Strategic Finance Director

Overview

This role is responsible for strategic finance, forecasting, and decision support to drive growth, optimize resource allocation, and improve financial performance across the organization. Success requires strong financial modeling skills, scenario planning expertise, and the ability to translate complex financial analysis into clear recommendations for senior leaders.

Responsibilities

Financial Modeling & Business Analysis

• Build and maintain a 3-statement financial model for budgeting, forecasting, cash flow management, scenario analysis, and net asset impacts
• Independently develop ROI analyses and cost-benefit frameworks that shape prioritization decisions and track the end-to-end lifecycle of initiatives from investment through post-launch impact measurement
• Provide actionable financial insights to influence decision-making across senior leaders and address key business challenges
• Partner across the organization to evaluate deal economics, optimize margins, and improve efficiency
• Communicate executive-ready analyses, dashboards, and Board materials that translate complex financial information into meaningful business insights

Budget & Forecast Management

• Lead FP&A processes, including the annual budgeting process, recurring forecasts, month-end reporting, and preparation of financial reporting for senior leadership and Board presentations
• Improve and automate FP&A processes, systems, and reporting as the organization scales, using modern tooling (including AI-enabled solutions) to improve speed and accuracy
• Advise senior leaders on resource allocation and strategic decisions, including occasionally presenting at leadership meetings and influencing change across cross-functional workstreams
• Manage vendor renewal calendars and ensure no material contracts auto-renew without review

Special Projects

• Support the build-out of an internal procurement process, establishing a centralized function for spend management, contract reviews, vendor selection, and purchasing process
• Own mission-critical initiatives such as an updated pricing strategy to optimize margins

Requirements

• 8+ years of related work experience in strategic finance, FP&A, corporate development, management consulting, investment banking, private equity, accounting, or another discipline responsible for financial forecasts and analysis
• Ability to turn ambiguity into structured analysis and actionable recommendations
• Ability to build trusted relationships across functions and influence without formal authority
• Experience building sophisticated financial models from scratch (not only maintaining existing models)
• Natural curiosity; asks thoughtful questions; comfortable challenging assumptions with data and sound judgment
• Ability to communicate complex financial concepts to non-finance leaders
• Problem-solving skills and comfort diving into complex scenarios
• Balance confidence with humility; maintains a point of view while staying open to new information and perspectives
• Tech-savvy and comfortable adopting new systems and tools
• Commitment to education and the organization’s focus on racial and economic equity in America’s public schools
• Experience working with Adaptive Insights or another cloud-based financial planning software
• Comfort with intermediate Excel/Google Sheets functions (pivot tables, lookup functions, graphs/tables)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading complex analytical work that influences organizational financial strategy and executive decision-making

Compensation & Benefits

• Hiring salary range: $109,180 - $125,660
• Hiring salary range for specific higher cost of labor locations: $121,540 - $142,000. These locations include New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C.
• Annual performance-based raises after being hired
• 25 paid vacation days per year and 11 paid holidays
• Employer-paid individual and family health plan
• Matching 401(k) plan up to 5% of base salary
• Annual professional development stipend

Location

• Flexible hybrid schedule in the NYC office option, or fully remote work from CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, MA, MD, MI, MN, NC, NJ, NY, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA, or WI
• If not in the NYC area, travel to the NYC office on an as-needed basis (about 4–6 times per year)
• Work-related travel expenses covered by the organization

Work Authorization

• Participation in E-Verify
• Work authorization confirmation via Form I-9 using information provided to the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)