Director, Finance Operations

Adelphi Group•New York, NY

2d•$90,000 - $215,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Finance Operations is a senior leader on the Orion Finance Operations team, responsible for leading assigned agency, client, vendor, and/or centralized portfolios across Finance Operations. Reporting directly to the Vice President, Finance Operations, this role is accountable for service delivery, operational governance, financial controls, stakeholder partnership, team performance, and continuous improvement across complex media-finance workflows. The Director oversees processes supporting client media schedules, billings, vendor payments, receivables, reconciliations, aging, month-end close, reporting, and data integrity across applicable media types. The role partners with Investment, Finance, Accounting, Client Finance, Master Data Management, GCC, Shared Services, agencies, clients, and media vendors to establish clear ownership, consistent execution, timely escalation, and resolution of operational and financial risks. The role calls for a strategic, detail-oriented Finance Operations leader with deep media-industry experience, the ability to lead teams and cross-functional stakeholders, and skill interpreting data across multiple systems. The Director translates complex financial and operational issues into action plans and strengthens processes, controls, capacity, and accountability in a fast-paced environment.

Requirements

At least 8 years of experience in Finance Operations, media finance, accounting operations, or a related field, including progressive leadership responsibility.
Media-industry experience is required.
Demonstrated experience leading complex operational portfolios, financial close activities, reconciliations, aging, and cross-functional process dependencies.
Experience managing and developing teams, including Managers and/or junior Finance Operations professionals.
Experience partnering with shared-service organizations, offshore teams, agencies or clients, media vendors, and senior internal stakeholders.
Experience with media buying and financial systems is required.
Advanced Microsoft Excel proficiency, including Pivot Tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, data analysis, and template development; proficiency with PowerPoint and other Microsoft Office applications.
Strong financial, analytical, problem-solving, and data-reconciliation skills, including synthesizing information from multiple systems and sources.
Ability to lead through ambiguity, identify operational and financial risks, develop practical solutions, and drive issues through resolution.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including presenting complex information, recommendations, and escalation plans to senior operational and Finance leadership.
Ability to translate complex issues into action plans, ownership assignments, service expectations, metrics, and status updates for varied stakeholders.
Strong leadership, coaching, and stakeholder-management skills, including building accountability across cross-functional and shared-service teams.
Strong understanding of financial controls and the importance of compliance with SOX and company policies.
Exceptional organizational skills, attention to detail, sound judgment, and ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
High integrity, accountability, professionalism, and ownership.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting media buying, billing, reconciliation, vendor payment, or financial-control workflows is strongly preferred.
Mediaocean experience, including PRISMA and/or MBOX, is strongly preferred.
Experience leading process-improvement, change-management, governance, operating-model, or new-business implementation initiatives is preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead Finance Operations service delivery across assigned agency, client, vendor, and/or centralized portfolios, including applicable media, billing, vendor-payment, reconciliation, aging, reporting, and data-integrity workflows.
Serve as a senior liaison to Investment, Finance, Accounting, Client Finance, Master Data Management, GCC, Shared Services, agencies, clients, media vendors, and other business stakeholders.
Set strategic direction for portfolio priorities, workload allocation, service expectations, issue resolution, risk management, and operational performance.
Establish and maintain workflow ownership, escalation paths, handoffs, controls, and service expectations.
Oversee month-end close activities, including preparation, review, approval, and timely submission of upload files and related financial-system outputs.
Ensure financial data in media systems and related operational tools is accurate, complete, timely, and compliant.
Oversee reconciliations across media payables, prepaid media, accounts receivable, trade owed balances, billing activity, unapplied cash, and other operational accounts, including applicable Programmatic receivables, payment trackers, SSP, publisher-direct, and Orion credit reconciliations.
Lead preparation, review, and escalation of aged balances, including capital and Programmatic aging; ensure regular reviews, action plans, and follow-up with business teams and Finance leadership.
Partner with Accounting to reconcile media-system balances to the balance sheet and investigate, resolve, document, and escalate discrepancies.
Partner with Client Finance to oversee intercompany workflows, transactions, and related reconciliations.
Oversee applicable National Linear operations, including IMR tracking, affidavits, billing, invoice revisions, MBOX/live bill activity, and related reconciliations.
Lead or support client task forces and cross-functional initiatives involving billing, payments, reconciliation, cash application, data integrity, or process issues.
Represent Finance Operations in assessing, designing, and implementing new or evolving media products, client solutions, and business models; establish scalable workflows, financial controls, system requirements, and ownership models.
Establish, monitor, and communicate portfolio performance metrics and goals, including receivables, cash application, media payables, aging, billing timeliness, reconciliation status, service delivery, and operational quality.
Ensure accurate, timely, and actionable reporting on performance, workload, aging, financial risks, outstanding items, and portfolio status; contribute to Finance Leadership Dashboard reporting and commentary as applicable.
Partner with GCC and Shared Services to set service expectations, coordinate delegated activities and handoffs, review output quality and completeness, resolve exceptions, and ensure timely follow-up.
Ensure compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), internal policies, and control requirements; identify gaps and lead remediation across assigned workflows.
Evaluate operational performance, identify process gaps and control risks, and lead improvements to governance, efficiency, scalability, and continuity; maintain appropriate documentation, controls, training materials, and backup coverage.
Lead, coach, and develop Managers, Analysts, and Assistant Analysts; set priorities, allocate resources, provide feedback, build subject-matter expertise, and promote accountability and collaboration.
Partner with the Vice President, Finance Operations on strategic planning, business-growth readiness, capacity planning, team design, hiring, stakeholder communications, and broader Finance Operations initiatives.
Support ad hoc Finance Operations analyses, executive reporting, and business initiatives as needed.