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Work at BOLO IT

Admin / Finance Officer

The institution's administrative and financial backbone — payroll, procurement, student fees, records and the controls that keep a young institution accountable.

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Build the systems an institution runs on.

BOLO IT is seeking an Admin / Finance Officer to establish its financial and administrative operations from the ground up: bookkeeping, payroll, procurement, student fee collection, statutory compliance and the records practice that supports all of it.

This page summarises the role. The full recruitment profile is available to download below.

Location
Cameroon
Employment
Full-time | Administration & finance
Reports to
Executive Director
Expected start
February 2027
Sector
Higher education | Finance | Administration

The institution

BOLO Institute of Technology is a technology-focused higher-education institution in Cameroon, architected around three pathways — Higher National Diploma, Bachelor's and Master's — and being developed to prepare technology professionals, innovators, researchers and entrepreneurs for opportunities in Cameroon, across Africa and internationally.

BOLO IT is being built around a distinctive educational model: rigorous academics combined with hands-on laboratories, real-world projects, internships, professional certifications, mentorship and instruction shaped by experienced technology practitioners. The institution is intentionally globally oriented, AI-enabled and Silicon Valley-inspired.

Our ambition

A student educated at BOLO IT in Cameroon should leave with the academic foundation, practical capability, AI fluency, professional exposure and confidence to compete with technology talent anywhere in the world.

The opportunity

This role builds the administrative machinery of a new institution rather than operating an existing one. Before launch, the work is establishment: chart of accounts, bookkeeping, payroll, procurement practice, supplier contracts, statutory registrations and the controls that go around them. After launch, it adds student fee billing and collection, budget monitoring against the institution's financial model, and the reporting the Executive Director and Board rely on to make decisions.

Leadership mandate

  • Establish financial records and controls appropriate to an institution handling public trust and family money.
  • Run payroll and statutory obligations accurately and on time, from the first month.
  • Build a procurement practice that is competitive, documented and resistant to informal pressure.
  • Make student fee billing and collection predictable rather than reactive.
  • Give leadership a monthly picture of where the institution actually stands against budget.
  • Keep the administrative records that regulatory inspection and audit will ask for.

Core responsibilities

  1. Bookkeeping & financial records

    Maintain the chart of accounts, ledgers, bank reconciliations and supporting documentation to a standard that supports audit and regulatory inspection.

  2. Payroll & statutory compliance

    Run monthly payroll for staff and part-time lecturers, administer contracts and leave records, and meet tax, social-insurance and employment obligations on schedule.

  3. Procurement & suppliers

    Run purchasing for equipment, furniture, technology and services — quotations, comparison, approval, purchase orders, delivery verification and supplier records.

  4. Student fees & receivables

    Bill tuition, record payments, operate agreed instalment arrangements, follow up arrears sensitively, and reconcile student accounts against enrolment records.

  5. Budgeting & reporting

    Monitor spend against the institution's budget, prepare monthly management accounts and cash position, and flag variances early enough to be acted on.

  6. Administration & office operations

    Administer institutional records, contracts, insurance and correspondence, and keep the filing practice — physical and digital — that lets any of it be found.

Required qualifications

  • Higher National Diploma or degree in accounting, finance, business administration or a related field.
  • Practical bookkeeping and payroll experience, ideally in an organisation without a large finance team.
  • Working knowledge of Cameroonian tax, payroll and statutory reporting obligations.
  • Competent with accounting software and spreadsheets to a level that supports monthly reporting.
  • Experience of procurement and supplier management, including documented competitive purchasing.
  • Working ability in both English and French; suppliers, staff and authorities use both.

The leader we are looking for

This role suits someone who takes quiet satisfaction in records that reconcile, and who is willing to hold a process in place when it would be easier not to.

Integrity under pressure
Applies the control even when the person asking is senior or in a hurry.
Accuracy
Would rather find the discrepancy than round past it.
Systems thinking
Builds a process that survives their own absence rather than holding it personally.
Discretion
Handles salary, fee arrears and family circumstances confidentially.
Practical judgement
Knows which controls a small institution genuinely needs and which would only slow it down.
Reliability
Payroll runs on the same day every month without being chased.

Download the full recruitment profile

The full profile carries the six-month mandate, the success measures and the graduate profile in full.

Download the full recruitment profile (PDF)

We believe world-class technology talent can be developed anywhere.

Interested?

Our ambition is to build one of Africa's leading technology institutions and develop graduates capable of competing with technology talent anywhere in the world.

Get in touch and we will send you the full recruitment profile and next steps.