Finance Chief Financial Officer
Job Description
About Rocky Mountain Prep
There are many public charter schools and many models. Rocky Mountain Prep prides itself on being different. We balance rigor and love – taking head on the challenges that make a person academically successful and building the relationships that make them emotionally independent. We teach our scholars through our PEAK values of Perseverance, Excellence, Adventure, and Kindness, and we strive to value our scholars as people, not just as numbers pointing to achievement. Our model has made us one of the most successful networks in Denver – leading our scholars to both academic success, and more importantly, to a love of learning rooted in a joyful school and a tight-knit community.
RMP is committed to hiring staff representing diverse backgrounds and experiences. We have made it our goal to partner with diverse communities and we know that the better we are at hiring from backgrounds that challenge our own understanding, the better we will be at educating the scholars that need it the most. Diversity means a lot of different things and a Rocky Mountain Prep staff member is one that embraces what makes them unique and uses that as a guiding force in becoming an excellent educator and leader.
About the Role
The Chief Financial Officer is responsible for ensuring our students, staff, and schools have the resources available to improve student outcomes today, this year, and over the next five years.
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) leads the annual budget planning process, advises and coaches senior leadership on budget and financial matters, and ensures a coordinated approach to the effective use of all resources. The CFO will report to the CEO, and will be responsible for facilitating and driving financial plans at the board level, the chief level, and the manager levels of the organization. The CFO also coordinates the financial team and works hand-in-hand with people, operations, and program functions, providing critical decision-making input, to ensure responsible use of resources towards maximum impact towards Rocky Mountain Prep’s key priorities.
Responsibilities of the Chief Financial Officer include
- Strategically manage RMP resources to maximize student achievement: Develop strategies to shift resource use as needed across RMP to align to a 3-5 year financial model that assumes all schools are financially sustainable on public funding.
- Maintain healthy cash reserves for RMP: RMP maintains 90 days of cash, ensuring adequate reserves while all available resources are invested to advance student learning.
- Manage accurate and on-time reporting to authorizers: Generate annual, quarterly and monthly requirements for financial reporting, including strong annual audits.
- Launch strong budget management systems for schools and managers: Launch systems that enable NST managers and school APOs to actively track and manage their budgets monthly, including landing within +/- 2% of expense targets annually for functional, school, and network-wide budgets.
- Accurate and regular reporting to board: Present clear output, and lead board members through information with context in a way that welcomes and brings along all participants for discussion; rehearse with cabinet team
- Lead your team toward ambitious annual goals: Lead a small finance team towards strong outcomes, while also managing non-direct reports across NST and school teams to meet financial goals.
Key Competencies
- Financial Management – Understands the best practices regarding the rules, policies, regulations, and procedures for finances within the nonprofit sector. Knowledgeable about budgeting, projecting, monitoring, reporting, auditing, etc. and applies protocols to safeguard use of financial resources effectively and economically.
- Analytical Thinking – Conducts cause and effect analysis in a systematic, step-by-step manner that includes identifying key issues, testing hypotheses, diagnosing problems and opportunities, making sound inferences from information, and drawing logical conclusions to make recommendations on actions.
- Strategic Outlook and Alignment – Thinks strategically about issues likely to impact Rocky Mountain Prep over the long-term, deeply understands our organizational strengths and weaknesses, and develops long-term organizational strategy that aligns with our vision and long-term plan.
- Personal Agility – Demonstrates a positive attitude, resilience and openness to change. Adapts one’s approach as the requirements of a situation change, is comfortable in ambiguous situations, and works effectively in a variety of settings with individuals and groups of diverse backgrounds and experiences.
- Culture Add – Internalizes RMP’s mission and vision and excites others about what’s possible for our scholars, families, and communities. Understands importance of RMP being a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization; shows daily commitment to diversity and mission, including various perspectives in work.
- Core Values – Internalizes, embodies, champions, and holds others accountable to the RMP core values of perseverance, excellence, adventure and kindness. Brings a diverse perspective, a strong desire to learn, and a spirit of generosity and curiosity to the team.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree required
- M.B.A. or Master’s in Finance highly preferred
- Minimum of 5 years in a leadership position and/or in management consulting highly preferred
- Experience in leading in a public K-12 school system highly preferred
- Must be authorized to work in the United States and pass a comprehensive background check.
Salary & Benefits
Rocky Mountain Prep offers a competitive compensation and benefits package. The salary starts at $100k+ annually. Exact salary will be determined based on professional experience.
