**Overview**
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) is seeking a Chief Financial Officer. This role involves providing strategic financial leadership and safeguarding NSFAS resources, ensuring sustainable funding, sound governance, effective controls, and accurate reporting. The CFO will advise the Chief Executive Officer, Board, and oversight authorities on financial sustainability, risk, and performance, while ensuring compliance with financial management legislation, policies, and regulations.
**What you will do**
Key responsibilities include:
* Developing and executing an integrated financial strategy aligned with the NSFAS mandate, ministerial priorities, and approved plans.
* Leading medium- and long-term modeling for bursaries, loans, administration costs, and recoveries, and advising on affordability, funding gaps, emerging liabilities, and corrective action.
* Providing financial oversight across the student funding value chain, from allocation and commitment to disbursement, institutional settlement, reconciliation, reporting, and close-out.
* Overseeing loan accounting, collections, recoveries, impairment methodology, and portfolio performance.
* Leading annual and medium-term budgeting, cash-flow planning, banking, investments, working capital, and liquidity management.
* Ensuring allocations are aligned with policy, enrolment assumptions, operational capacity, and Treasury requirements.
* Ensuring complete, accurate, and timely monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting in accordance with GRAP and applicable frameworks.
* Maintaining audit-ready records, leading year-end close, and driving sustainable resolution of internal and external audit findings.
* Supporting the Board as accounting authority and the CEO in discharging financial-management responsibilities under the PFMA, Treasury Regulations, and the NSFAS Act.
* Ensuring financial risks, control breaches, and irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure are detected, assessed, reported, and remediated.
* Providing executive oversight of procurement planning, contract financial controls, supplier payment, and value-for-money analysis.
* Promoting procurement that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive, and cost-effective.
* Owning the integrity of financial master data, interfaces, reconciliations, and reporting across student funding, institutional, banking, procurement, and general-ledger systems.
* Leading standardisation, automation, analytics, and system modernisation.
* Building a capable, ethical, and performance-driven finance function.
* Providing decision-ready reports to executive and governance structures.
* Managing relationships with DHET, National Treasury, Auditor-General South Africa, institutions, funders, banks, the National Credit Regulator, and other relevant parties.
* Developing reports on the Finance value chain practices to the Office of the CEO, Board Committee, and the Board.
* Submitting policies for review and adoption.
* Reporting on audit and risk issues identified in Finance and controls put in place.
**Requirements (from the original advert)**
* NQF Level 8 qualification in a relevant field.
* Chartered Accountant (South Africa) designation, with current SAICA membership in good standing.
* 10 years’ experience managing the Finance division/unit of a large-scale entity responsible for financial strategy, budgeting, treasury, reporting, supply chain management, audit, internal controls, and enterprise financial systems.
* 5 years as a Chief Financial Officer or equivalent in a large, complex, or regulated organisation.
* Strong public-sector or public-entity experience, with practical knowledge of the PFMA, Treasury Regulations, GRAP, governance requirements, and audit remediation.
**Who should apply**
The ideal candidate is expected to demonstrate strategic and visionary leadership, operational excellence, and strong business acumen. They should possess sound judgement, decision-making, and problem-solving abilities, coupled with effective people leadership and performance management skills. Financial and resource management expertise is crucial, alongside strong stakeholder engagement, influence, and negotiation capabilities. The successful candidate will be data-driven, capable of performance oversight, and exhibit innovation, adaptability, and change leadership, supported by high emotional intelligence and strong interpersonal effectiveness. Preference may be given to candidates with an NQF Level 9 qualification in a relevant field, 15 years’ experience managing a large-scale Finance division/unit, and 10 years as a Chief Financial Officer or equivalent in a large, complex, or regulated organisation.
**Deadline**
Not specified
**Reference**
Original posting: https://www.myjobmag.co.za/job/chief-financial-officer-the-national-student-financial-aid-scheme
Source: myjobmag
Summary drafted with AI assistance from the original advert. The advert itself is the authority — how we use AI.
