Finance Team Manager- Independent Schools

Overview

This remote Finance Team Manager role leads a team of analysts and finance specialists supporting independent school clients. The position includes people management responsibilities and quality control to ensure client work meets established standards. The manager also serves as an outsourced controller for at least one school, overseeing day-to-day full-cycle accounting and compliance.

Reports to the Director or Senior Finance Team Managers.

Part-time arrangements may be possible for exceptional candidates.

Responsibilities

People management and team development

• Train and coach staff through standard training sessions and additional guidance to ensure performance meets and exceeds role expectations and supports individual goals.
• Guide and support staff career paths through discussion, navigation, and collaborative planning.
• Conduct Annual Reviews and Mid Year Deep Dives for direct reports, with input from internal colleagues and clients.
• Address underperformance and develop Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) as necessary.
• Decide on staff promotion timing (with approval of the Director).
• Create and maintain an inclusive, fair team work culture.
• Resolve staff issues as necessary.
• Inform leadership upward on team trends.
• Support ongoing recruitment activities for new staff.
• Collaborate with the Director of People Operations to optimize people operations practices and approaches.

Client work quality and project oversight

• Provide project management to ensure client work is completed on time with expected quality.
• Support accounting review for schools and implement team-specific quality control (QC) mechanisms to provide reasonable certainty that work meets standards.
• Adapt QC processes and cadence as necessary for individuals on the team while ensuring compliance with the organization’s standard QC approach.
• Problem-solve and help find solutions for complex aspects of the work.

Outsourced controller responsibilities (for at least one school)

• Oversee all day-to-day full-cycle accounting and compliance aspects of assigned schools, including:
  • Close the books monthly/quarterly/annually and support preparation of monthly financial statements.
  • Oversee federal, state, and local grants administration.
  • Serve as the primary contact during annual financial audits and 990 preparation.
  • Support the annual budgeting process in partnership with School Finance Managers.
  • Liaise with a school’s state education authority (SEA) as needed.

Continuous improvement

• Contribute to continual improvement of finance service line efficiency and accuracy by gathering information, noticing trends, and recommending changes to Directors.
• Identify service/tools needed and address issues.
• Participate in internal process improvements for the finance service line.

Requirements

• Experience managing teams of finance or accounting professionals.
• Strong organization and time management skills; ability to prioritize and manage multiple responsibilities while meeting deadlines.
• High attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
• Experience with accounting systems (e.g., QuickBooks Online) and the ability to learn new systems.
• Ability to write and clearly document processes and procedures.
• Intermediate Excel skills.
• Ability to interface professionally with clients.
• Typically 10+ years of work experience or post-secondary educational experience, including 3+ years of management or supervisory experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with schools or non-profit organizations.
• Audit experience.
• Ability to specialize in areas such as new hire onboarding and training, quality control, tool design and development, or liaising with state education agencies and/or authorizers to ensure new compliance requirements are disseminated.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary range: $96,200–$128,000/year, commensurate with relative experience and geographic location.
• Additional perks and benefits are available (details not provided in the posting).

Location

• Remote; location flexible.