Senior Associate, Operations Planning and Budget

Senior Associate, Operations Planning and Budget (Hybrid)

Department Overview

Pew’s Finance department is committed to serving as an excellent steward of financial resources; providing accurate, reliable, timely, and cost-effective finance and accounting related products and services; and delivering extraordinary customer service on a sustained basis.

The Finance department desires to ensure each position is fully aligned with Pew’s mission, strategic priorities, and results-oriented culture; and filled by a person with the competencies, skills, experience, and adaptability necessary to deliver extraordinary results on a sustained basis. The Finance department strives to provide a great workplace for competent, highly motivated, customer service and results-oriented people whose leadership qualities and core values align with the Pew’s high-performing and mission-driven culture.

Pew’s Finance department is comprised of two areas, (1) Controller and (2) Planning and Budgeting, Contracts and Procurement, and Treasury Services. Controller is comprised of (i) accounting and financial reporting and (ii) payroll and payment services. Planning and Budgeting, Contracts and Procurement, and Treasury Services is comprised of (i) planning and budgeting for program and operations; (ii) contract and procurement services; (iii) grant management; and (iv) investment management and banking services.

Position Overview

The Senior Associate, Operations Planning and Budget, supports the Manager, Operations Planning and Budget in providing operations units with full-service budgeting and financial services. The Senior Associate will work directly with the operations area’s staff to create and monitor the operations budgets and forecasts; provide accurate and timely financial reporting; ensure compliance with adopted policies and procedures and provide a high level of customer service to management and operations staff.  The Senior Associate will also serve a cross-cutting role, working with the Senior Manager to support Tableau reporting development needs and the Manager Program Planning and Budget to support Government Performance projects.

The ideal candidate will possess relevant nonprofit accounting and finance knowledge and experience, including budgeting, program reporting, donor reporting and financial analysis, as well as display a can-do attitude focused on process improvement and building internal relationships with operations, program, and IT staff. Skills required include, but are not limited to, strong customer service, interpersonal and communications skills, excellent Excel skills, and strong problem solving and analytical skills. The ideal candidate works well in a team environment, will enjoy learning about operations, program, and Tableau reporting and will apply this knowledge to process improvements.

This position is based in Pew’s Washington, DC office and reports to the position reports to the Manager, Operations Planning and Budget. This position participates in Pew’s hybrid work program with core days in the office and the flexibility to telework the remaining days. Staff also enjoy four telework “flex weeks” per year.

Responsibilities 

• Develop and maintain a high level of knowledge about Pew’s accounting, finance, budgeting, procurement, and contracting policies, procedures, and practices (e.g. commitment authority, spending authority, expense policies, foreign currency policy, month-end and year-end close processes, financial code/chart of accounts); and remain current as new policies, procedures, and practices are implemented.
• Work with operations and program staff to create or modify expense budgets for executive review and approval.  This includes educating staff as necessary on how to complete budget templates and interpret budget revenue and spending guidance; and ensure the timely and accurate uploading of all budget templates into the appropriate PeopleSoft modules.
• Work with operations and program staff to monitor actual expenses against budget; explain material budget variances; highlight areas of concern and propose options to address these concerns; and perform analytics to inform timely and accurate decision-making.
• Work with program and Pew’s philanthropic partnership group to develop donor budget proposals, track donor spending (ensuring spending is in compliance with donor agreements), and provide donor financial reports.
• Work with the Manager, Planning and Budget to provide Tableau reporting support and development.
• Deliver high quality customer service to external and internal customers and develop strong relationships with identified customers.
• Prepare presentations and training to support the implementation/rollout of new/ongoing budget and financial management processes/process improvements.  This includes working across P&B to identify and implement reporting efficiencies.

Requirements 

• Generally requires 4 years of progressively responsible accounting/finance experience, and a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Grant, contract, project, donor, or cost accounting experience a plus
• MS-Excel expertise, including pivot tables, macros & importing/exporting data.
• Tableau Reports experience or comparable business intelligence and analytics software experience
• ERP systems experience (PeopleSoft Financials a plus).
• Budgeting and maintaining forecasts skills.
• Business process improvement experiences a plus.
• Strong analytical and customer services skills are required.
• Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal and presentation skills including the ability to effectively interface with staff and management.

Travel

This position does not require travel.

Salary Range

$74,400 USD - $83,200 USD

The salary range represents a reasonable estimate of the annual salary based on Pew’s commitment to provide equitable and market-competitive pay. The actual salary offered will take into consideration many factors including but not limited to job-related knowledge, skills and experience, internal pay equity, and business need.

Total Rewards

We offer a competitive salary and benefit program, including: comprehensive, affordable health care through medical, dental, and vision coverage; financial security with life and disability insurance; opportunities to save using health savings and flexible spending accounts; retirement benefits to help prepare for the future; and work/life benefits to maintain a good balance.

Pew is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, or any other protected characteristics.