About the position
Background:
- Wits Health Consortium (Pty) Ltd (WHC) is a wholly owned company of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg - Established in 1998
- WHC provides the operational and administrative platform through which the Faculty of Health Sciences conducts research, manages grant and donor-funded initiatives, supports clinical trials, and advances innovation in health sciences
- WHC delivers integrated shared services, including Grant Management, HR, Finance, Legal Compliance, and quality assurance, enabling researchers and divisions to run complex, multi-stakeholder projects effectively
- WHC works with University leadership, Academic faculties, Researchers, Donors, Sponsors, and International funding bodies
Main purpose of the job:
- The CEO provides strategic and operational leadership across the organisation’s financial, compliance, risk management, grants management, and legal functions, with overall responsibility for ensuring financial sustainability
- The role ensures sound financial governance, regulatory compliance, effective risk management, appropriate legal oversight, and supports organisational resilience
Location:
Key performance areas:
- Provides executive leadership across financial management, compliance, risk management, grants management, and legal oversight, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives
- Holds overall accountability for financial sustainability and the effective stewardship of organisational resources
- Ensures robust financial governance through regulatory compliance, sound internal controls, and proactive risk management
- Oversees the development and consistent application of finance policies, procedures, and governance frameworks
- Provides executive oversight of donor and grant funding to ensure compliant use of funds and accurate financial reporting
- Ensures effective organisational risk management and compliance oversight
- Provides executive oversight of audit processes, including internal, external, and donor audits, ensuring readiness, timely resolution of findings, and strengthened assurance outcomes
- Ensures business continuity and organisational resilience for finance related functions, including continuity planning, disaster recovery oversight, and post incident review and improvement
- Provides executive legal and contractual oversight, ensuring legally sound agreements and fulfilment of fiduciary responsibilities
- Leads and manages senior finance leadership to ensure performance, ethical conduct, accountability, and succession readiness
Required minimum education and training:
- Chartered Accountant (CA(SA)) qualification
- A Master’s Degree in business administration or leadership will be advantageous
Required minimum work experience:
- Minimum of 10 years' post qualification experience in financial management (Preferably with some experience in a donor funded environment)
- At least 5 years' experience at senior or executive management level
Required leadership competencies:
- Integrity and Accountability: Demonstrates a strong ethical compass, transparency, and responsible leadership in all decision-making processes
- Strategic Leadership and Decision-Making: Demonstrates the ability to set long-term direction, translate strategy into operational plans, and support Executive and Board decision-making through sound judgement and analysis
- Financial Stewardship and Accountability: Takes full accountability for financial sustainability, responsible use of resources, and the long-term financial health of the organisation
- Governance, Compliance and Ethical Leadership: Leads with integrity, ensuring adherence to regulatory, statutory, donor, and governance requirements, and promoting a strong culture of ethical conduct
- Risk Awareness and Management: Proactively identifies, assesses, and mitigates financial, legal, and operational risks to protect the organisation and support resilience
- Grant and Donor Relationship Management: Exercises executive oversight of donor-funded portfolios, ensuring compliant financial management while maintaining credibility, trust, and confidence with funders
- Legal and Contractual Judgement: Applies sound judgement in contractual and legal matters, ensuring agreements are legally sound, aligned with delegated authority, and appropriately manage organisational risk
- People Leadership and Talent Development: Provides strong leadership to senior managers, setting clear expectations, managing performance, building leadership capability, and ensuring succession readiness
- Stakeholder Engagement and Executive Presence: Engages effectively with Executive Management, the Board, Auditors, Donors, and External stakeholders, communicating clearly and exercising influence at senior level
TO APPLY:
- Only if you meet the minimum job requirements and experience as mentioned above, you may submit a detailed updated CV plus a cover letter (One pager) that clearly states why you are applying as well as a Certified copy of ID (within the last 3 months)
- Note: Candidates will be subject to criminal clearance, verification of qualifications, credit and reference checks
- Please Apply Online and complete your registration via our website to enable and protect you as a candidate, and to accept the new POPIA terms and conditions
- This will then create your permanent profile with which you can apply for all jobs as advertised by AJ PERSONNEL
- However, you may remove your profile from AJ PERSONNEL when you are no longer in the job market
- Please take note that the applicants who do not adhere to the above criteria will not be considered for the respective position
- Wits Health Consortium will only respond to shortlisted candidates
- Candidates who have not been contacted within two weeks of the closing date can consider their applications to be unsuccessful
- Closing date: 30 April 2026
- Note: No CV will be accepted after the closing date
Please note:
- WHC, in accordance with its Employment Equity goals and plan, will give preference to suitable applicants from designated groups as defined in the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 and subsequent amendments thereto
- AJ Personnel is only responsible for advertising and the response handling on behalf of their client Wits Health Consortium
- AJ Personnel does not have any salary or other information regarding the position
Desired Skills:
- CFO
- Chief Financial Officer
- CA
- Chartered Accountant
- Master;s Degree
- Business Management
- Executive financial management
Employer & Job Benefits:
- Medical Aid and Pension Fund and Executive Incentives
