Finance Assistant | Project Coordinator | Virtual Assistant

Who we are:

MSA is a socially-driven global consulting firm. We provide innovative solutions for the private sector, government and civil society to improve, measure, and communicate the economic and social impacts of their investments. We believe market dynamics have a strong impact on how people live their lives. Our vision is to improve economic systems in order to reduce poverty. We recognize complexity and as such, use a systems approach to design solutions that work within dynamic environments. We work collaboratively with our clients, serving as brokers of creativity to help catalyze systemic change.

We provide services for clients around action research, monitoring, strategic advisory, evaluation and thought leadership across five topic areas: market systems development, jobs and trade, economic empowerment, financial inclusion and impact investing.

Since 2009 we have worked with a wide variety of clients and partners in dozens of countries across six continents.


Our work:

At MSA, our staff build results measurement systems for development programs, social enterprises and impact investors; research power dynamics and their influence on market behaviors; train client staff to think more systemically about the problems they seek to address; pitch MSA’s services to new potential clients; write thought pieces; and brainstorm new approaches to old problems. Regardless of task, our focus on disrupting the status quo demands critical engagement.


Who we want:

MSA seeks a driven professional with exceptional budgeting skills and ideally some business development (sales) experience to join the team in the position of Finance Assistant / Project Coordinator, based remotely.

MSA is growing – this opportunity offers significant potential for the successful candidate to grow with us, assuming progressively greater responsibility with MSA.


The nature of the role:

This could be either a full-time position or a flexible part-time that will report to MSA’s Chief Growth Officer. This position will be virtual. MSA's headquarters are in Colorado, USA, which is 14-15 hours behind the ---------- order to enable close collaboration with the rest of the team, the successful candidate’s workday will overlap with the working hours of our executive team in Colorado (ideally from within 7am – 3pm MT; 10pm – 6am Philippines). You would be joining several colleagues who are already based in the Philippines.


We are looking for someone who finds fulfillment in:

› Being reliable - You under-promise and over-deliver. We always know we can count on you when you are responsible for a task to get it done on time and correctly.
› Having exceptional attention to detail – You are detail oriented and double and triple check budgets, documents, and emails before they go out to ensure that there are no errors. This is key to success in this role.
› Solving problems efficiently – We are always looking for a better way to do things and welcome new ideas for finding efficiencies, either by eliminating an unnecessary task or improving an existing process.
› Having exceptional organizational skills - MSA is all about efficiency. You should always question our processes and systems and think critically to come up with improvements.
› Executing - You thrive on checking things off your to do list.
› Being a collaborator – You bring a positive, solutions focused attitude to work every day. This means that you reflect our values and share your positivity with your colleagues.
› Being flexible – Your tasks will change as priorities often shift and there will never be a standard daily to do list - being adaptable is a necessity.
› Engaging interpersonal skills – you are an enthusiastic team builder with great people-sense. You will be comfortable engaging with and building relationships with tea ---------- mbers, clients, vendors and other stakeholders.
› Managing yourself – This means you can discern the top priorities from among various short-term and long-term tasks and stay focused on those. Others don’t need to follow-up with you – you are on top of your tasks and proactively update your colleagues on the status of priorities and flagging areas where input is required.
› Most of all you bring a positive, can-do attitude. MSA’s tea ---------- mbers work hard and play hard; we want our colleagues to share in our successes and celebrations.


Requirements:
› Experience developing, finalizing and updating budgets
› Excellent knowledge and experience using Microsoft Excel (including developing and checking formulas)
› Exceptional organizational skills›
› Exceptional coordination and project management skills, including workplan development and oversight
› Excellent written and oral communication skills
› Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to work and build relationships with tea ---------- mbers and clients from diverse backgrounds
› Minimum Bachelor’s degree

Other desired characteristics:
› Experience working with a consulting company and understanding how a consulting company wins new work
› Familiarity with the process of developing proposals that respond to requests for proposals and tracking leads
› Experience with other finance & accounting tasks
› Experience in business development or sales
› Skill in conducting online research for market intelligence


Key Tasks:
› Cost Preparer (25%). Support the team on budget development for proposals by assuming the “Cost Preparer” role on proposals, which includes:
ø Gather, update as necessary and submit MSA’s mandatory contractual documents
ø Draft budgets (including budget notes) and budget narratives

› Budget overseer (15%). Support the team on the oversight of budgets, budget realignments, tracking metrics, etc.

› Business Development (BD) system coordination (20%). Ensuring the overall organization of the BD function at MSA and support the rest of the BD team, including:
ø Oversee MSA’s Bizdev email, ensuring that all emails that are received are moved to the BD task tracker. Monitor completion of those tasks.
ø Issue daily status updates on the status of high priority BD tasks, monitoring their completion.
ø Oversee the movement of every proposal through each stage in the BD process from vetting to live to submitted
ø Update MSA’s BD dashboard on a weekly basis
ø Oversee the monitoring of MSA’s BD spend relative to the internal proposal budget and prepare weekly and monthly reports on MSA’s BD efficiency.
ø Conduct periodic analyses of MSA’s overall BD performance to identify trends and assess where MSA’s performance can be improved.
ø Coordinate the booking of BD meetings for MSA’s tea ---------- mbers who are involved in conducting BD calls

› Proposal Coordinator (30%).
ø Complete proposal start-up and shut-down tasks.
ø Monitor the status of live bids that MSA is overseeing, ensuring that all the major steps are completed, internal review meetings are booked, etc.
ø Oversee recruitment for proposal-specific positions.
ø Ensure open and transparent communications across the proposal and wider MSA team where needed on proposal updates

› Pipeline tracking and capture planning (10%). Coordinate MSA’s opportunity vetting process, including:
ø Search weekly for updates on existing opportunities being tracked
ø Prepare for weekly pipeline meeting and circulate information in advance
ø Attend (virtually) the weekly pipeline meeting
ø Conduct follow-up tasks from weekly pipeline meeting


Application Details:

Deadline to apply is March 6, 2022. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

A) To apply, please submit your current CV, indicating the position title “Finance Assistant" in the subject line. Please address your submission to the "Director of Recruitment".
B) Please also include a cover letter (maximum one page) explaining your interest in this role and answering the following questions:

1) List the three things, in order of impact, that you would bring to MSA to take us to the next level.
2) Which of our values most resonates with you, and why? (refer to the MarketShare Associates website and find our values or through this url: ---------- )
3) What professional achievement are you most proud of that is relevant to this role?
4) What hours would you be available to work relative to Colorado's time zone?


**Applications that do not precisely follow the above requests will not be considered.**