Apply to be LION’s Director of Finance and Operations

Title: Director of finance and operations

Status: Full-time

Location: Remote

Salary: Will be competitive and commensurate with experience

Benefits: Eligible for benefits

Job description: 

LION Publishers, an association serving aspiring and existing independent news entrepreneurs, has doubled the size of its team in just a year and is now seeking a senior leader to help lead its financial and operational work.

Our director of finance and operations will design and build LION’s financial, administrative and operational functions to ensure effective and efficient systems and processes that support our people and programming, and promote our sustainability and growth. 

The main job responsibilities will focus on financial management, people operations, administration, and systems design.

Below we’ve shared a breakdown of this person’s job responsibilities and requirements for our ideal candidate. We know that not all candidates will have all the skills and experience we’ve listed, and that’s okay. We encourage you to apply and tell us what you bring to the table.

Job responsibilities:

Financial management

• Lead organizational budgeting process and advise the Executive Director and Deputy Director on financial planning and spending decisions
• Manage day-to-day financial practices in collaboration with LION’s vendor, and monitor financials against expense and revenue projections throughout the year 
• Manage and coordinate financial reporting for grants and contracts
• Manage audit and 990 process
• Continuously update and improve financial policies and procedures in adherence with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

People operations

• Design policies, processes, and systems for recruitment, hiring, performance management, and employee support
• Collaborate with vendor to manage payroll, benefits and employment paperwork, and identify knowledge and systems gaps where HR consultants can supplement

• Oversee the onboarding and offboarding processes for LION employees, contractors, and members of our Board of Directors
• Lead planning of virtual or in-person retreats with support from staff
• Hire and manage at least one staff person to handle key aspects of administration and operations, including scheduling, document and record management, and other day-to-day operating needs 

Administration and systems design

• Maintain annual compliance tasks like business registry filings, renewing organizational insurance 
• Manage consulting agreements, ensuring that engagements are structured and documented appropriately
• Manage the organization’s tools and resources, and ensure the LION team has the necessary equipment, software, supplies and access to what they need to successfully perform their roles
• Create back-end systems for tracking the impact of LION’s work across the organization, including organizational KPIs

Desired skills and competencies: 

• Have a minimum of 7–10 years professional operations design experience: You’ve been involved in building systems, processes and functions from scratch and have the ability to research and adapt best practices based on LION’s needs. 
• Have knowledge of and practice in non-profit accounting principles and standards: You have experience with the fundamentals of nonprofit financial management, including budgeting, funding restrictions, internal controls, compliance activities such as audit and 990, and the key components of a nonprofit balance sheet. You must be prepared to support a growing national nonprofit with employees, operations, funders and partners in multiple states.
• Demonstrate experience with at least two areas of the end-to-end employee process: For example, you’ve been responsible for work such as recruitment/hiring, onboarding, performance management, employee support, and coaching. You have a sense of where to go for additional guidance and support in areas where you don’t have direct experience.
• Be able to prioritize and plan: You intuitively know how to prioritize the most important work that will have the most immediate, highest impact, and to simultaneously plan for longer-range projects.
• Be a strong problem solver: You can dig into a messy or unclear situation and find a way forward. You also can organize data and information to help shape decision making.  
• Be customer-service oriented: You get excited about making systems and processes easy to use, can describe complicated processes in a clear, jargon-free way, and want to contribute to a positive, collaborative culture by supporting colleagues and other key organizational stakeholders. 

About LION Publishers

LION Publishers, which launched in 2012 as a network of independent news publishers across the United States, formalized itself as a nonprofit in 2019, hired a full-time staff and has since launched a suite of programs including a boot camp for aspiring news founders, three month-long courses focused on specific skills news entrepreneurs need to develop, a joint effort to seed and support news startups in underserved communities, and, most recently, a program to help existing independent news entrepreneurs with coaching and capital. 

You’ll report to executive director Chris Krewson and work closely with deputy director Anika Anand. Submit your application using this form by April 4, 2021. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

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LION Publishers encourages applications from diverse backgrounds and underrepresented communities. We desire to build an organization and grow a membership that welcomes and encourages participation from all interested individuals.