Director of School Finance

Essential Functions

• Leading School Finance Delivery:
  • Manage and coach a team of school finance professionals, including senior managers and managers.
  • Full responsibility for hiring, development, performance, and retention.
  • Develop team members’ ability to serve as fractional CFOs for K–12 schools.
  • Support their growth in multi-year planning, forecasting, board reporting, audit preparation, and budget variance analysis.
  • Guide team members in supporting school leaders through complex or time-sensitive decisions with clear financial insights and risk context.
  • Create a culture of accountability, growth, and continuous improvement by embedding systems for feedback, learning, and quality assurance.
  • Set expectations for clear, service-oriented, and values-driven financial advising across the team.
  • Serve as the primary escalation path for client issues that require senior judgment, cross-team alignment, or crisis navigation.
• Sub-Regional Oversight, Growth & Retention:
  • Own long-term relationships with schools in the region, leading renewal efforts and supporting leadership transitions to maintain continuity of service.
  • Grow Vertex’s Finance & Accounting service line within the sub-region by identifying new school partnerships and expanding the team’s delivery capacity.
  • Partner with internal teams to expand support where other Vertex services can advance a school’s educational or operational goals, strengthening both school impact and the region’s overall service portfolio.
  • Support onboarding of new and pre-launch schools, ensuring smooth transitions into Vertex's service ecosystem.
  • In select cases, directly manage a small caseload of high-profile or strategic school partners, where senior-level engagement is critical.
• Service Model Design & Cross-Functional Collaboration:
  • Help evolve Vertex’s school finance service model by supporting design, testing, and development of core offerings, internal routines, and teamwide practices.
  • Lead or contribute to initiatives that improve efficiency, equity, and clarity across how finance services are delivered.
  • Partner with leaders across other service lines (e.g., HR, Enrollment Marketing, etc.) to ensure that financial services are coordinated with other school supports.
  • Serve as a thought partner to peers across the organization, helping connect school needs to internal strategy and capacity-building efforts.
• Infrastructure, Systems & Quality Assurance:
  • Advise on and co-develop templates, tools, documentation practices, and workflows that enable scale and consistency across the school finance team.
  • Uphold and support enhancement of internal standards for deliverables—budgets, board decks, monthly financials—and build systems to ensure adherence.
  • Collaborate with systems, analytics, and data teams to improve use of platforms like NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and Vena and ensure reports are timely, accurate, and actionable.
  • Monitor quality metrics and internal review processes, resolving service or process breakdowns proactively.

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Data Analytics, or a related quantitative field.
• Experience: 10+ years of progressive experience in financial leadership roles, with demonstrated success in managing budgets, audits, and financial planning for K–12 schools or mission-driven organizations.
• Experience managing and coaching professionals, including responsibility for hiring, development, and performance management.
• Prior experience directly supporting school leaders and boards, including ownership of board-ready financial materials and participation in annual audits.
• Deep knowledge of public funding models, compliance requirements, and financial operations in the K–12 or charter school space in California.
• Proven ability to serve as a strategic thought partner to senior education leaders navigating complex financial and operational environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Experience overseeing a regional or multi-client finance service portfolio, preferably within an education or charter school support organization.
• Familiarity with enterprise financial systems such as NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Workday, or Vena.
• Experience designing and implementing service models, internal infrastructure, or standard team-wide practices.

Location

Candidates should live in California or in the Phoenix, AZ area. In exceptional cases, individuals with demonstrated, deep expertise in California charter school finance who reside elsewhere may be considered.