Manager of Implementations – Financials Team
Location: Des Plaines, IL
Reports to: CEO
Compensation: Competitive salary + benefits + bonus
About Common Goal Systems
Common Goal Systems (www.common-goal.com) provides innovative, SaaS solutions for K-12 schools, empowering districts to manage student information, financial operations, and communication with greater efficiency. Our Financials suite encompasses HR, Payroll, AR/AP, and Budget Management.
We’re seeking a Manager of Implementations – Financials Team to lead the delivery of onboarding implementations for our Financials solution to 50+ new K-12 school districts annually. This is a highly visible, hands-on leadership role, reporting directly to the CEO, where you will shape strategy, drive operational excellence, and lead a team of talented implementation professionals.
Common Goal Systems is a closely held private company without external investors. As a consequence our culture and decision-making process are rare within the industry. We take a long-term view of the business and pursue excellence every day. We choose to optimize customer satisfaction, employee development, and product quality over short-term profitability or shareholder value. If you’ve ever felt frustrated by poor decisions forced upon your employer by self-interested investors, our company will likely be a “breath of fresh air.”
What You’ll Do
- Coach and Lead – Own the day-to-day operations of the team while supporting their long-term growth and career development
- Performance Management – Set clear KPIs, monitor progress, and drive accountability through mentorship and regular reviews.
- Strategic Leadership – Develop and execute a multi-year vision for the team, including staffing plans and process improvements to meet growing demand.
- Operational Excellence – Create scalable processes that support customer training and long-term satisfaction
- Cross-Functional Collaboration – Work closely with Sales, Product, and Engineering to ensure smooth handoffs, gather customer feedback, and influence product enhancements.
- Executive Reporting – Provide regular updates to the CEO and senior leadership on progress toward goals, implementation pipeline health, and resource needs.
What Excites You
- Being customer focused - Helping people do their job fills your cup
- Leading a talented team that is deeply committed to helping K-12 districts succeed.
- Balancing high-level strategic planning with hands-on involvement in critical projects.
- Being an intrapreneur who works well with ambiguity and strives to deliver a meaningful positive impact.
- Working closely with other leaders to create a seamless customer journey from contract signing to full adoption.
- Solving complex implementation challenges in a way that builds trust with school district leaders and staff.
What Excites Us
- You have a proven track record of leading implementation or onboarding teams in a SaaS or ERP environment, preferably in the K-12 or public sector space.
- You combine strategic thinking with operational discipline—able to create a vision and roll up your sleeves to get it done.
- You’re data-driven and comfortable using metrics to make decisions and improve performance.
- You are an empathetic leader who knows how to mentor and inspire a team, fostering growth and accountability.
- You’re skilled at navigating multi-stakeholder environments and building trust with senior executives.
Qualifications
- 7+ years of experience in implementation, onboarding, or professional services for a technology company; at least 3 years in a leadership role.
- Experience managing ERP, financial systems, or HR/payroll software implementations.
- Strong understanding of K-12 school district operations, financial workflows, and compliance requirements is highly preferred.
- Proven success managing multiple concurrent projects at scale.
- Excellent communication, facilitation, and executive presentation skills.
- Ability to analyze and optimize workflows for efficiency and scalability.
- Familiarity with project management tools.
- Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Computer Science, Psychology, or related field.
Why Join Common Goal Systems?
- Mission-Driven Impact – Your work directly helps schools operate more efficiently so they can focus on educating students.
- Autonomy with Support – You’ll have the freedom to shape the team’s future while collaborating with an engaged leadership group.
- Growth Potential – As we expand, you’ll have opportunities to lead new initiatives and scale your leadership impact.
- Pursuit of Excellence – We pride ourselves on doing what’s right for our customers, each other, and the product.
- Unique Company Culture – Join a team unlike any other in the industry, with a focus on long-term decision making and stewardship of our community.
Top Skills
What We Do
Common Goal Systems, a private company founded in 2001, develops and markets Internet services to the educational market. TeacherEase, our first product, came on-line for the 2001-02 school year. The company has been profitable since 2004. SchoolInsight was released in 2006. Our services are currently in use by over 1000 schools, 50,000 teachers, and 500,000 parents/students.
Why Work With Us
Common Goal Systems is a closely held private company without external investors. Our culture and decision-making process are rare. We take a long-term view of the business and pursue excellence every day. We choose to optimize customer satisfaction, employee development, and product quality over short-term profitability or shareholder value.
