Director of Global Finance Operations

About the role

The Director of Global Operations serves as the primary operational lead for Northeastern University's international finance and compliance function, reporting to the AVP of Tax. This role is responsible for ensuring the integrity, timeliness, and accuracy of financial operations across the University's international entities in the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, and Canada, and is the central point of coordination for all cross-jurisdictional compliance obligations. The Director partners closely with the AVP and University Controller, legal, treasury, and institutional leadership at each global location to ensure that statutory, regulatory, and operational requirements are met in each jurisdiction. The role requires both technical depth across international accounting and tax disciplines and the operational discipline to manage multiple concurrent compliance cycles across diverse legal and regulatory environments.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the operational lead for international tax compliance across the University’s global entities, including corporate tax filings, VAT/GST returns, withholding taxes, and transfer pricing documentation.
• Coordinate with external tax advisors to ensure timely and accurate filings, monitor regulatory developments, assess impacts on financial reporting and compliance, and support the AVP of Tax in maintaining global tax strategy and intercompany pricing policies.
• Maintain a comprehensive global compliance calendar covering tax, statutory, payroll, regulatory, and reporting requirements.
• Monitor upcoming changes, escalate risks, coordinate remediation, and serve as the institutional resource for jurisdiction specific compliance obligations.
• Support new international locations by establishing compliance frameworks and local service provider relationships.
• Partner with Legal on corporate governance and entity requirements, including Companies House filings in the UK, CRO filings in Ireland, MCA filings and board requirements in India, and equivalent obligations elsewhere.
• Track finance related entity requirements, including registered offices, financial year ends, authorized signatories, and statutory accounts.
• Support new entity formation through bank account establishment, local registrations, and Workday Finance configuration, including