At a glance
At least 3 years of experience.
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Job description
POSITION OVERVIEW:
* Reporting to the NSFAS Board, the Chief Executive Officer provides ethical, strategic and operational leadership to ensure effective delivery of the NSFAS mandate. The CEO is accountable for institutional performance, sound governance, financial sustainability, regulatory compliance, organisational transformation and reliable, student-centred services.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
Strategic leadership and delivery of the mandate
* Translate the NSFAS mandate and Board-approved strategy into funded plans, effective operations and measurable results, with timely reporting on performance, risks and corrective action.
Governance, risk, compliance and accountability
* Ensure ethical governance, effective risk management, internal controls and compliance with the PFMA, applicable legislation, King IV and Treasury requirements, with prompt resolution of audit findings
Financial stewardship and operational performance
* As accounting officer, ensure sound budgeting, financial sustainability, transparent use of resources, efficient operations and effective procurement and control systems.
Student-centred funding and beneficiary success
* Ensure timely, reliable funding and beneficiary services, working with institutions and stakeholders to improve student access, progression, completion and post-study outcomes.
Digital transformation, data and innovation
* Lead digital transformation, systems integration, data governance, cybersecurity and responsible analytics to improve controls, turnaround times and beneficiary experience.
Institutional turnaround, people and culture
* Lead institutional turnaround, business continuity and a high-performance, ethical culture through strong executive leadership, accountability and succession planning.
Stakeholder engagement and public trust
* Build trusted relationships with government, institutions, oversight bodies, student organisations and the public through credible representation and transparent, evidence-based communication.
Resource mobilisation and strategic partnerships
* Mobilise complementary funding through strategic partnerships, donors and development finance institutions, and report outcomes to the Board
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Develop, monitor, improve and measure governance, risk and compliance practices
* Create a fit for purpose organisational structure
* Oversee the overall organisational policy development
* Document, communicate and manage related policies
* Assess, audit and improve risk, compliance and governance practices
* Identify key controls and establish risk mitigation procedures
* Improve forensic practices
* Improve organisational Governance, Risk and Compliance awareness and provide value adding services
* Improve organisational values
* Identify, assess and prioritize risk
* Report on risks
* Remain current and stay abreast on risk, compliance and governance requirements
* Monitor and lead the implementation of the organisational audit plan.
Formulate organisational policies and strategies relating to best practice
* Research, draft and implement appropriate organisational strategies, policies and procedures in relation to NSFAS’ environment.
* Act as a strategic partner by engaging with stakeholders to achieve strategic objectives
* Incorporate relevant legislation into NSFAS’ strategy
* Develop the Annual Performance Plan for NSFAS
* Analyse and make recommendations on the impact of long-range growth initiatives, planning, and introduction of new strategies and regulatory actions
* Provide strategic direction for the whole organisation.
Implement the NSFAS mandate and strategic vision of the Board.
* Implement the NSFAS mandate NSFAS-wide
* Ensure the achievement of NSFAS mandate
* Implement the strategic vision of the Board NSFAS-wide.
Formulate, implement, and monitor the organisational operational plan and budget
* Develop the business plan for NSFAS
* Develop the budget for NSFAS
* Conduct weekly executive meetings and produce an executive report on the progress made in terms of operational plans
* Provide feedback to executives in terms of deliverables and outcomes in one-on-one meetings.
* Manage strategic risks with the Business Units
Manage the budget and delivery of APP
* Identify and supply resources required to deliver the APP
* Develop a business budget in line with departmental objectives
* Comply with internal policies in all budget-related activities
* Oversee all operations and business activities related to the achievement of the APP
* Evaluate NSFAS’ financial, operational, and sales and marketing structures to plan for continual improvements and a continual increase of operating efficiencies
Manage stakeholder relationships
* Lead the strategic positioning of NSFAS and promote the organisation with internal and external stakeholders
* Manage and influence relationships and service level agreements made with internal and external stakeholders
* Develop, implement, and maintain a stakeholder engagement plan
* Communicate effectively and establish credibility throughout NSFAS
* Communicate effectively with the Board as an effective developer or solutions to business challenges.
