About Cellulant:
Cellulant is Africa’s leading payments company, providing seamless, secure and innovative solutions that empower businesses, banks, and global brands to thrive in a fast-changing global economy.
With a presence in over 24 countries and 200+ payment methods across cards, bank transfer and mobile money, our single API payment platform, Tingg, simplifies collections, disbursements, and reconciliations. It processes over 1 million transactions daily for market leaders in various sectors, such as Airlines, Telecoms, E-commerce, Ride-Hailing, Retail, and Remittances. By simplifying how people pay and get paid, we drive trust, commerce and scale – and connect companies to their ambitions.
Our Story:
Across Africa, payments are more than transactions. They are gateways to prosperity, connecting people, businesses and communities to opportunities and growth.
From enabling a logistics company in Lusaka to pay suppliers across borders, to enabling a hospitality brand in Lagos to scale effortlessly, to supporting an airline in Nairobi to reconcile payments from multiple platforms, Cellulant is the bridge that makes it all possible.
Through trusted technology and customer-centric innovation, we build connections that inspire progress, strengthen economies and transform payments into a tool for progress.
Since our founding in 2003, we've continuously adapted and grown, leveraging our experiences to simplify payments for businesses. We are driven by an unshakable belief that seamless people-centred payments are the key to unlocking prosperity.
Today, Cellulant powers online and offline payment processing, allowing businesses to collect payments, send payouts, and accelerate business growth.
Our Mission:
To deliver seamless, secure and innovative payment solutions for businesses.
Our Vision:
To create a connected world where businesses move money as easily as they share ideas.
Role Overview:
As Cellulant shifts into high gear to scale its innovation engine, we are establishing a Finance Centre of Excellence. We are seeking a high-calibre Payments Accountant for a critical 6–9 month project to institutionalise world-class accounting standards across our Pan-African operations. This role is designed for a technical expert who bridges the gap between complex payment orchestration and rigorous financial governance.
The successful candidate will ensure our financial architecture matches the sophistication of our platform, which processes over 4.5 million daily transactions.
Location: Europe and the Middle East, Asia, Africa- Likely to be from the UK, all EU countries (esp Germany, Estonia, Lithuania) or Singapore/Dubai.
Reports to: Chief Finance Officer
Key Stakeholders
- Finance
- Commercial
- Business Operations
What You'll do:
1. Global Standards & CoA Alignment
- Conduct a comprehensive review of the current Chart of Accounts (CoA) and accounting practices.
- Align nomenclature and accounting treatments with global payment industry standards.
- Ensure all treatments remain strictly adherent to IFRS and local statutory requirements across our core African jurisdictions.
2. Process Engineering & Documentation
- Map and document end-to-end accounting flows for complex products (e.g., split payments, multi-currency settlements).
- Define and codify the "Cellulant Way" for accounting processes to ensure consistency across the group.
3. Regional Implementation & Transition
- Act as the lead consultant for local finance teams during the transition to the new CoA.
- Provide hands-on training and mentorship to ensure the accurate adoption of new accounting treatments.
- Streamline month-end close processes to drive efficiency and transparency.
4. Balance Sheet Integrity (High Priority)
- Perform a deep-dive "unpicking" of current local balance sheets.
- Resolve legacy issues to ensure 100% accuracy in all payment-related asset and liability accounts (e.g., merchant settlement accounts, safeguarding accounts, and transit accounts).
What we are looking for:
- Qualified Accountant: ACA (or equivalent), ideally with initial training at a "Big 4" firm.
- At least 10 -12 Years of Experience.
- Payments Expertise: Proven experience in a high-growth Fintech or global Payments Provider, managing complex multi-currency transaction volumes.
- Technical Mastery: Expert-level knowledge of IFRS specifically applied to payment-related flows, safeguarding, and multi-market jurisdictional rules.
- Systems & Scale: Experience with sophisticated financial systems and ERP implementations in a high-transaction environment.
- Emerging Market Agility: Comfortable navigating the nuances of varied African jurisdictions and working effectively with diverse local teams.
Skills & Competencies:
- Payments Ledger Architecture & Balance Sheet Control- Deep understanding of how payment flows translate into balance sheet positions across merchant settlement accounts, safeguarding accounts, float accounts, and clearing/transit accounts.
- High-Volume Reconciliation & Transaction-Level Analytics- Expert ability to diagnose reconciliation issues across millions of transactions and multiple payment partners.
- Payments Industry Accounting (IFRS / Regulatory Safeguarding) - Advanced understanding of accounting treatments specific to payments platforms and regulated payment institutions.
- Finance Process Engineering & Operating Model Design- Ability to design scalable accounting processes that support a rapidly growing payments platform.
- Cross-Market Finance Leadership & Stakeholder Influence- Ability to lead complex finance remediation projects across multiple jurisdictions and teams.
Why Work for Us?
At Cellulant, we are more than a payments company: we are bridge-builders. We believe that by simplifying the way people pay and get paid, we are connecting companies to their ambitions, people to opportunities, and Africa to the global economy. Our work goes beyond payments—it’s about what people, businesses, and communities can do when the movement of money becomes more dependable, seamless, and secure.
Some exciting things about us...
- We have an extensive footprint: We have an office presence in 10 countries, and our products serve 24 countries across Africa, with a global workforce of about 300 employees.
- We believe innovation is at the heart of Fintech: Thousands of market leaders and top enterprises trust our technology to power their payments. Our customers are in various sectors, including financial services, travel and hospitality, telecom, e-commerce, remittance companies, SaaS, and the gig economy.
- We support a diverse and inclusive workforce: We focus on the growth and development of our employees through well-developed, individualised career paths, ensuring you reach your full potential in a supportive and delivery-oriented environment.
- We put our employees first: At Cellulant, your contribution is rewarded competitively. We use clear career levels and role titles, and benchmark our base pay against data and a well-established internal process. Your actual salary will reflect your experience, skills, impact and the scope of the role, as well as our business needs and prevailing market conditions. We also offer generous personal time off, and medical and life insurance benefits (markets permitting).
- We seek collaborative builders: At Cellulant, we believe that great ideas happen when we come together. Therefore, we nurture a collaborative work environment that challenges, engages, and empowers each person to contribute to the growth and success of the business.
- We solve Africa's digital economy: We’re solving payment challenges on the continent to create opportunities and accelerate economic growth for all of Africa.
