LION is hiring a Finance Manager!

*As of 11 p.m. PT on October 5, 2025, this application is now closed.

Status: Full-time exempt (not eligible for overtime), with 90-day introductory period (see details below)

Reports to: Director of Finance & Operations

Location: Remote within USA

Compensation: $85,000, eligible for benefits (see details below)

Job Summary

We are looking for our next mission support team member! Are you passionate about the stories that financial statements tell? Are your spreadsheets crystal clear works of art? Do you take satisfaction from a properly categorized expense? If so, you could be LION’s next Finance Manager.

The Finance Manager will strengthen LION’s financial infrastructure as the organization grows and diversifies its revenue. The ideal candidate has a baseline understanding of nonprofit financial operations (e.g. processing AP and AR, nonprofit GAAP) and wants to grow into strategic financial management responsibilities (e.g. interpreting financial statements for the Board, playing an active role in financial planning and analysis). We are looking for someone who is organized, accountable, and who appreciates how attention to detail supports the big picture. This role will work closely with the entire LION team, especially the Director of Finance & Operations and Operations Manager, as well as our external bookkeepers.

Key Responsibilities

• Financial Management (75%)
  • Understand the financial picture of LION
    • Know the story behind the numbers
    • Understand and accurately apply revenue and expense coding, terms of restricted revenue
    • Inform board, finance committee and staff of financial position 
  • Manage Accounts Payable process
    • Coding review and support to staff members with credit card coding
    • Ensure timely approvals
    • Ensure sufficient cash balance in Checking
    • Initiate payment
    • Reconcile independent contractor payments with Operations Manager 
  • Manage Accounts Receivable process
    • Generate and send invoices for sponsorships, contracts, etc.
    • Monitor for payment, flag unpaid invoices for follow-up
  • Manage Month Close process
    • Provide bank statements, data and coding review to bookkeepers
    • Reconcile revenue and payment records with Development Director
    • Forecast 30 day cash flow
  • Support departments’ financial management
    • Review budget to actuals with each department
    • Serve as main point of contact for questions about spending and funder requirements
  • Support budgeting and financial planning processes
    • Update year end financial forecast on a regular basis
    • Collaborate with Director of Finance & Operations on creation of grant budgets, annual budget
• Grant Compliance Management (25%)
  • Ensure that restricted grant budgets and spend-down do not overlap (“double-dip”)
  • Maintain personnel functional expense and funding source allocation spreadsheet
  • Proactively ensure that we are on track to spend down restricted funds by the end of the grant period
  • Generate financial reports for funders

Other duties as assigned.

LION is an Equal Opportunity Employer

LION believes that a team with diversity of backgrounds and experiences will generate the most innovative ideas and ultimately do the best work in support of our mission. This is why we welcome contractors, vendors, staff and board members who contribute to a diverse, equitable and inclusive work environment. We understand diversity as multi-dimensional and intersectional, encompassing aspects of our identities including race and ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability, class, geography, lived experiences and more. We welcome and encourage all qualified candidates to apply to opportunities at LION so that we build a team that reflects the diversity of independent news entrepreneurs we wish to serve.

We know there are great candidates who might not check all the boxes listed below or who possess important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. 

Skills and Qualifications for The Role

• Integrity: Is reliably honest, transparent, and demonstrates strong ethics relating to the execution of their work responsibilities. The Finance Manager will have access to confidential information and will be trusted with access to financial systems. A background check is required for this role. 
• Detail-oriented problem solver: Can manage many tasks and details and is good at quickly understanding a problem and jumping into help wherever needed. Doesn’t necessarily know all the answers, but is good at discovering potential solutions for problems.  
• Strong written and verbal communicator: Clear, concise communicator. Can translate complex concepts into easily understood language for others. Is adept at finding the balance between not enough and too much information.
• Data-informed: Collects and analyzes relevant data to inform decision-making processes and assess the outcomes of actions or initiatives
• Spreadsheet-proficient (required): Creates clean, error-checked, easy-to-read spreadsheets.
• Familiar with nonprofit GAAP (required): Has a clear understanding of revenue restriction, can demonstrate a general understanding of an organization’s financial health by reading its financial audit. Familiarity with BILL and/or QBO is a plus. 

Skills and Expectations for Teamwork at LION

• Work in a way that upholds and reflects our organizational values: Being data-informed, equitable and inclusive, people-centered, systems thinkers, transparent and iterative
• Use digital tools and platforms to stay organized, communicate transparently, and collaborate with team members remotely 
• Collaborate strategically with others, clearly defining processes for decision making
• Give and receive constructive feedback to help the team produce its best work
• Celebrate our wins and learning moments
• Take on an experimental mindset and demonstrate flexibility to iterate on our work, systems, and processes 
• Be willing and able to ask for help when needed, and demonstrate an ability to learn and grow in the role

Physical Requirements and Environmental Conditions

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position, at a desk or similar, 90% of the time. Time spent in stationary location includes operating a computer and relevant peripherals and communicating via phone.

Travel Requirements

• Available to travel for staff retreats 1-2 times per year (approx. 3 days per retreat)
• Available to travel for annual LION member event annually (approx. 3 days)

About LION

Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional journalism association for independent news publishers. While most of our 400+ members across the U.S. and Canada run local news businesses, we also have members who serve larger regions and specific identity-based communities across geographies. LION provides teaching, resources and community to independent news entrepreneurs as they build and develop sustainable businesses. One of our core values is being people-centered, and here are some ways we build that culture for our staff. 

90 Day Introductory Period

The first 90 days of employment is a try-out time for the employee and the Company. During this introductory period, the Company will evaluate employees’ suitability for employment and employees can evaluate the Company as well. The purpose of the introductory period is to be intentional about setting clear goals for the employee to accomplish, prompting regular feedback and support from the employee’s manager, and providing structure for a candid conversation about whether either the employee or the manager believes there is a misalignment of the employee’s competencies with and interest in the role.

Benefits

• Medical PPO, Vision & Dental fully paid by employer; 50% paid for dependents; no waiting period for eligibility
• Short-term disability, long-term disability, life, and worker’s compensation insurance paid by employer
• Employee Assistance Program
• Flexible Spending Account and Dependent Care HSA
• Paid Time Off (including sick days) is 20 days per year 
• Paid holidays (including week of July 4 and Christmas Eve through New Years Day) is approx 17 days per year

• Up to 12 weeks fully paid family/caregiver leave
• 401K with employer match up to 3.5%
• Flexible working hours
• No-meeting Fridays
• Annual professional development budget
• Monthly work-from-home stipend
• If start date is on or before November 1, eligible for year-end, surplus-dependent bonus

Application Materials

*As of 11 p.m. PT on October 5, 2025, this application is now closed.

• Your resume
• Any online links that show your work (a Twitter profile, a portfolio page, etc.)
• Answers to the following questions:

• How would you expect LION’s organizational values to be reflected in the work of a Finance Manager? Please provide two examples.
• Tell us about a time when you had to solve a problem for a situation where you didn’t have a lot of existing knowledge. How did you approach finding and proposing a solution? What was the result?
• Tell us about a time when you had to “manage up/sideways,” making sure that colleagues who don’t report to you follow a process or get a deliverable in on time. What was your approach? What did you learn?
• Why are you interested in this role? How does it fit into your long-term career ambitions?
• Please share anything else you’d like us to know about your background, experience or skills that speaks to your ability to do this role.