Vice President, Financial Planning and Operations

About The Position

The company Foundation seeks a Vice President, Financial Planning and Operations to lead the Foundation's financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting, and to strengthen financial performance across the company's national network of 279 schools. This is an opportunity to shape how a mission-driven national organization plans, invests, and operates, and to help ensure every the company region has the financial strength to sustain excellent schools for students.

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer and serving on the Foundation's senior leadership team, the Vice President leads a team of six, including four direct reports: two Senior Directors of Financial Planning and Support, a Director of Finance Systems and Reporting, and a Director of Finance Operations. You will partner closely with Foundation senior leaders and regional finance leaders to set clear expectations, identify risk early, and direct support where it matters most.

The ideal candidate brings deep nonprofit finance expertise, with education finance experience across more than one state strongly preferred. This leader moves easily between strategy and execution, has built high-performing teams and scalable systems, and believes strong financial stewardship is essential to great outcomes for students.

Responsibilities

Financial Strategy and Sustainability

• Own the Foundation's annual operating budget and long-term financial sustainability, leading strategy while staying close to the details, in close partnership with the Chief Financial Officer.

• Partner with fundraising and grants teams to project revenue and build multi-year funding strategies that align revenue with investment priorities and organizational commitments.

• Build long-term financial models tied to the Foundation's strategic plan, including the impact of growth into new regions, and connect them to the annual budget.

• Manage liquidity against a seven-month cash reserve target, producing monthly cash flow forecasts and partnering with the Chief Financial Officer on investment strategy.

Budgeting, Forecasting, and Financial Reporting

• Lead the full annual budget cycle, including staffing plans, multi-year projections, and scenario modeling, delivering a Board-approved budget before the fiscal year begins.

• Lead the Foundation's forecasting work, including rolling forecasts with functional leaders, and hold budget owners accountable for meeting targets by fund and in total.

• Partner with talent and program teams to align staffing and investment decisions with financial targets, and give off-track teams practical recommendations to get back on course.

• Lead the Foundation's timely, accurate monthly financial reporting and analysis, giving budget owners, regional leaders, and senior leadership a clear view of budget-to-actuals, key levers, tradeoffs, and long-term implications.

Finance Operations, Systems, and Internal Controls

• Oversee core finance operations, including procurement, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, and corporate cards, with clear service standards for timeliness, accuracy, and responsiveness.

• Maintain strong internal controls, policy compliance, and audit readiness across all financial processes.

• Drive efficiency through process improvement, automation, and system upgrades, including expense management and ERP strategy, with real-time budget-to-actuals reporting as a priority.

• Integrate operations, accounting, and planning systems so the Foundation runs on accurate, real-time data and serves as a model for the company regions.

Regional Financial Oversight and Advisory Support

• Lead financial monitoring across the company network, partnering with regional superintendents and regional CFOs while maintaining clear visibility across all regions.

• Monitor regional financial health through quarterly data, budgets, and audits, and lead a tiered support model that matches support to each region's needs.

• Set clear standards for regional financial performance, reporting, and internal controls, including requirements for pass-through funding; diagnose challenges, support improvement plans, and focus team capacity on higher-risk regions.

• Coach regional CFOs and finance leaders through complex financial challenges, helping them weigh options and build credible plans. Advise with care and sound judgment, recognizing that each the company region is independent and governed by their own Boards.

• Stay closely aligned with the Chief Financial Officer on regional engagements, raising risks early and keeping guidance to regions consistent with the company Foundation positions.

• Lead the finance community of practice across regions and advise leadership on network-wide trends and where to invest for long-term sustainability.

Finance Team Leadership

• Lead and develop a high-performing Finance team across Financial Planning and Support and Finance Operations, with the clear ownership, systems, and automation a lean team needs to operate effectively.

• Ensure alignment across planning, operations, and accounting to deliver accurate and efficient financial management.

• Serve on the Finance Leadership Team, helping set the direction of Finance at the company Foundation and building a culture of ownership, collaboration, and excellence.

Skills and Mindsets

• Mission and Student Focus: Demonstrates passion and commitment to the company’s mission and possesses the desire and ability to uphold the company’s core values (Focus on Excellent Results, Collective Impact, and Courageous Action)

• Self Management: Demonstrated record of setting and achieving ambitious goals for their departments in complex or ambiguous environment; uses data, research, and analysis to set a high bar of excellence for goal setting; effectively distributes and redistributes work among direct reports, teammates, and teams to optimize goal attainments; effectively sets and fosters a culture that enables and celebrates teammates' achievements and goals attainment.

• Work Management: Sets a clear vision that ensures alignment of the team's work to organizational goals. Effectively prioritizes and delivers work products that ensure sustainability and scalability of work. Develops and implements agile project plans that ensure cross functional collaboration and resource sharing to ensure achieving organizational goals; creates and ensures systems are in place for knowledge management.

