Director of Finance & IT

Description

Financial strategy and sustainability:

• Develop and maintain HARP's financial strategy, forecasts, scenario plans, and cash-flow projections, connecting financial choices to strategic priorities. 
• Utilize financial analysis to advise the Executive Director and leadership team on risks, tradeoffs, investments, and opportunities; bringing recommendations backed by data. 
• Strengthen HARP's long-term operating model through thoughtful revenue and expense planning, reserve and capital planning, and clear measures of financial health. 
• Establish a consistent forward-looking financial review, so emerging challenges are identified early and acted on quickly and collaboratively. 
• Serve as the staff lead to the Finance Committee, partnering with the Committee Chair and Executive Director on its annual work plan, agendas, materials, and recommendations. 

Financial operations, controls, and compliance:

• Oversee all accounting and financial operations, including the general ledger, monthly and annual close, accounts payable and receivable, cash management, payroll coordination, and financial reporting. 
• Ensure accurate accounting for contributions, donor restrictions, grants and contracts, program activity, capital projects, and other nonprofit funding streams. 
• Design and maintain effective internal controls, financial policies, approval structures, and documentation that protect HARP's assets while keeping work practical and efficient. 
• Lead the annual financial statement audit and Form 990 process, ensure timely compliance with applicable requirements, and manage relationships with auditors, banks, insurers, and other financial partners. 

Budgeting, reporting, and organizational alignment:

• Lead a collaborative annual budgeting process that translates organizational priorities into a realistic and sustainable plan. 
• Create accessible dashboards and budget-to-actual reporting by department that combine financial results with the operational measures needed to understand performance. 
• Partner with department leaders to build financial understanding, clarify assumptions, understand the full cost of programs and services, and take shared accountability for results. 
• Develop clear allocation methods and reporting structures for departments, programs, restricted funds, grants, and capital activity. 

Technology, integrated systems, and data:

• Set and execute an organization-wide technology roadmap that supports HARP's strategy, staff experience, service delivery, and financial sustainability. 
• Manage external IT consultants and technology vendors, including priorities, project deliverables, contracts, budgets, performance, and issues that emerge.
• Create a coherent systems architecture across finance, fundraising/CRM, HR and payroll, animal care and operations, collaboration, and reporting platforms, in partnership with the leaders who own each function. 
• Play a lead role in building a coherent technology ecosystem from data integrity, implementation, integration, adoption, and lifecycle planning to optimize data usage across the organization. 
• Establish practical data-governance standards and ensure appropriate cybersecurity, access management, device and vendor controls, backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity practices. 

Team leadership and the culture we are building:

• Lead, coach, and develop the finance team through clear priorities, well-defined roles, regular feedback, professional growth, and shared accountability. 
• Build finance and IT as approachable, responsive service partners that help colleagues solve problems and understand the 'why' behind decisions and processes. 
• Invite input from the people closest to the work, communicate early and candidly, and design changes with the end user in mind. 
• Work across departments to replace silos with shared goals, consistent information, and clear ownership; surface problems directly and constructively. 
• Model curiosity, integrity, humility, respect, and continuous improvement. Create an environment where people can ask questions, learn from mistakes, and follow through on commitments. 

What success looks like:

The Director will help HARP reach a point where: 

• Leadership has a reliable, forward-looking view of cash, operating performance, and long-term sustainability through financial statements, dashboards, and forecasts that arrive on a dependable schedule. 
• Department leaders understand their budgets, see the connection between resources and outcomes, and feel accountable and equipped to act. 
• The Finance Committee and Board receive clear financial narratives, timely analysis, and informed recommendations. 
• HARP has an actionable technology roadmap; stronger security, fewer disconnected systems, and finance and IT are trusted throughout the organization as transparent, practical partners. 

Requirements

Required:

• Progressive leadership experience across accounting, budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, internal controls, and organizational decision support, including experience supervising and developing staff. 
• Strong knowledge of GAAP and nonprofit accounting, including net-asset classifications, donor restrictions, grants and contracts, audit preparation, and Form 990 support. 
• Demonstrated ability to build budgets and financial models, manage cash and risk, analyze complex information, and turn it into clear recommendations for nonfinancial audiences. 
• Experience working effectively with an executive leader, senior team, Finance Committee, and/or Board of Directors. 
• Experience managing IT consultants, technology vendors, systems implementations, or cross-functional integration projects. The role is not expected to be HARP's sole hands-on technician, but it must confidently lead technology priorities and partners. 
• Strong systems fluency, including accounting platforms, reporting and dashboard tools, and cloud-based business systems; ability to learn HARP's applications and improve how they work together. 
• Excellent communication, project management, judgment, and change-leadership skills, with the ability to move between strategic planning and hands-on problem solving. 
• A high level of integrity and discretion, paired with a genuine commitment to transparency, collaboration, inclusion, and HARP's animal-welfare mission. 

Preferred:

• Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, business, information systems, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience. 
• Seven or more years of progressively responsible finance and accounting experience is preferred; experience in a nonprofit, multi-site, or operationally complex organization is strongly valued. 
• CPA, CMA, MBA, or another relevant advanced credential is a plus, but is not required. 
• Experience with QuickBooks Online or a comparable accounting platform, CRM and HR/payroll integrations, business intelligence tools, cybersecurity fundamentals, and/or technology roadmap development is helpful.