Senior Finance Specialist
Company: WorldFish
Role summary
Senior Finance Specialist is a contract role at WorldFish in George Town, Penang, Malaysia (on-site). Posted 2026-09-02. Experience level: 5-10.
- Job title
- Senior Finance Specialist
- Company
- WorldFish
- Location
- George Town, Penang, Malaysia
- Work arrangement
- on-site
- Employment type
- contract
- Category
- Software Engineering
- Experience level
- 5-10
- Date posted
- 2026-09-02
Here's a fantastic opportunity to join WorldFish as a Senior Finance Specialist on a contract basis. This role offers a competitive salary and the chance to contribute significantly to global research and conservation efforts. It's a great step for experienced finance professionals looking for impactful work.
Job description
About WorldFish
WorldFish is an international research organization working to transform aquatic food systems to reduce hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. It collaborates with international, regional, and national partners to co-develop and deliver scientific innovations, evidence for policy and knowledge to enable equitable and inclusive impact for millions who depend on fish and other aquatic foods for their livelihoods and nutrition. Our work in countries advances progress on multiple 2030 Sustainable Development Goals through science and innovation, with a vision of healthy people, healthy planet and shared prosperity.
About the Position
Under the close guidance of the Budgeting and Reporting Manager the Senior Finance Specialist is responsible for assessing and overseeing financial operations across multiple countries and portfolios, ensuring compliance with internal controls, donor guidelines, and full cost recovery principles. The role involves mentoring finance teams, advising on financial risks and reporting, and coordinating with stakeholders to strengthen systems, resolve anomalies, and improve financial processes from proposal to audit. The Senior Finance Specialist executes core financial activities, monitors ERP data accuracy, and prepares reports that inform strategic decisions.
Key Responsibilities
Main Purpose of Job:
Assess the financial operations across the organization including analysis, accounting and reporting on full cost recovery and investments for further improvements.
Monitor financial systems and reports on unusual activities and transactions and investigate anomalies as needed.
Review and/or verify financial transactions/activities, recording/reporting system and work with finance teams on suggestions for amendments.
Monitor expenditures to ensure compliance with financial policies and alignment with approved budgets, providing timely financial insights to relevant stakeholders.
Verify accurate and complete reporting of financial transactions by teams in accordance with the internal control mechanism.
Lead and manage the planning, coordination and delivery of budgeting, forecasting, financial planning, and reporting activities.
Main engagement, collaboration and communication responsibilities:
Mentor finance team members across multiple offices or portfolios, ensuring efficiency and quality of work.
Act as specialist for project leads and finance management team on finance-related challenges, alignment needs and reporting.
Ensure timely and accurate resolution of queries to avoid delays and ensure compliance.
Collaborate with other finance teams to align services.
Build strong collaborative relationships across the organization to understand business operations and cost drivers, and leverage theses insights to develop fit-for-purpose cost structures, support resource allocation decisions, and enhance financial planning, analysis, and reporting.
Main responsibilities in the delivery of timely and quality services:
Ensure timely execution of financial management processes including budgeting, forecasting, cost recovery analysts and month end reporting.
Monitor the accurate recording of financial data in the ERP system.
Deliver regular finance reports and updates to ensure compliance.
Provide guidance and support to stakeholders on WorldFish's cost structure, cost allocation methodologies, and financial management frameworks to promote consistent application across the organization.
This job might be for you if you have the below skills and qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration or another relevant field.
Partial qualification of a recognized professional accounting certification (e.g., CPA).
Master’s degree is in Finance, Business Administration (MBA) or related field is preferred.
Fluency in English is essential to communicate in writing and speaking.
Desirable Skills/Experience
Experience overseeing processes in accounting, budgeting or related field or some experience in analyzing and reporting on finance data and developing financial systems.
Experience overseeing financial operations across multiple accounts, programs, and regions, ensuring adherence to full cost recovery principles and donor regulations.
Extensive experience with accounting and finance systems.
Experience with financial compliance requirements.
Experience mentoring finance staff, providing technical guidance to project leads, and ensuring consistency in financial management practices across offices.
Experience refining financial workflows, resolving complex queries, enforcing compliance standards, and aligning services across finance teams and external partners.
Experience working in an international non-profit organization is an advantage.
·Experience working with donor funded programs is an advantage.
Key Competencies Required
Core competencies
Accountability: Takes ownership of work, showing initiative in problem-solving and decision-making. Stands firm on ethical issues, even when faced with challenges.
Collaboration and Communication: Communicates clearly, articulating thoughts in a straightforward manner while interpreting nonverbal cues to enhance responses and foster productive interactions. Actively participates, seeks and listens to others’ perspective. Demonstrates a willingness to learn from others and welcomes constructive feedback to improve personal and team performance.
Respect and Inclusion: Promotes and advocates for respect and inclusion within team, program or organization. Actively seeks incorporates diverse ideas and experiences into decision making.
Results and Impact Orientation: Establishes clear standards of excellence to achieve results, aligns individual and team goals with organizational objectives. Uses data and metrics to assess, monitor, and improve performance. Identifies improvement opportunities by evaluating and applying emerging technologie