Financial Director Jobs in Illinois

Job Title: Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

Team: People & Operations

Location: Hybrid in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), New York (NYC), or Newark (NJ)

Employment Type: Full-time

FLSA Classification: Exempt

Start Date: ASAP

Braven is a national nonprofit that prepares promising college students to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation through a career-accelerating program.

We work with higher education and employer partners to offer a life-changing experience that begins with a semester-long course for college students, followed by support that lasts through graduation.

Together, our ambition is to help rebuild the middle class and revitalize the American Dream.

To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Jobs.

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring a Director, Financial Planning & Analysis professional who will serve as a trusted resource, leader, and collaborator across the organization on financial planning, forecasting, and decision-support topics.

As a member of the Finance team within the People & Operations department, you will lead organization-wide budgeting, forecasting, and financial decision support, translating program and operational strategy into actionable financial plans.

This role is on the People & Operations team and reports directly to the Chief Finance & Admin Officer (CFAO).

Budgeting & Forecasting - 40%

• Own the annual organization-wide budget process, partnering with department and program leaders to build realistic, defensible budgets.
• Maintain rolling multi-year forecasts incorporating enrollment, funding, and headcount assumptions.
• Build and maintain scenario models (best-case, worst-case, and most-likely) to support board and executive decision-making.
• Translate program and operational strategy into financial models that quantify costs, returns, and trade-offs for leadership decisions.
• Own and lead monthly budget-to-actual variance meetings with department and program leaders, flagging risks and opportunities to leadership.
• Own a rolling cash flow forecast that models grant and gift receipt timing against operating cash needs, partnering with Development on receipt timing and flagging liquidity risk to the CFAO.
• Serve as the organization's functional owner of its budgeting and planning systems (Workday budgetary controls, Adaptive Planning), maintaining model structure, hierarchies, and dashboards each budget cycle.

Management & Board Reporting - 25%

• Build and maintain KPI dashboards tracking organizational performance against plans for leadership, the Board, and Finance Committee(s).
• Partner with Development on revenue forecasting tied to funding pipeline and multi-year grant/gift commitments.
• Prepare Board & Committee materials, including budget presentations and variance narratives.

Cross-Functional Partnership - 25%

• Serve as the primary financial planning partner to non-finance department leaders, providing independent analysis and recommendations that shape their budget decisions, including training on budgeting and planning tools and troubleshooting support.
• Partner with the Finance grants lead to ensure that grant-funded program budgets are accurately reflected in organization-wide forecasts without duplicating compliance-level detail.
• Own compensation and headcount budget modeling, partnering with the People Team on underlying assumptions.

Other duties, as assigned - 10%

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, or related field
• 5+ years of experience in FP&A, Accounting, Finance, or a related field
• 3+ years of non-profit experience, specifically comfortable with budgeting, forecasting, and board-level financial reporting

Preferred Qualifications

• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Familiarity and knowledge of accounting principles/theories (GAAP, FASB)
• Prior experience with an ERP implementation or major system migration strongly preferred (Workday specifically a plus)
• Experience with budgeting/reporting tools such as Workday Adaptive Planning a plus
• Team player and business partner who demonstrates the ability to work in a collegial, collaborative, and fast-paced organization
• Strong listening skills, empathy, patience, and the ability to lead through influence and by example
• Effective project, time, process, and people management skills which enables them to manage multiple, changing priorities and initiatives, and to "get things done" in a timely manner
• Demonstrated commitment to building strong and welcoming cultures that help to develop others.
• Exemplification of Braven’s core values.
• Experience that has informed your belief in Braven’s mission and has prepared you to work with, or for, Braven’s student Fellow population.

Please know that no one ever meets 100% of the preferred qualifications. If much of this describes you, we encourage you to apply.

Work Demands

• Ability to work in-person in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), New York City (NYC), or Newark (NJ) 3 days per week
• Travel up to 4 times per year
• Extended hours during budget season and monthly close cycle

Additional Requirements

• Authorized to work in the U.S.
• Braven doesn’t offer employment visa sponsorship

Application & Interview Process

While the interview process may vary slightly, the general process will be:

• Phone screen with Talent Team member
• Performance Task
• Interview with Hiring Manager
• Panel Interview with Key Partners
• Reference Checks

Braven offers opportunities for salary growth over time. We believe in compensating staff members fairly relative to one another, their qualifications, and their impact on the organization, and we take internal and external equity seriously. Given our commitment to equity, Braven does not negotiate salary offers; instead, each offer is carefully determined using external and internal benchmarks.

The hiring range is determined by role scope, qualifications, and internal equity, with annual growth based on performance. Braven does not base compensation on individual candidate salary expectations and is committed to maintaining internal equity. The hiring ranges for this role by geographic market are set forth in Atlanta at $95,900-$103,000, Chicago at $101,200-$108,700 and New York City/Newark at $111,300-$119,600. This is based on a 50-hour work week. This is a full-time, regular, exempt, and benefits-eligible position where you will be working at 100% capacity.

Braven also provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include:

• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (this is a minimum of 20 days per year)
• Braven supports your path to parenthood and beyond with $25,000 in lifetime Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health
• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Please note that Braven is firm in its compensation philosophy; therefore, only candidates who believe our total rewards package aligns with what they are looking for in their next opportunity are encouraged to apply.

Location

We gather in the office 3 days a week (Tuesday through Thursday) and work remotely 2 days a week (Monday and Friday). Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of one of our hubs: Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, or Newark. We believe in the magic, connection, and collaboration that happens when people work together face-to-face, and we believe in giving people flexibility to focus, balance personal priorities, and save themselves two commutes per week.

Braven is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor. We encourage talented individuals of all backgrounds to apply.