africa, understanding that travel within the region may be required to support business needs.
• Eligibility to work in South Africa without sponsorship is essential for this role.

Nice to have

• Experience with Anaplan or other modern planning platforms, enabling you to bridge the gap between detailed modelling and enterprise planning systems.
• Prior exposure to fintech, lending, or consumer credit, providing context for the specific risks and dynamics of financial services businesses.
• Experience working across multi-currency, multi-entity African business environments, understanding the nuances of different markets and reporting standards.

Practical notes

This role is full-time and based in South Africa, with potential for regional travel to support business objectives. There is no visa sponsorship available for this position, so candidates must be eligible to work in the country without sponsorship. The successful candidate will engage with executive leadership from the outset, operating at a pace that matches the growth and ambition of a scaling business.