Leader, Finance Operations

Thanks for your interest in Success Academy! Running the largest, fastest-growing, and highest-performing network of public charter schools in New York City takes a village - families, children, teachers, staff and faculty, advocates and supporters alike. We would love to welcome you to our community! We work tirelessly every day to ensure each child in NYC has access to a fun, rigorous, whole-child education regardless of zip code or economic status. When you join SA, you play a part in giving every student who walks through the doors of one of our 57 schools in NYC a fair shot at reaching his or her potential.

Job Description

As the fastest-growing, highest-performing charter school network in New York State, Success Academy is reimagining K-12 public education. Nationally recognized for our innovative, whole-child school model and outstanding academic results, Success Academy educators are empowering children from all backgrounds with the knowledge, skills, and self-belief to succeed in college and in life. 

Reporting to the Controller, the Leader, Finance Operations will oversee and manage core finance operations functions including, but not limited to, accounts payable, payroll, billing operations, T&E, corporate card program, and finance systems.  This person should be passionate about innovation, change management, and collaboration, with a highly operational and data-driven approach to problem-solving. A strong grasp of financial systems and transactional detail as well as the ability to clearly synthesize data, drive continuous improvement, and effectively communicate to stakeholders at different levels of the organization will be paramount.

Key responsibilities include: 

• Oversee and manage core finance operations functions including, but not limited to, accounts payable, payroll, billing operations, T&E, corporate card program, and finance systems

• Ensure compliance with internal controls and procedures in the execution of daily operations across all finance operations functions; responsible for monthly close and reporting activities related to finance operations functions

• Identify opportunities for process enhancements, system optimizations, and automation that can improve efficiency and accuracy across financial operations; maintain a continuous improvement approach

• Lead the implementation of improved processes, automation, and tooling with the goal of increasing accuracy and efficiency, reducing risk, and improving the employee experience

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with finance, HR,  and information technology teams, including serving as primary liaison to the information technology team for financial systems 

• Manage and oversee end-to-end enhancement projects across finance, including project planning, stakeholder engagement, timeline management, testing, deployment, and comprehensive documentation

• Partner with finance process owners, application owners, and cross-functional business partners to lead process improvements, drive change management, and identify future transformation initiatives

• Manage and develop a team of 5+, and manage cross functional initiatives across teams.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Finance, Accounting, Systems; MBA or CPA preferred.

• 10+ years of relevant experience (finance operations, payroll, transformation, project management) with an increasing scope of responsibility

• Six Sigma certification and application of Six Sigma methodology in a work setting preferred.

• Entrepreneurial leader with a high degree of ownership, integrity, bias for action, and the willingness to roll up their sleeves

• In-depth functional experience with financial processes in NetSuite (ERP), ADP (payroll processing), Workday (HRIS), Coupa (Procurement), and related systems, with a proven ability to design and optimize workflows and integrations

• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills including the ability to develop key operational metrics, clearly summarize and interpret results, and develop actionable recommendations for management decision-making 

• Excellent project management skills with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment under tight deadlines, react quickly and responsively to many competing requests while adhering to timelines and milestones

• Strong supervisory and