School Finance Specialist - Charters and Independent Schools

EdOps School Finance Specialist

The school finance specialist position is ideal for an individual looking to apply accounting, finance, business, and analytical skills to the social sector. You will have the opportunity to support schools with their day-to-day operations as well as help drive strategic decisions with data-driven insights.

Reports to a Finance Team Manager. Location flexible.

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.

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:

• Serve as an outsourced accountant and financial advisor for a portfolio of schools
• Oversee all day-to-day full-cycle accounting and compliance aspects of the schools, including accounts payable, payroll, grants administration, and regulatory compliance.
• Close the books monthly/quarterly/annually and prepare monthly financial statements.
• Project manage schools’ annual fiscal audit, completing necessary end of year statements and schedules, serve as schools' primary contact during field work and assist with 990 preparation
• Analyze, model, and solve problems on a wide range of business issues.
• Liaise with the state education authority (SEA), and the charter authorizer as relevant.
• Partner with EdOps School Finance Manager to provide high quality customer service.
• Invest in other members of the EdOps team, supporting their efforts and demonstrating a desire to contribute to the growth of the internal team.

What you will accomplish:

• By Year 1 you will:
  • Solve small, real problems for schools on a daily basis.
  • Learn the accounting and finance cycle of school finance
  • Learn the ins-and-outs of annual school fiscal compliance reporting
  • Work with several schools in different stages of growth and with different academic models.
  • Own the day-to-day financial and monthly accounting close process for multiple schools.
  • Independently manage the annual financial cycle for a portfolio of schools.
  • Serve as an integral part of several internal teams demonstrating a strong desire to help.
• By Year 2 you will:
  • Continue to solve small and real problems for schools every day.
  • Refine skills learned in year 1 resulting in independent and proficient completion of cyclical compliance reporting and annual fiscal audit.
  • Develop deep expertise in charter school accounting and financial compliance reporting.
  • Potential to develop a specialization (e.g. facilities finance, quality assurance, regional expertise, etc.) that supports the broader team.

Who you are:

• Find joy in solving accounting and financial problems for individual schools. The little things make schools actually work.
• Care about education and outcomes for students as much as you care about well-designed accounting processes.
• Able to zoom in and out between high level strategic perspective and detailed, daily accounting and financial work.
• Desire to be involved in the accounting and financial processes from input to analysis. Strong in independent problem solving. We are a very collaborative community that supports each other, but our specialists solve new problems every day.
• Energized by being in a customer service role, as we are here first and foremost to serve our school clients.
• Know schools and how they work .

• 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's commitment here.

What you need:

• Strong organization and time management skills. There is a lot going on here.
• Intermediate Excel knowledge, such as formulas like vlookups and sumifs, because Excel will be your best friend in your everyday accounting and financial work.
• Direct work experience and/or degree in finance or accounting or related field.
• Strong quantitative analysis, strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills, as every school is different, and approaches and solutions often have to be customized.
• Ability to collaborate with people at every level of an organization with a strong desire to help others do their best work.
• Strong client communication and interpersonal skills, including presenting and explaining info (both verbally and in writing) to people with varying financial literacy. In one day, you might email a school business manager about reclassifying expenses and answer an auditor’s technical accounting question.
• Experience with accounting software such as QuickBooks, Intacct or Blackbaud
• General comfort with technology systems (e.g., Google suite, financial systems) because we are not big fans of paper at EdOps.
• Work experience: typically, Finance Specialists have 5-8 years of work or post-secondary educational experience.

What you get:

• Purpose driven work focusing on student achievement through operational excellence. That is what it is all about.
• An opportunity to work every day with colleagues who are committed to kids and supportive of each other’s efforts….and
• EdOps salaries are commensurate with relative experience and geographic location. The range for the School Finance Specialist position is $64,931-$89,605/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 passionate about our mission, skilled in your field, ready to learn, and looking for a place where you can be yourself, we want to hear from you! To apply, please complete our application

What you can expect from the hiring process: