Director, Budget Planning & Analysis
Teach For America

Job Title: Director, Budget Planning & Analysis

Start Date: 9/22

Status: Open

Job Code: 1.5-2-2

Job Description

TEAM: North Carolina

REPORTS TO: SMD, People & Operations

LOCATION: Raleigh/Durham

THE OPPORTUNITY

Over the past 30 years Teach for America has served and impacted North Carolina communities across multiple regions (Eastern NC, Piedmont-Triad, Charlotte) with over 200+ current corps members teaching in classrooms across the state and over 2,100 alumni living and working in NC. Building on that history of impact, TFA moved to a statewide operating model in Summer 2021 unifying its multiple NC regions under the leadership of its first multi-region statewide Executive Director, Dr. Monique Perry-Graves. You can learn more about the new chapter for TFA in North Carolina by reviewing our ED's monthly column in Education NC here and by following our TFA NC Linkedin Page here. In North Carolina we are in lockstep with our enterprise mission to double our impact in our communities by 2030 through our Executive Director's vision for North Carolina to be the preeminent destination for corps members, alumni, and staff to work, live and thrive as critical contributors to education and equity in our communities throughout the state.

THE ROLE

The Director, Budget Planning & Analysis is responsible for developing and maintaining strong internal policies and processes and systems and operations to effectively manage risk and ensure overall compliance with federal and organizational requirements. In this role, you will be responsible for statewide team fiscal management and budget tracking, and will serve as a liaison to the national teams and the Development Hub to manage grant budgets. You will manage all aspects of the $1.3M+ statewide non-payroll budget, including tracking, forecasting, and working with team members to assess and adjust budgets throughout the year and plan budgets annually for the upcoming year. As the procurement manager, you will serve as the primary buyer and ensure that we maximize funding from grants with fiscal responsibility in mind. As an expert in organizational policies, you will train team members, set goals, monitor progress, and make recommendations for exceptional compliance.

The D, Budget Planning & Analysis will report to the SMD, People & Operations, and work closely with that SMD and the statewide Executive Director on internal systems, team finance, and overall compliance. The person in this role will have a demonstrated ability to build and leverage relationships and a high degree of professional maturity. This person will also have a strong commitment to excellence, honoring your word, taking personal responsibility, thoughtfully engaging with coworkers and partners, and being passionate about your contribution to educational equity in North Carolina. We are deeply committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and are an organization committed to anti-racism. This role is required to live (or relocate within 45-60 days of hire) to the Triangle area in NC and remain as a condition of employment.

THE PERSON

Finance (50%)

• Manage the creation and year-long management of a $2M+ statewide non-payroll budget; manage all aspects of the regional budget and work with team leaders to accurately forecast and track expenses
• Manage statewide responsibilities associated with restricted grant management including work with national grants team to provide direction on which expenses restricted grant budget proposals should capture; tag expenses to grants and check tagged expenses to ensure compliance; monitor how the grant is being drawn down; identify drawdown risks and take corrective action to remedy issues that may arise (in particular, working with the MD, State Funding and national grants and contracts team to monitor spending for our $6M state appropriation)
• Act as the primary statewide buyer to process suppliers, invoices, purchase orders, and non-staff reimbursements
• Guide team members in applying an equity lens to finance operations, such as sourcing diverse suppliers
• Design, build, and continuously improve systems to execute excellent and sustainable finance operations
• Train and collaborate with functional team budget trackers to ensure they have systems and structures in place to track expenses on a monthly basis, meet expense report deadlines, and process payments compliantly
• Lead the process of monthly forecasting by creating efficient and effective systems, preparing reports, and meeting with team members to gain insight into spending trends
• Analyze our spending to forecast the short and long term impact of our spending choices so we can assess and adjust our approach to budget management and make recommendations for fiscal strategy

Systems, Compliance, and Administration (35%)

• Act as the statewide team's expert adviser on organizational policies
• Manage overall regional compliance, develop and maintain strong policies, processes, and systems, track and report all areas of compliance including, but not limited to: federal compliance, expenses (Visa, purchase orders, check requests, expense reports), revenue (grant documentation in TFACT, etc), administration (timesheet submission), AmeriCorps
• Design and track processes for all staff members to meet compliance expectations, including timesheets, expense report deadlines and documentation, technology, and procurement and hiring documentation
• Set goals and standards for statewide compliance, report out on progress to goals monthly, follow up and create improvement plans for staff members not meeting expectations, and make recommendations for improvement based on larger trends
• Design and lead staff training at least annually and more frequently to communicate any changes, ensure all managers have the guidance and resources to support team members
• Act as the primary contact and lead for internal audits conducted by partners and our national teams, and conduct periodic team audits
• Coordinate with vendors and national team on items related to office leases and general administration

Regional and Organizational Stewardship (15%)

Support team-wide priorities for our North Carolina regions and organizational-wide initiatives. Examples include:

• Participating in staff committees, teams and task forces
• Corps member recruitment, matriculation, interviewing and onboarding
• Team meetings and professional development
• Corps member pre-service and orientation
• Regional events and programming (such as teacher development, alumni induction, and end-of-year celebrations)
• Role check-Ins, cross-team meetings, performance management conversations, etc.
• Meet compliance expectations for timesheet, expense report, and performance management documentation and submission
• Exhibit a desire to learn and develop your cultural competence and understanding of anti-racist leadership

THE MUST HAVES

Prior Experience

• 7+ years of relevant work experience
• Previous finance, compliance, or buyer experience strongly preferred
• Experience directly overseeing finance, procurement and/or operational function preferred
• Contracts and/or legal acumen is a plus Associate or Bachelor's degree in related field strongly preferred, but not required with significant finance or procurement experience

Work Demands

• Ability to work an average of 40 hours per week, during Eastern time business hours
• Occasional evening and weekend work required
• Occasional travel to Teach For America offices across North Carolina on a quarterly/as-needed basis for team meetings

Skills

• Exceptional organizational skills and unwavering attention to detail
• Exceptional integrity and stewardship mindset
• Genuine excitement for behind-the-scenes work and using efficiency and support of others to achieve collective goals
• Demonstrated ability to create effective, efficient, user-accessible systems
• Demonstrated ability to understand resource requirements needed for managing a complex system
• Demonstrated ability to effectively and consistently track multiple tasks simultaneously to meet goals, communicate progress, and follow through with execution plans
• Demonstrated ability to navigate relationships and structures to gain support and inspire action toward shared goals
• Demonstrated ability to develop insights and generate solutions from data and experiences
• Demonstrated ability to to select appropriate data and apply analytical reasoning skills for analysis
• Strong proficiency with Outlook, Google Drive, and Excel

THE TEAM

Teach For America finds, develops, and supports equity-oriented leaders - individually and in teams - so they can transform education and expand opportunity with children, starting in the classroom. It takes a collective effort to reimagine and build equitable systems of education. Teach For America - in partnership with other champions for students across North Carolina - is a part of this work. We have nearly 300 Teach For America corps members who teach in 15 counties across Eastern North Carolina, Charlotte, and the Piedmont-Triad. Over 2,000 Teach For America alumni call the state of North Carolina home and have assumed notable positions in school leadership and education policy. Our goal is that by 2030, twice as many children in communities where we work will reach key educational milestones indicating they are on a path to economic mobility and co-creating a future filled with possibility.

The People and Operations team provides essential support to more than 40 staff members across North Carolina, ultimately ensuring the sustainability of our regions. We find joy in intentionally creating a community of peaceful, purposeful, powerful, and impact-driven leaders. We create the conditions for a transformational, equitable, and inclusive staff experience that attracts, supports, develops and sustains talented and diverse leaders in living into our Foundations.