Cape Town: Junior Operations Analyst posted by Stage Zero

Start: ASAP

Location: Parow, Cape Town (onsite)

Reporting to: CFO & COO

Duration: Temporary (immediate start) 3 months preferred, with possible extension.

Seeking two junior, project-focused temps with finance/data-analytics qualifications to support cross-functional operational initiatives. These roles are project-based rather than traditional day-to-day finance, and will be operations-focused with a finance flair working on time-bound assignments such as municipal registration packs, stock reconciliation projects, system-to-physical stock alignment, year-end data clean-up and reporting projects. Candidates must be hands-on, comfortable working across warehouse, finance and operations teams, and able to deliver clear, actionable findings and recommendations to the CFO and COO.

Key responsibilities

• Review outstanding documentation for municipal registration applications; collate and assemble submission packs for review and action.

• Support warehouse and finance teams with stock reconciliations; investigate variances and propose systematic movements to align physical stock with system balances.

• Prepare basic operational and financial reports/dashboards for CFO & COO highlighting variances, trends and recommended corrective actions.

• Assist with reconciling system information in preparation for financial year-end.

• Review source documents against system records for completeness, accuracy and compliance; flag missing/incorrect items and follow up to resolution.

• Maintain accurate logs and documentation of reconciliations, submissions and corrective actions taken.

• Ad-hoc finance/analytics tasks as assigned by CFO or COO.

Required qualifications & experience

• Tertiary qualification or currently studying in Finance, Accounting, Data Analytics, or similar.

• 25 years practical experience in finance, accounting support, inventory/warehouse reconciliation or data/operations analytics preferred.

• Basic knowledge of accounting principles, stock control and reconciliation processes.

• Experience with Excel essential (VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, pivot tables, basic formulas). Exposure to accounting/ERP systems (e.g., Pastel, SAP Business One, QuickBooks, or similar) is advantageous.

Skills & attributes

• Strong attention to detail and accuracy.

• Analytical mindset with ability to identify causes of variances and propose practical corrective steps.

• Good written and verbal communication; ability to present findings clearly to senior leaders.

• Organised, reliable, able to manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines.

• Team player, proactive, willing to learn and work onsite in Parow.