Senior Team Leader / Accountant – IFRS Reconciliations
We are seeking an experienced and results-driven Senior Team Leader– IFRS Reconciliations to join our team. In this role, you will lead the IFRS reconciliation process, ensure financial accuracy and compliance, and guide a high-performing team in delivering timely and reliable financial reporting. If you have strong leadership skills and a passion for financial excellence, we'd love to hear from you.
About Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited
Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited leads the charge in Life, Health, and Pension solutions throughout the Caribbean Region. Our unwavering mission is to cultivate financial freedom for our stakeholders through transformative interactions, fuelled by the relentless power of technology. With innovation at our core, we strive to redefine the landscape of financial services, empowering individuals, and businesses alike to pursue their dreams with confidence and security.
JOB OVERVIEW:
The Senior Team Leader – IFRS Reconciliations is a key technical and supervisory role within the Finance team responsible for ensuring the timely, accurate, and compliant reconciliation of accounts in accordance with Guardian’s accounting policies, IFRS standards (especially IFRS 17), and internal audit requirements. The incumbent will lead a team responsible for financial reconciliations across multiple lines of business and legal entities, monitor remediation of audit issues, drive monthly and year-end close reconciliation cycles, and ensure progress reporting and documentation of challenges is systematically tracked and resolved.
JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Strategic Reconciliation Oversight
• Supervise the clearing and closure of reconciliation items across multiple years (e.g., legacy items from 2024 and prior), ensuring completeness and accuracy of balances.
• Lead initiatives to clear reconciliation backlogs with targets such as achieving an 80% resolution rate for aged items within specified timeframes (e.g., Jan–Oct 2025).
• Maintain and update the Reconciliation Matrix across departments to track ownership, resolution timelines, and monitoring mechanisms.
2. IFRS 17 Compliance and Audit Preparedness
• Review and ensure that all reconciling items are addressed with respect to IFRS 17-based recommendations.
• Monitor action plans linked to audit findings and ensure all internal audit recommendations are fully implemented and evidenced by year-end deadlines (e.g., 31st Dec 2025).
• Prepare documentation and audit trails required for financial audits, control assessments, and internal review processes.
3. Performance Monitoring and Reporting
• Prepare monthly Progress Reports by the 15th of each month, outlining status, challenges, and movement in account balances.
• Track reconciliations using both count- and value-based metrics aligned with Finance KPIs and internal reporting frameworks.
• Document and escalate reconciliation challenges for cross-functional resolution.
4. Team Leadership and Coordination
• Provide day-to-day supervision of the reconciliation team, assigning responsibilities, reviewing outputs, and providing coaching and developmental feedback.
• Act as a liaison between the reconciliation team and internal departments (e.g., Claims, Actuarial, Investments) to expedite resolution of high-impact items.
• Champion continuous process improvement, automation opportunities, and standardization of reconciliation practices.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance or related discipline
• Professional certification (or in completion of final paper) in ACCA and CPA, or equivalent
• 5–7 years of progressive accounting experience, with at least 2–3 years in reconciliation or audit-heavy roles within the insurance or financial services sector.
• Experience working with IFRS 17 implementation or accounting policies strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with audit protocols, internal controls, and enterprise reconciliation systems.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT:
As a regulated entity with obligations under the Know Your Employee guidelines, a Certificate of Character is required.
PERSON SPECIFICATION:
The Senior Team Leader/Accountant must be flexible, highly adaptive to changes in the organisation and possess excellent interpersonal skills, with a strong customer service focus. He/ She must be a very meticulous, organised and detail-oriented individual. The individual must possess strong problem-solving skills and be able to make sound decisions.
Applications will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.