Senior Director, Budgeting

About Achievement First 

Achievement First (AF) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization supporting 39 public charter schools across New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. For more than 25 years, AF has been recognized as one of the top tuition-free public charter school networks in the country. We are committed to creating schools of academic excellence within nurturing environments — schools that prepare students to be college-ready and to pursue and succeed in whatever paths they choose in life. 

The majority of AF students are Black and Latinx children from low-income families, many of whom will be the first in their families to graduate from college. Across our network, we employ more than 2,200 staff members — 64% of whom identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color — who collectively educate nearly 15,000 students in Brooklyn and Queens, NY; New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford, CT; and Providence and Cranston, RI. Our annual budget across all of our charters is approximately $350 million. 

Our mission is to prepare every student to excel in college, career, and life; deepen their understanding of self and community; and lead lives of purpose. We believe in the limitless potential within our students and their power to shape a more just society. That belief drives our deep commitment to student achievement: we aim to set a high bar for learning and create warm, demanding classrooms where rigorous instruction is paired with the care, encouragement, and consistency every student deserves. 

Your Impact 

The Senior Director of Budgeting is responsible for creating, balancing, and maintaining all school budgets and forecasts, as well as supporting the creation and maintenance of Network Support team budgets, overseeing a total budget of approximately $350 million. This includes working directly with schools and regional staff to address budget challenges, identifying and escalating issues to senior leadership, preparing Board reports, and completing all required monthly forecasting tasks.

In addition, this role owns the maintenance and operations of the budgeting and forecasting platform, Workday Adaptive Planning, and provides training and support to budget owners on both budgeting processes and technical system use.

Construct and Monitor School Budget Targets 

• Prepare annual budget model for all schools and summarize regional needs to include grant awards by charter 
• Hold meetings with team leads across Network Support, including Executive Team members and Regional Executive Directors, to determine personnel targets and non-personnel budget inputs.
• Input enrollment and staffing targets provided by Network teams.

Manage Monthly Forecasting Process

• Manage the monthly forecasting process for schools, including flagging due dates and critical information 
• Conduct budget/forecast analysis for each school/team for any items that are trending off from budget and communicate with owners on a monthly basis, at minimum. 
• Analyze school forecasts for historical trend inconsistencies and apply centralized adjustments to improve accuracy.
• Manage regional budgets by charter, and adjust modified budgets as resources are approved for deployment by Regional Executive Directors.
• Prepare quarterly Board reports analyzing data as needed
• Prepare reporting on the budget vs. forecast variance for both outside teams (KPI, CEO) and internal (CFO, Associate Chief)

Finalizing Budgets 

• Analyze options and facilitate budget trade off discussions for decision making by Regional Executive Directors and the Executive Team, as needed to achieve budget balance
• Hold budget meetings with budget owners to review process, answer questions, and ensure team is on track to balance budget for Board approvals
• Oversee annual Adaptive Planning (ERP system) budget data loading process
• Maintain system functionality, reports, integration with other systems (e.g. Intacct) and data integrity. Amend structure of system as required and with support of external vendors.

Train Budget Owners

• Provide 1:1 training for budget owners to learn about the process and how to use Adaptive Planning, and hold recurring office hours during monthly forecasting and annual budgeting processes to answer questions.
• Create and maintain budgeting and forecasting training tools and materials, including updating on an annual basis or more frequently as required.
• Develop, implement and lead recurring high-level budget training for school leaders and budget owners. 

Team Leadership 

• Manage two Senior Associate level direct reports who support budgeting and forecasting work at the organization level

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree required (B.A., B.S., B.S.N., etc.); Finance or Accounting degree strongly preferred
• Experience: 5+ years in a similar role overseeing full-cycle budget preparation and forecasting
• Strong knowledge of budgeting, forecasting, and standard accounting practices
• Effective communication skills
• Experience with Adaptive Planning preferred
• Advanced Excel skills and strong analytical abilities
• Solid understanding of KPIs and financial metrics

Hybrid Expectations  

This is a hybrid role. The person in the role will be expected to come into the Network Support office (NYC, CT, or RI) three days per week or as the work requires, plus additional occasional travel to regions outside your home region.   

Compensation
Achievement First sets salaries are set through a lens of equity, and based on the requisite skills, education, and experience relevant to the role.  The salary for this position is $130,842. In order to uphold our commitment to equity, Achievement First does not negotiate pay.  Additionally, Achievement First offers to all regular, full-time employees a comprehensive benefits package that includes paid time off, medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, a 403(b) retirement benefit package with match, and paid Family Leave.