School Finance Manager- MICHIGAN (CFO/Director of Finance)

EdOpsSchool Finance Manager

EdOps’s School Finance Manager position is ideal for school finance leaders ready to bring their expertise to a portfolio of schools and shape our nationwide finance offering alongside committed and experienced finance peers.

The School Finance Manager serves a portfolio of 5-8 schools, acting as those schools’ outsourced CFOs. Like on-staff CFOs, they leverage team members to analyze backwards-looking financial data and deliver strategic financial advice aligned with their schools’ mission and goals, build relationships with school leaders and boards, proactively notice and solve client problems, and generally act as key members of clients’ leadership teams. Internally, School Finance Managers drive innovations to our products, and the development and refinement of best practices when it comes to school finance.

Reports to Finance Director or above. Location flexible (this is a remote position). Part time arrangements possible for exceptional candidates.

Who we are:

EdOps is a B-Corp which partners with schools to provide expert support in finance, accounting, and student data management, helping education leaders make informed decisions while minimizing the financial, operational, and compliance burdens of running a school. Simply put, we make it easier for school leaders to increase student achievement. Our experience working with a wide range of schools – from newly authorized charter schools to independent schools with century-long histories, and from microschools to multi-campus networks – allows us to provide high-quality finance, accounting, and student data support across diverse educational environments.

While this role prioritizes Michigan public/charter school experience, our team of over 100 professionals currently serves over 100 independent and public charter schools and networks across D.C., Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York. We are serious about being the best possible partners to schools, and it shows in our 93% annual client retention rate. We work hard at being a rewarding, enjoyable workplace where staff can grow professionally and make an impact. We are looking for education focused, accounting and finance loving, collaborative people to join our team.

What you will do:

• Act as an outsourced CFO for a portfolio of 5-8 Michigan schools, advising these schools’ leaders and Boards on matters pertaining to financial and operational policies, strategic decisions, and long-term financial planning.
• Produce forward-looking financial forecasts, set budgets, and lead finance strategy development in a way that aligns with school goals and reflects EdOps’s commitment to equity and anti-racism.
• Attend finance committee or board meetings to present and explain finance strategy.
• Analyze, model, and solve problems on a wide range of business issues.
• Engage in client listening and endeavor to proactively identify and solve clients’ financial challenges - either directly, or through engaging other teams at EdOps.
• Provide development and informal oversight to School Finance Specialists and School Finance Analysts on school-specific processes. (For clarity, Finance Specialists and Finance Analysts report to dedicated People Managers; this position’s oversight of their work is relatively informal.)
• Actively contribute to EdOps’s internal research, development and innovation of our finance product.

What you will accomplish:

• By Year 1 you will have:
  • Solve small, real problems for schools on a daily basis.
  • Advise school leaders on nuanced, long term strategic financial decisions (i.e., facilities projects, staffing models, school expansion).
  • Develop close, trusting partnership with C-Level school leadership which will allow you to provide the best advice and support.
  • Present important financial information to a school’s Board of Directors.
  • Sharpen you expertise in strategic school finance, from multi-year budget development to internal process refinement
  • Work with 5-8 schools in different stages of growth and with different academic models.

• By Year 3 you will have:
  • Contribute to the development and refinement of EdOps’s standard finance product, as well as our suite of best practices.
  • Lead project-based or market development work beyond your school portfolio..
  • Continue to solve real problems, small and large, for schools every day.

Who you are:

• Care about education and outcomes for students as much as you care about budgets, forecasts and efficient financial processes.
• Find joy in solving financial problems for individual schools. The little things make schools actually work.
• Able to zoom in and out between high level strategic perspective and detailed, daily financial work.
• Desire to be involved in the financial processes from input to analysis. We are outsourced CFOs but sometimes we are also controllers, accountants, and everything in between.
• Strong in independent problem solving. We are a very collaborative community that supports each other, but our School Finance Managers are independent and solve new problems every day.
• Energized by being in a customer service role. We are here first and foremost to serve our school clients.

• Committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Open to learning and growing in these areas together so that each of us can contribute to building a culture of equity and support our schools in advancing these values. Please see more on EdOps' commitment here.

What you need:

• Experience excelling in a School Finance Management role in public or charter schools in Michigan (i.e., led finance function for a school, led part of a finance function in larger school organization)
• Experience as part of a School Leadership Team or working very closely with a School Leadership Team.
• Comfort with accounting. A CPA or extensive expertise is not required, but experience navigating accounting software and reading and analyzing financial reports is a must.
• Intermediate Excel knowledge, such as formulas like vlookups and sumifs, because Excel will be your best friend at times.
• Strong quantitative analysis, strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills, as every school is different, and approaches and solutions often have to be customized.
• Excellent client communication and interpersonal skills. Comfort presenting and explaining information (both verbally and in writing) to people with varying financial literacy.
• Comfort interacting with, advising, and challenging C-Level leaders in schools.
• Strong organization and time management skills. There is a lot going on here.
• General comfort with technology systems (e.g., Google suite) because we are not big fans of paper around here at EdOps.
• Typically, School Finance Managers have 10-15 years of work or post-secondary educational experience.
• <nice to have> Experience leading audits.

What you get:

• Purpose driven work focusing on student achievement through operational excellence. That is what it is all about.
• Chance to work every day with colleagues who are committed to kids and supportive of each other’s efforts.
• EdOps salaries are commensurate with relative experience and geographic location. The range for the School Finance Manager position is $93,642-125,246/year.
• Check out other perks of working at EdOps here. And some details on benefits here.

We know that a team from a wide range of backgrounds with different life experiences, identities, opinions, and talents makes us better able to innovate and deliver on our mission of supporting schools to improve student outcomes. Every day we work to build an inclusive company culture where everyone can be themselves at work and do their best work.

Apply:

If you are skilled in your field, excited by our mission, ready to learn, and looking for a place where you can be yourself, we want to hear from you!

What you can expect from the hiring process:

- Application Review

- First Interview

- Performance Task

- Final Interview

- Reference Check

- Offer