Head of Finance and Compliance

Location: Remote - UK (strongly preferred) or India. Applicants must have the legal right to work in their location.

Reports to: CEO.

Direct report: Finance & Compliance Officer (India-based).

Start Date: As soon as possible.

Pay: £50k–£60k in the UK, with flexibility for exceptional candidates.

Application deadline: We will review applications on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. To ensure consideration, please submit your application by 26th July using this form.

About Suvita

Suvita is an impact-driven, evidence-based nonprofit focused on increasing uptake of routine childhood vaccinations in India. Over 4 million children born every year still miss their basic vaccinations in India, leading to far too many vaccine-preventable deaths. We run two rigorously tested, complementary programmes:

SMS reminders: We send personalised SMS messages to caregivers to prompt timely attendance for vaccinations at government clinics.
Immunisation ambassadors: We identify and train local influencers to volunteer as advocates for vaccination with families in their communities.

Since our founding in 2019:

We reach one in ten children born in India through our SMS vaccination reminders. In partnership with the governments of Bihar and Maharashtra, we’ve reached more than 6 million families with routine immunisation SMS reminders and more than 4 million pregnant women with antenatal care-related SMS reminders.
We’ve enrolled almost 15,000 community influencers as local ambassadors in districts in Bihar and Maharashtra.
GiveWell estimates that our SMS reminders increase vaccination rates by approximately 2 percentage points at a current cost of $0.40 per child reached in Maharashtra and $1.71 per child reached in Bihar. The immunization ambassadors programme increases vaccination rates by around 7 percentage points and costs $1 to $2 per child reached.
We are running learning sprints to test our immunisation ambassador model.
We have been incubated and funded by sector leaders like The/Nudge Foundation, Ambitious Impact (formerly Charity Entrepreneurship), Mulago Foundation, GiveWell, D-Prize, Founders Pledge and Schmidt Futures.
We have appeared in Vox, Giving What We Can and the 80,000 Hours Podcast.

About the role

This is a pivotal role at Suvita. As Head of Finance and Compliance, you will hold senior responsibility - second only to the CEO and Trustees - for the financial health and regulatory integrity of Suvita UK and our associated entities in India. You will line-manage the Finance & Compliance Officer (India-based), who handles day-to-day preparation and execution, while you provide review, sign-off, and strategic direction.

This is an especially exciting time to join Suvita because:

Your work will save lives. You’ll be part of an org with strong values and a mission-driven team focused on solving difficult problems in global health.
We are scaling rapidly - our SMS reminders now reach one in ten children born in India, and we are expanding into new districts and states.
You will report directly to the CEO and will provide vital inputs for strategic decision-making.
Suvita operates across multiple entities - a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) in the UK and as a project of Development Consortium in India - creating genuinely interesting multi-jurisdictional challenges.
You will have a genuine opportunity to shape how this function operates and evolves. For instance, you will:
- Support decisions around legal structuring in new geographies.
- Lead the work on multi-jurisdictional data compliance (UK + India).
- Prepare the organisation for the next level of scale, and ensure we continue to be financially robust and anticipate and manage risks as we scale.
- Lead the transition of the finance team from a support function to a partner in organisational decision-making.
- Improve the monitoring of the grants we make, and strengthen/automate existing processes.
You won’t walk into a mess - we have the basics in place, including monthly management accounting using accounting software, banking, cash and investment management, required legal policies, expense and payroll management processes, and full compliance with Charity Commission regulations, including clean audits for the past two years.

The role combines:

Strategic ownership - you hold final accountability (below the CEO and Trustees) for Suvita’s financial management and compliance across all entities.
Oversight and quality control - reviewing and approving work prepared by the Finance & Compliance Officer, including accounts, reports, budgets, and compliance filings, and jumping in where necessary.
Approval authority - authorising banking operations, vendor payments, and employee/contractor set-up for Suvita UK.
System building - contributing to the development and improvement of financial and legal policies, handbooks, and processes alongside your direct report.

Key Responsibilities

1. Financial Management & Reporting

Prepare the annual budget and present consolidated financial plans to the CEO.
Oversee bookkeeping and expense verification processes managed by the Finance & Compliance Officer.
Review monthly reconciliations and management accounts, monthly grantee reports, cash flow plans, and investment recommendations; provide sign-off and present reports to the CEO on a monthly basis and to the board on a quarterly basis.
Oversee payroll processing for our entities.
Approve banking operations and vendor payments; review and develop vendor selection processes and onboarding, and employee/contractor set-ups for Suvita UK.
Contribute to the development, maintenance, and automation of financial processes, systems, and the Finance Handbook.

2. Compliance & Regulatory Oversight

Hold accountability for all UK CIO compliance obligations, including Charity Commission annual returns, statutory accounts, and the annual audit.
Drive the development of Suvita’s Indian legal entity and review Indian entity compliance filings
Contribute to GDPR and CIO compliance, India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act compliance, and data governance frameworks.
Contribute to compliance with UK and Indian employment law.
Contribute to the development and maintenance of the Legal Handbook and legal processes and policies.

