Manager*in Finance & Admin Lead

As a Finance & Admin Lead you will be responsible for building and continuously improving YSI’s finance, operations, legal and impact investment functional area to ensure long-term financial sustainability, transparency, and readiness for growth.

You will act as a proactive builder, not just an executor, as you will co-create the strategy, develop tools and processes, identify what is missing, propose solutions, and roll them out.

1. Drive the development of finance, admin, and impact investment systems including key tools, templates, and governance processes.
2. Co-create a functional strategy and roadmap for your domain, with the support of the Executive Team.
3. Evolve our finance and operations model to improve visibility, project profitability, and compliance.
4. Act as a subject matter expert for internal teams and external partners.
5. Contribute to YSI’s intellectual property by shaping scalable tools, repeatable methodologies, and insights that support consulting and program delivery.

General Conditions

1. Location: Preferably Berlin or in Germany. Remote work from France, or Spain is possible for the right candidate, with occasional travel required for team meetings and retreats. Please note: we are unable to sponsor visa applications.
2. Contract type: Full-time (100%) or 80% employment.
3. Start date: January 2026.
4. Travel: limited project-based or team meeting travel

Scope of Responsibilities

We seek your support in the following key areas:

1. Finance Operations (40% of time): Lead the day-to-day finance and admin operations, including:

1. Managing invoices through our MOCO system;
2. Executing payments through our bank;
3. Coordinating monthly closings with our external accountant;
4. Creating monthly budget tracking and forecasts for presentation to the co-CEOs;
5. Managing cash flow and short-term treasury placements;
6. Creating visibility on project profitability and financial performance;
7. Continuously improving processes and policies for greater efficiency and relevance to the team’s work (e.g. travel expense tracking, credit card use, cost allocation).

2. HR, Admin & Legal (20% of time):

1. Lead the HR and administrative operations, including:
2. Managing employment and freelancer contracts, HR documentation, and related processes;
3. Maintaining governance documents, shareholder agreements, and coordinating updates with the notary and Handelsregister;
4. Preparing and supporting external reviews such as audits, compliance checks, or KYC processes, in coordination with our legal and tax advisors.

3. Impact Investment & Hybrid models (20% of time)

1. Design and select impact investment mechanisms (e.g. outcomes-based instruments, returnable grants, blended finance) relevant to each program’s goals, ensuring social impact, financial sustainability, and compliance.
2. Define investment criteria, due diligence templates, governance frameworks, and approval processes.
3. Implement funding mechanisms across programs and countries, from structuring to disbursement.
4. Co-develop the strategy and potential business model for YSI’s impact investing practice, supporting long-term integration of our impact investment work in programs as part of the wider company’s business strategy and offering.

Mid-term Areas of Exploration, depending on the person’s profile and YSI’s evolving needs:

1. Support to social enterprises: provide financial and fundraising guidance to selected SEs within our programs, helping them strengthen their business models and investment readiness.
2. Legal & structural development: contribute to YSI’s long-term legal engineering: assessing and evolving our legal framework to enable both consulting revenues and grant-based funding, while ensuring full compliance, flexibility for partnerships, and alignment with our social mission. This may include exploring hybrid structures (e.g. GmbH + gGmbH or other vehicles).

We envision this role evolving into a Finance Director over time. In that capacity, you could build the function as a service offering across YSI programs and ventures, co-owning P&L and revenue goals for your function.

Your Profile

You love building smart processes and seeing them work. You’re curious, proactive, and not afraid to test new tools, even better if AI is involved. You can switch easily from talking to a tax accountant to helping a teammate who’s lost in Excel, making finance feel simple and useful.

You have a builder mindset: structured, hands-on, and accountable. You move comfortably between strategy and execution, and you thrive in a multicultural, purpose-driven team that believes finance can serve social innovation.

Your Experience & Skills

1. 5–10 years of experience in finance and administration, combining strategic oversight with hands-on execution.
2. Background in consulting or professional services (multi-project management, time tracking, client billing), or running finance and admin operations for a small, fast-growing organization.
3. Exposure to impact investing, philanthropy, or hybrid business models, understanding basic venture investment mechanisms
4. Knowledge of German accounting and tax frameworks is a plus ; experience with a GmbH structure is a strong plus.
5. Skilled in coordinating external accountants, tax advisors, and legal counsel.
6. Proven ability to simplify and improve processes, whether through dashboards, reporting tools, or smart automation.
7. Fluent in English and German

1. Impact: Working with YSI means being part of an impact-first organisation where every project contributes to a larger mission. You'll have the opportunity to explore the dynamic space of social innovation, empowering both social entrepreneurs and corporate intrapreneurs to turn business into a force for good.
2. Value-driven culture: We cherish and nurture our value-driven culture. We put our people first and create moments for everyone to connect and reflect.
3. Personal Growth: We are proud to work as part of a brilliant team of individuals with diverse backgrounds and bold future aspirations.
4. Exposure: We’re part of a vast global ecosystem that guarantees on-the-job growth, exposure to some of the largest brands globally and, most importantly, to inspiring changemakers.
5. Life fit: We thrive to create a truthful work-life balance for everyone in our team. We are open to adjusting the ways of working and roles to cater to new life phases and challenges as they come so that the job supports our lives - not the other way around.
6. Fair and competitive compensation with benefits that support your personal growth and health