Senior Finance Director, North America Region

The Nature Conservancy•Austin, TX

2d•$180,000 - $270,000•Remote

About The Position

The Senior Director of Finance, North America Region (NAR) is a senior position with responsibility for financial strategy and management of the North America Region including the Western US & Canada, Pacific, Great Plains, Midwest, Southern, Northeast, New York, and Caribbean divisions. This role is a member of the Finance Leadership team, reporting to the Head of Global Finance, with a dotted line to the Executive Vice President, North America, Caribbean and Micronesia. This role is responsible for both developing and leading major enterprise finance initiatives as well as implementing and owning the execution of these initiatives in the region. This role must demonstrate effective leadership through relationship-building, collaboration, change management and communication. They are accountable for supporting the development of quarterly forecasts, annual budgets and multi-year plans as well as the overall financial management and fiscal sustainability of North America. The Senior Director develops close relationships and builds trust with key stakeholders through effective collaboration and persuasive communication. They facilitate and lead strategic dialogues with senior-level stakeholders, identify key challenges and opportunities, and develop actionable recommendations and solutions. Additionally, the Senior Director is responsible for managing a large team of finance staff across the region and with management layers, encouraging cross-divisional learning and collaboration, building effective teams, developing strong governance models and ultimately ensuring sound financial management. They ensure all activity within their scope of responsibility is performed in accordance with TNC's policies and procedures and industry standards. This role is remote and can be based anywhere in the continental US or Canadian provinces of Ontario, Alberta, or Northwest Territories.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Finance, Accounting, or Business Administration and 11 years related work experience, including at the senior level, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Organization-wide oversight experience in several major finance areas, such as Accounting, Note Management, Cash Management, Cash/Investment planning, or similar in a scale of >$800M.
Experience conceiving and implementing major strategic initiatives, not just tactical projects.
Experience managing the finances of an organization-wide program, including setting financial goals, analyzing results, and taking corrective actions.
Experience working at a senior level with a demonstrated partnership track record with C-suite and other senior leaders.
Extensive experience supervising remote professional staff of teams of 25 or more and leading across management layers.
Either a) knowledge of not-for-profit accounting principles, practices and regulations OR b) for-profit finance experience in a global, matrixed management structure with experience navigating matrixed leaders and dedicated financial partners for regions/BUs. If the latter, must be willing to learn not-for-profit accounting and finance.
Experience with complex accounting/financial issues.
Experience performing complex financial analysis and financial reporting.
Experience leading long-range planning and forecasts.
Experience using complex financial systems and analytical tools.
Experience working with senior management and Board of Directors, or equivalent, on finance-related issues.
Extensive experience with GAAP.

Nice To Haves

CPA or MBA.
Experience working with not-for-profit financial and government grants accounting and reporting.
Expert knowledge of current and evolving trends in relevant discipline.
Experience with Workday (nice, but can be learned).
Extensive management experience including ability to motivate, lead, set objectives, and manage performance of a large multi-disciplinary team.
Ability to foster an environment of creativity and professional growth.
Experience using high levels of patience, perseverance and political savvy for managing inclusive processes in a highly decentralized environment.
Successful experience in developing, directing and managing multiple projects.
Superb communication and presentation skills.
Successful track record recruiting, supervising and developing high performance staff.
Multi-lingual skills and/or multi-cultural experience appreciated.

Responsibilities

Serve as a strategic thought leader and partner for the EVP of North America, Caribbean and Micronesia, with a focus on long-range and annual planning and budgeting, business development, and financial sustainability.
Effectively collaborate with divisional and business unit leadership teams across these areas in financial planning and strategic decision-making to enhance program quality and impact.
Be responsible for the financial management of the North America Region including developing and setting budgets and monitoring expenses, analyzing results, and taking corrective actions.
Play a key role in important strategic financial and organization-wide initiatives and projects including operating model implementation, redesigning our approach to resource allocation, full cost budgeting and indirect cost recovery, and building a multi-year financial plan, among others.
Work effectively across key regions and business units with the Chief Conservation Office, Development, and other areas to integrate strategic conservation and campaign priorities with annual and multi-year financial plans.
Provide strategic financial planning & analysis support for major conservation projects and programs.
Implement strategic, integrated, and collaborative approaches to the quarterly forecasting, annual planning & budgeting, and multi-year planning processes for the North America Region and the entire organization.
Introduce, improve and implement best practices to ensure consistency and clarity of financial planning, reporting and analysis across finance teams within regions and business units.
Communicate effectively in both written and verbal form, including the ability to synthesize key takeaways, succinctly and convincingly communicate analysis & recommendations, and prepare presentations and reports for senior leaders.
Serve both in a leadership role within Finance and to the North America Region, a direct supervisor to ten (10) team members and an overall team of over 100 staff providing effective people management, development and support.
Report on North America to Finance leadership and BOD Finance Committee, represents the Finance Division on committees with organization-wide scope. Serves as a member of the Finance Leadership Team.
Ensure alignment with TNC priorities, governance standards, and long-term financial sustainability across all North America divisions and business units.
Provide trusted, respected strategic support through timely and accurate financial reports, projections, models, and analysis to the CFO, Executive Leadership Team (ELT), and key leaders.
Play a significant role in sound and fact-based strategic decision-making, providing perspective across the enterprise.
Analyze, identify trends, proactively communicate insights and help prioritize the capital allocation and resource investments to execute on our strategy and goals.
Ensures programmatic commitments, TNC policies and procedures, financial standards and legal requirements are met and managed for ethical compliance.
Provides oversight for comprehensive policies, procedures, and institutional guidelines related to finance function.
Contribute to clear communication of financial performance, goals and metrics to senior leaders, the Board of Directors (BOD), and broader organization.
Continuously raise the bar on our financial insight capabilities/tools and models to meet current and future needs of the organization.
Work with programs to develop, review and monitor budgets, forecasts and multi-year financial plans for the region, divisions, and business units.
Assist in the negotiations for complex, high profile, or sensitive agreements and provide financial expertise on special projects.
Engage in recruitment / training of new finance staff that report to this position or others.
Maintain confidentiality of sensitive information.
Accountable for meeting Finance strategic goals and objectives, including ability to effectively handle multiple competing priorities and deadlines under pressure and be accountable for results.
Willingness to travel domestically and/or international approximately 10-20% of the time.
Work environment involves only infrequent exposure to disagreeable elements and minor physical exertion and/or strain.
Participates in the formulation and evaluation of enterprise-wide organizational policies and standards.