• Process Management: Able to build and align goals and project plans with organization priorities; develops and codifies processes that promote coordination, efficiency and efficacy across KF and the Network; prioritizes processes that ensure sustainability and scalability; ensures team is finding efficiencies through process implementation and improvement, resource sharing, or other methods.

• Data-Driven Actions and Decisions: Effectively uses data to shape teamwide decisions and the learning agenda or evaluation of a function or significant initiative. Able to generate, implement, and evaluate solutions with a focus on scalability and sustainability.

• Communication and Change Management: Effectively articulates case for change to multiple functions, teams, and/or offices through clear and compelling presentations, tailoring communications and engagement approach for different audiences. Effectively translates vision into actionable plans across team stakeholders; champions KF and networkwide change with all stakeholders.

• Collaboration: Identifies and leverages opportunities with both internal and external stakeholders to increase impact. Leads successful collaboration across functions and evolves plans to get strong results. Has the interpersonal, diplomatic, relationship building and communication skills to connect and compel teammates across different functions to collaborate effectively toward shared goals.

• People Management & Development: Effectively ensures strong professional development and coaching for teammates directly and through layers. Proficient in the mechanics of succession management and performance management for teammates. Able to coach managers of managers and skilled at fostering a positive team culture in which teammates feel ownership and accountability for their own and the broader team's work and results.

Experience and Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive finance experience, including leadership across financial planning, operations, accounting, or auditing; bachelor's degree or equivalent experience, MBA or other advanced degree preferred.

• Nonprofit finance experience required, including deep knowledge of nonprofit and fund accounting and of federal funds and related compliance requirements.

• Proven track record of driving strong financial performance through budgeting, forecasting, and decision support for senior leaders and boards.

• Demonstrated experience overseeing finance operations and internal control environments, including procurement, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, and compliance.

• Demonstrated success building and leading high-performing teams, including managing managers and leading cross-functional projects.

• Proven ability to translate complex financial data into clear insights and actionable recommendations for leaders across functions.

• Experience supporting financial performance across multiple sites, regions, or affiliated organizations preferred.

Work Conditions

• Moderate Travel: 10-15% (20-30 days per year)

• Full time, Exempt

Location

It is preferred, but not mandatory for this role to be based out of the company Foundation office. This role has the option of working from a remote office full-time. The company Foundation offices are in NYC and Chicago.

Compensation and Benefits

In compliance with local law, we are disclosing the compensation, or a range thereof, for roles in locations where legally required. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, and relevant experience. The salary range for this position is $190,000-$227,000. In addition, the company Foundation provides a variety of benefits to employees, including:

• 25 holidays for + 18 days additional flexible PTO days (flexible PTO increases to 23 days for years 3 and 4 and to 28 days for years 5+).

• 100% paid parental leave

• 100% coverage of the premium for employee and 75% for employee + family’s medical/dental/vision plans.

• Wellness benefits such as fitness reimbursements, discounted tickets to theme parks/attractions, backup care support for children and adults/elders, and our employee assistance program

• Finance Security benefits include such as a 401K retirement plan with 4% match, employer-sponsored legal plans, life/disability insurance, and flexible spending accounts

About the Organization

The company Public Schools  is a national network of tuition-free public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 279 schools, nearly 16,500 educators, and nearly 210,000 students and alumni.

Our mission : Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world.

Our vision:  Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities.

The  the company Foundation  is a nonprofit organization that supports the company public charter schools across the country. The company Foundation helps to develop outstanding educators to lead the company schools; provides tools and resources for excellent teaching and learning; promotes innovation; and facilitates the exchange of insights and ideas across the company and other public schools and organizations.

About Our Values

Excellent Results for Students:  We value results over effort and know that our work is not finished until all students thrive. We maintain high expectations for self, team, and students. We drive outcomes by operating with agility, removing barriers, differentiating support, and prioritizing student-centered solutions—especially for those at the margins.

Collective Impact:  We are one team. We win together. We embody a one-team mindset by working collaboratively across teams, aligning goals, and leveraging the strengths of all teammates. We build trust-based relationships and ensure inclusive decision-making by engaging those closest to the work. We provide clarity through simple, repeatable systems and goals that enable transformational outcomes.

Courageous Action : Our belief in what we can achieve is unwavering, fueling our optimism and commitment to overcome any challenge. We demonstrate an unwavering belief in students' potential and a commitment to addressing systemic inequities. We approach challenges with resilience, a solutions-focused mindset, and adaptability. We foster a psychologically safe environment centered on trust and accountability where feedback is encouraged. We leverage data to reflect on progress, own setbacks, celebrate successes, and continuously improve to maximize impact.