Director of Finance

Do you have experience in a rapidly growing start up or business unit and are looking for an opportunity that has more meaning or purpose? Are you ready to take the lead in building a finance function, shaping financial strategy, and upgrading financial operations while having the ability to impact and innovate in Healthcare quality? We have a client who’d love to learn more about you.

Our client is seeking a highly entrepreneurial and experienced Director of Finance (DoF) to build and lead its finance and accounting functions, supporting scalability. The ideal candidate is a self-starter who thrives in fast-paced and evolving organizations and is comfortable navigating the unknown.

This newly created position will be responsible for the development of financial processes and reporting, including but not limited to: budgeting, forecasting, financial planning, and analysis. The DoF will manage the accounting function, which is currently outsourced. This role will play a pivotal part in driving the financial strategy and growth of the organization, supporting executive decision-making, and optimizing financial performance. This position reports to the Chief Financial and Operating Officer.

This is a hybrid role with 2 days/per week in the office (near O’Hare Airport).

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Lead the finance and accounting functions including the budgeting and forecasting processes, providing accurate and timely financial reports, financial analysis, and recommendations to support decision-making.
• Manage cash flow, investment strategies, and banking relationships to optimize liquidity and working capital.
• Build financial models and analyses to aid in management decisions on product launches, GTM strategies, resource allocation, growth, cash flow management, and mission impact decisions.
• Lead the annual financial audit and preparation of the necessary documentation to support the audit process
• Oversee the preparation of financial statements, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements, and ensure compliance with GAAP.
• Work cross-functionally, driving standardization and process improvement in all aspects of planning and reporting.
• Prepare analysis and reports for the preparation of the annual 990 tax filing and lead the 990-preparation process.
• Provide insight and recommendations to both short-term and long-term growth plans of the organization.
• Identify and mitigate financial risks while seizing opportunities for growth and profitability.
• Establish contingency plans and scenarios to effectively manage potential financial crises or disruptions, maintaining business continuity and minimizing impact.
• Ensure compliance with all financial regulations, reporting requirements, and internal policies to mitigate legal and regulatory risks.
• Spearhead the transition of accounting operations from external service providers to internal management within the next year, including the setup of accounting systems, development of new processes, and training of internal staff.
• Build and manage a high performing F&A function including finding the right mix of inhouse and external involvement. Monitor staff performance and develop goals consistent with the organization’s strategic plan.
• Travel to board meetings, client visits, and/or conferences up to 3-5 times a year for 2-5 day trips.

QUALIFICATIONS/REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business or relevant field; a CPA or MBA preferred.
• Progressive responsibilities in F&A leadership
• Demonstrated success in developing and continuously improving the FP&A (budgeting and forecasting) process for a rapidly growing organization with diversified product and services offerings including cash flow forecasting and management
• Ability to develop B2B and B2C financial models from scratch across product and service offerings. Experience working with intellectual property/R&D, tech capital amortization, brand/policy helpful.
• Tech Savvy and able to directly develop reports/dashboards using advanced Excel, PowerBI and/or Tableau. Experience integrating data from multiples sources CRM (Salesforce, Nimble, Hubspot) and financial ERP (Sage Intacct, bills.com,
• Effective communication skills including influencing senior leadership/entire organization to adopt new processes and data driven decision making (change management)
• Exceptional problem solving and financial analytical skills.
• Results-oriented, self-starter, entrepreneurial, deadline-conscious, intellectually curious profession who enjoys fast-paced, rapidly changing environments.
• Commitment to continual process improvement, the spirit of innovation and teamwork.
• Behave ethically: understand ethical behavior and business practices and ensure that own behavior and the behavior of others is consistent with these standards and aligns with the values of the organization.
• Professionalism: Good judgment, ability to interact with all levels of staff and vendors, appropriate demeanor and appearance, confidence.

Preferred experiences:

• Grant management and reporting (small amount of incoming revenue) including work with demonstration projects and/or CMS
• Vendor management experience and a solid understanding of contracts management and compliance. Banking relationship experience helpful.
• Previous experience bringing accounting in house from outsourced to public and/or building a lean accounting team from the ground up
• Knowledge in or experience with healthcare, workforce development, and/or quality standards helpful
• Direct accounting experience and knowledge of GAAP highly preferred
• Experience developing board/executive level reports

Our client is an equal opportunity (EEO) employer. We hire without regard to age, color, disability, gender (including gender identity), marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable laws.