Summary
Description
Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) is seeking a Director of Accounting & Finance to advance our mission to champion, empower, and ignite Colorado leaders to deliver on the promise of public education to develop thriving young people and flourishing communities. This position will lend critical leadership for CEI’s finance, accounting, and human resource functions.
The Director of Accounting & Finance will work closely with the Chief Operating Officer to ensure quality control and continuous improvement by providing strategic leadership and oversight to all of CEI’s finance, accounting, and human resource functions. The ideal candidate for this role brings a wealth of experience managing the financial and human resource functions in a mid-sized nonprofit organization, can thrive both in detailed “in the weeds” work and in work requiring strategic oversight.
The ideal candidate will have deep knowledge of nonprofit accounting standards, human resource management, and federal grants compliance. The Director of Accounting & Finance will have significant experience obtaining clean audits, optimizing accounting systems and functions to produce accurate and timely reports, managing cash and investments, and leveraging accounting and financial functions towards achieving successful programmatic outcomes. In addition to the qualifications described throughout this description, the candidate is excited to join a team grounded in the CEI mindsets: Dream Big & Act with Purpose; Service & Partnership; and Listen Deeply & Improve with Intention.
About Colorado Education Initiative
CEI’s mission is to champion, empower, and ignite Colorado leaders to deliver on the promise of public education to develop thriving young people and flourishing communities. CEI is a nonprofit organization that works across the state as an implementation expert, strategic partner, and statewide convener. Over the past 15 years, we have partnered directly with educators and community members in over 150 urban, suburban, and rural school districts across Colorado, and we currently partner with 100 school districts. In addition to our field implementation work, we engage in important policy and innovation agendas in Colorado. Our success is driven by a passionate team of diverse individuals who truly enjoy working together.
We are committed to embedding equity-seeking practices into our organizational culture and talent systems and intentionally invest in our team’s professional development to advance this commitment. We believe this focus is essential given the historic and current experiences within the school systems we serve and the outcomes we strive to achieve for all students. We actively seek candidates for all roles who are eager to engage in and contribute to this work, and whose lived experiences can deepen and broaden our understanding of the education system.
Responsibilities
Finance and Accounting
Oversee CEI’s accounting system, ensuring reporting is timely, accurate, informative, and complaint with GAAP.
Design and maintain CEI’s internal controls.
Manage and support the daily operation of all accounting processes and general ledger maintenance, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, monthly journal entries, monthly closing, and cash flow.
Maintain CEI’s investment strategy in coordination with the COO.
Manage and support annual audit and preparation and filing of all tax forms.
Update and maintain all written accounting policies and procedures and oversee all incoming and outgoing CEI contracts.
In coordination with the COO and Assistant Director of Accounting & Finance, support organization and project level budget management systems, including long-term strategic financial planning.
Advise COO on financial data, trends, and risks to ensure strategic execution of financial planning and decision making.
Human Resources Management
Oversee semi-monthly payroll process.
Manage and support human resource functions to ensure benefits are properly recorded and integrated with payroll.
Manage and support annual benefit elections and changes.
Manage annual updates to employee handbook, and field staff questions and concerns related to human resources or internal policies.
Collaborate with the Assistant Director of Finance & Accounting to optimize systems and processes related to projecting, monitoring, and recording staff time against multiple grant funded and contracted projects.
Ensure continuous improvements to all human resource systems and processes.
Organizational Leadership and Culture
Actively contribute to development and strengthening of CEI’s culture.
Supervise the accounting staff.
Collaborate with the development, operations, and implementation teams to optimize processes and information flow across teams and priorities.
Qualifications
A successful candidate will have 10+ years of experience as a successful nonprofit or public system leader with at least seven years of experience leading accounting and human resource functions. The ideal candidate will have a CPA certification and/or MBA, along with a strong understanding of GAAP. They will have skill and experience in working with diverse groups of people and coaching across lines of difference with an assets-based stance. They know how to work across teams to build relationships, develop collaborative work products, and ultimately be responsible for outcomes. They will have skill and experience as a manager, take responsibility for their team’s professional development, seek growth opportunities for themselves and their team, and regularly reflect on how to improve. They will have a record of working relentlessly and with humility to serve partners and teams to whom they are accountable. They will be organized, detail-oriented, an outstanding verbal and written communicator, and able to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Benefits
Compensation
Full-time position.
Salary commensurate with experience in a range of $110,000 – $120,000.
Comprehensive benefits package and some flexible scheduling available.
Hybrid work environment that includes some flexible scheduling and work-from-home options (with regular need to attend in-person meetings in Denver).
CEI’s headquarters are in Denver, but if you live elsewhere in Colorado, we would love to talk with you.
How to Apply
Please send a resume and cover letter to jobs@coloradoedinitiative.org . Applicants should indicate the position in the subject line of the email. Note: applications submitted directly through a job listing site will not be considered. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis beginning January 10, 2025, and the position will be filled as soon as a qualified candidate is identified. No phone calls, please.
CEI is an equal opportunity employer that values diversity in the workplace. CEI strives to be an inclusive organization, and as such takes affirmative action to ensure that discrimination does not occur against an employee or applicant on the basis of race, creed, color, age, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual identity, sexual orientation, religious or political affiliation, disability or any other classification considered discriminatory under applicable law.