3. Grants & Donor Financial Management

Review financial inputs for grant applications and ensure budgets are accurately constructed.
Review incoming grant operations, grantor/grantee due diligence materials, and grants to partners.
Review donor grant reports prepared by the Finance & Compliance Officer before submission.
Ensure grant funds are correctly tracked against budget lines and grant conditions.

4. Programmatic Support

Review and deeply understand the impact objectives and operational flows of Suvita’s programmes, and how financial flows map to them.
Support the development and implementation of financial KPIs for our programmes
Provide inputs for financial optimisation and increased cost-effectiveness of our programmes

5. Governance & Board Support

Review and approve board meeting materials prepared by the Finance & Compliance Officer; present financial updates at Trustee meetings.
Develop and maintain the organisation's financial risk register and proactively identify emerging financial and compliance risks.
Review and approve financial updates for the Trustees’ Annual Report.
Act as the senior finance point of contact for Suvita’s Trustees.

6. Team Leadership

Line-manage the Finance & Compliance Officer (India-based): set clear priorities, review their outputs, provide regular feedback, and support their professional development.
Review and triage the shared finance and legal inbox, delegating tasks to the Finance & Compliance Officer as appropriate.
Build the capability and confidence of the finance function over time, as Suvita scales.

Who we're looking for:

Essential Experience:

Significant relevant finance work experience, including experience operating at a senior finance leadership level.
Experience reviewing or preparing management accounts, budgets, and financial reports for senior stakeholders or a board.
Experience holding or supporting compliance obligations for a UK registered charity.
Experience managing a direct report.
High attention to detail and ability to manage competing priorities with accuracy and dependability.

Strongly Preferred:

A professional accounting qualification (e.g. CA, ACCA, CIMA) or equivalent.
Experience in grant-funded organisations, including donor financial reporting and multi-funder budget management.
Experience working across multiple currencies and/or legal entities.
Comfort with financial process automation and tools (e.g. Airtable, Google Sheets, and Xero. Strong experience with Xero is preferred).
Experience in the international development or global health nonprofit sector.
Experience working at a startup or similar fast-paced organisation.
Familiarity with Indian nonprofit regulatory requirements (FCRA, 12AA, 80G, Section 8 company compliance, DPDP).

Personal Qualities:

You share Suvita’s values - mission-driven, evidence-based, impact-focused, and collaborative.
This is a high-trust role, requiring someone with high integrity and who is discreet with sensitive information.
Detail-oriented: You ensure a very high level of accuracy of our financial records and data.
Highly organised and conscientious: you don't drop balls and are highly dependable.
Excellent risk anticipation and risk management skills.
Excellent judgment and decision-making skills.
Clear communicator: able to translate financial and compliance information for non-finance audiences, including the CEO and Trustees.
Proactive systems thinker: you don’t just maintain what exists, you look for ways to make it better.
High agency and comfortable with ambiguity: willing to chart a course where no established protocol yet exists.
Someone who won’t hesitate to roll up their sleeves and jump into the weeds if needed.

Additional Requirements:

Comfortable with self-managed remote work.
Fluency in spoken Hindi is a plus.
Given the strategic nature of this role, we're looking for someone interested in making a longer-term contribution to the organisation. Ideally, the successful candidate would expect to work with Suvita for at least two years.
Available for work travel as needed - We anticipate a trip to London each quarter and ~2 trips to India per year.

What success looks like (First 12–18 Months)

Timely, accurate management accounts reviewed and signed off monthly, with clear commentary to the CEO.
All UK CIO compliance obligations met without incident - annual return, statutory accounts, audit, trustee reporting.
DPDP and GDPR compliance frameworks in place and actively maintained.
Indian entity plan finalised and executed.
Donor grant reports delivered accurately and on time for all active grants.
Finance and Legal Handbooks in place and kept up to date.
A Finance & Compliance Officer who is well-supported, clearly prioritised, and growing in capability.
The CEO and Trustees have high confidence in the financial information they receive to make strategic decisions.

What we offer

Work that directly contributes to saving children’s lives.
A high-autonomy, high-trust working environment with a friendly, passionate, and mission-driven team.
Full-time employment with statutory employer pension contribution.
Full flexibility on when and where you work, with collaboration across India and UK time zones - this is primarily a remote role with occasional visits to the office in London to collaborate with the CEO. We can offer coworking space in London to work out, if needed.
35 days off per year across holiday and paid leaves, plus 10 days’ sick leave at full pay.
Health insurance for India-based team members.
Scope for role growth as Suvita scales.

Application Process

We will review applications on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. To ensure consideration, please submit your application by 26th July using this form.

Our hiring process typically includes a combination of test tasks and interviews to assess relevant skills and ways of working. The exact steps may vary. We aim to share an offer within approximately six weeks of a candidate entering the final stages, and will keep all candidates informed at each stage.

For any queries, please email careers@suvita.org.

All the best! 🚀

Head of Finance and Compliance​

​About Suvita