Full-time (40 hours per week) · Breda, The Netherlands

Ever thought about using your finance expertise to make a real difference in the world of renewable energy? Join us at Spark, a Dutch social enterprise on a mission to transform the (African) energy sector. We design smart solar home systems for emerging markets, empowering millions with access to reliable, affordable energy.

This role isn’t just about numbers or processes; it’s about shaping Spark’s future: unlocking capital, enabling scale, and building strong, collaborative ways of working across some of the most exciting and challenging emerging markets in the world.

Spark is looking for a Finance Director to strengthen its financial leadership. In this role, you support strategic decision-making, ensure strong financial reporting and play a key role in managing working capital, financing and fundraising as Spark continues to grow.

About Spark

Founded in 2013, Spark has now grown into a team of 40 people across 15 nationalities, united by a shared mission to bring reliable, affordable clean energy to underserved communities. Together we are building the ecosystem for tomorrow’s energy networks, and that’s an ambitious challenge.

We’re constantly adding distributors in new countries to our network and adapting our products for diverse markets. Emerging markets are where off-grid technology can have the most potential and impact. We’re continuously developing innovative product solutions, while also building our own software platform to enable payments over time.

On top of that, Spark is constantly innovating how to improve access to finance for our distributors, enabling faster and more sustainable growth, making clean energy accessible to everyone. Our growth ambitions are serious, because we’re here to make a lasting impact. Alongside our growth ambitions, we value transparent communication, respectful challenge, and a culture where people can speak up.

Purpose

You ensure that Spark’s financial planning, liquidity and external reporting support sound decision-making and long-term growth, while maintaining strong relationships with shareholders, lenders and investors. This role combines strategic finance leadership with operational excellence, ensuring Spark scales fast, smart, and sustainably. You will help build a diverse, mission-driven team that reflects the communities we serve.

About the role

You will join the board of Spark as one of four directors. Together with the Commercial Director, you will be responsible for running the core of the organisation and scaling our sales and operations in Africa. The Board consists of the Managing Director (who also leads Innovation), the Commercial Director, the Technology Director, and the Finance Director. While the Commercial Director owns sales and market expansion, and the Technology Director leads product and platform development, this role ensures financial sustainability, high-quality financial decision-making, operational robustness, and risk-aware execution across the organisation.

Your role combines Strategic Finance leadership with Operational Finance and oversight of Operations. On the strategic side, you will shape Spark’s funding strategy, own financial planning, forecasting and scenario analysis to support decision-making, work on innovative financing solutions for distributor growth, and lead preparations toward a future Series B raise. On the operational finance side, you ensure disciplined working capital management - including credit terms, receivables, inventory strategy, payables, and active management of working capital at risk - enabling sustainable scale.

In Finance, you will oversee our Accounting Lead and our Financial Project Controller, focused on cashflow, working capital performance, and operations. You (and your team) will work closely with the commercial organisation on cashflow, payment terms, contracts, and related matters, acting as the financial conscience of the organisation, translating financial insight into clear trade-offs and decisions.

Next to Finance, you will be accountable for the Operations, Quality, and Product-Lifecycle teams. You'll join a seasoned leadership team that values mutual support, open debate and shared decision-making. These teams already function smoothly and are capable of scaling; your role is to guide them through challenging decisions.

Ideally, you can be present in our office in Breda at least 3 days a week, but we recognise that (senior) roles need flexibility to be sustainable. Spark supports flexible working arrangements, values work–life balance, and encourages open conversations around parental responsibilities, personal commitments, and wellbeing.

Key responsibilities

Finance & Strategy

• Co-lead fundraising (equity + debt), investor relations, and long-term strategic direction with the Managing Director, including financial modelling, investor reporting, and scenario planning.

• Design and implement smart financial structures together with the commercial team: SPVs, pledges, and local credit vehicles that de-risk and scale distributor finance.

• Build and manage multi-entity cash flow, working capital, and risk exposure across markets.

• Lead Spark’s credit risk and compliance approach, balancing growth ambitions with responsible risk-taking toward distributors, suppliers, and partners.

• Lead setup of legal and financial structures in new countries (FX, compliance, banking, tax).

• Create lean but strong financial controls, FP&A dashboards, forecasting cycles, and scenario models to support data-driven decisions.

• Empower and elevate the finance team, making Spark’s financial systems both robust and innovative.

• Be end-accountable for Spark’s end-to-end execution chain: procurement, outsourced production, logistics, inventory, quality assurance, and aftersales.

• Anticipate bottlenecks and align finance, commercial, and operations teams around seamless execution.

• Drive operational excellence together with the operational teams, ensuring supply chains are efficient, transparent, cost-effective, and resilient.

• Support the operational teams with developing innovative execution structures (bonded stock, in-country assembly, distributed warehousing) to support growth.

• Act as a key member of Spark’s Board, shaping overall company strategy, governance, and performance together with the rest of the board and the Strategy Lead.

• Represent Spark externally, with investors, lenders, partners, and global stakeholders.

• Be a thought partner to the Managing Director and leadership team, helping Spark evolve from a fast-scaling startup to a global leader.

• Coach and develop finance and operations leaders, with a focus on inclusive leadership and career growth.

Profile

Must-haves

• Proven experience in finance leadership or strategic finance in frontier/emerging markets.

• Experience with financial planning, forecasting, and decision support at leadership level.

• Experience working with complex, cross-border organisations and multiple stakeholders.

• Strong judgement in balancing growth, risk, and long-term sustainability.

• Ability to lead, coach, and develop teams in a collaborative way.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with fundraising, DFIs, blended finance, or trade finance.

• Exposure to operational leadership or supply-chain-heavy businesses.

• Background in energy access, manufacturing in China, or last-mile distribution.

• Tech-savvy and innovative; eager to leverage data and tools for smarter decisions.

If you bring most of these experiences and are eager to grow into the rest, we'd very much like to hear from you.

Who you are

• You believe in Spark’s mission: bringing clean energy to underserved communities.

• You are comfortable with complexity and enjoy bringing structure and clarity to fast-growing, lean environments.

• You think strategically, act decisively and bring others along with you.

• You're a builder of systems and teams, and you create value through collaboration and clear structure.

• You’re globally minded and locally grounded, able to build strong partnerships across continents and contexts.

• You care deeply about impact, people, and long-term value creation.

Do you feel you don’t match every single bullet point? If you are excited about our mission and bring relevant experience in finance and/or operations, we'd be happy to receive your application, even if your path looks different from the traditional profile. We are proud to be an environment with more than 15 nationalities, embracing diverse perspectives and creating a workplace where everyone feels they belong. Our leadership team is committed to gender balance and inclusive decision-making; your perspective will actively shape how we grow. Your unique background and experience could be exactly what we need to make a difference.

Department

Finance

Locations

Breda