Compliance Monitoring & Evaluation
* Support risk plan and mitigations, compliance standards and audit plan and implementation of the Committee Secretariat function is within the EE Act and legislation
* Maintain the governance register
* To monitor compliance by adhering to applicable laws and regulations, committee decisions and resolutions.
Perform functions as per the NSFAS Act.
* Manage and administer the affairs of the NSFAS under the authority of the board
* Perform the functions determined by the Board
* Supervise the employees of NSFAS; and
* Account for the assets and liabilities of NSFAS
Perform accounting officer responsibilities as per the PFMA Act.
* Perform all responsibilities as per the accounting officer responsibilities set out in the Public Finance Management Act, no 1 of 1999.
Board Committee reporting.
* Develop reports on the NSFAS value chain practices to the Board Committee and the Board.
* Submit policies for review and adoption
* Report on audit and risk issue identified in NSFAS and controls put in place.
Lead Digital Transformation and Innovation
* Develop and monitor implementation of the digital transformation roadmap
* Oversee automation of funding disbursement, compliance tracking, and customer service systems
* Drive adoption of data and AI-enabled service delivery tools
Drive Organisational Turnaround and Cultural Transformation
* Implement and track turnaround plan milestones
* Lead institutional culture change aligned with values of accountability, service, and ethics
* Establish a crisis management and recovery protocol
Restore Public Trust and Institutional Reputation
* Proactive media and public engagement
* Transparent reporting and citizen engagement strategies
* Stakeholder trust index or sentiment analysis
Institutional Accountability, Ethics, and Clean Governance
* Oversee internal controls and compliance with King IV and PFMA
* Monitor consequence management and whistleblower channels
* Report quarterly to Board and AGSA
Resource Mobilisation and Strategic Fundraising
* Identify and secure alternative funding streams to supplement government allocations
* Develop and implement a resource mobilisation strategy targeting public-private partnerships, donor organisations, and impact investors
* Strengthen relationships with strategic funding stakeholders, including National Treasury, SETAs, and development finance institutions
* Integrate fundraising targets into the annual performance plan (APP)
Student Retention, Throughput, and Graduate Outcomes
* Develop and implement strategies to improve student retention and graduation rates among NSFAS beneficiaries
* Collaborate with higher education institutions to track academic performance and provide early warning support
* Oversee development of wraparound student support models (e.g. mentorship, digital inclusion, psychosocial services)
* Monitor and report on NSFAS-linked graduate employability outcome
DESIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
Minimum requirements:
* NQF Level 8 qualification in Business Management, Finance, Public Administration or a related field;
* 10 years of working experience within a large-scale entity.
* 5 years at Executive level in a large, complex or regulated organisation.
* Strong stakeholder-management experience;
* Experience in public-private partnerships, strategic donor engagement or intergovernmental relations.
* Familiarity with integrated performance-management systems, balanced scorecards and impact-measurement tools.
* Experience engaging with public-trust institutions or entities operating under significant public scrutiny.
Preferred
* NQF Level 9 qualification Business Management, Finance, Public Administration or a related field;
* 10 years at Executive level in a large, complex or regulated organisation.
* Professional registration in their respective SAQA accredited body.
Leadership Competencies
* Strategic and visionary leadership
* Operational excellence and business acumen
* Sound judgement, decision-making and problem-solving
* People leadership and performance management
* Financial and resource management
* Stakeholder engagement, influence and negotiation
* Data-driven analysis and performance oversight
* Innovation, adaptability and change leadership
* Emotional intelligence and strong interpersonal effectiveness
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