Chief Financial Officer

Job Type

Full-time

Description

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is an executive-level position reporting to the Chief Executive Officer and will play a critical role in supporting the people, financial, technology, operational, and strategic objectives of Texas Tribune, a $17 million+ nonprofit corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas.

The Tribune is not just a leader, but the leader in digital-first, nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism, devoted to informing and engaging Texans through in-depth investigations, explanatory guides, and rigorous enterprise and beat reporting. The organization is now in a period of significant transformation as we expand beyond statewide coverage to strengthen news ecosystems across Texas through local and regional coverage. This strategy involves building local reporting and news outlets to foster trust and provide residents with a deeper understanding of their local community. We need a CFO who can build the financial infrastructure and operational systems to support this expansion while maturing our core business practices.

The successful candidate will be a forward-thinking and highly collaborative leader who can drive organizational transformation. You'll partner closely with the CEO, board, and executive leadership team to build financial infrastructure for growth, mature our business operations, and embed operational excellence across the organization.

Key duties and responsibilities:

• Collaborate with the CEO, board, Finance & Audit Committee, and executive leadership team to steward Tribune resources, manage organizational risk, and establish strategic priorities for growth and transformation.
• Drive financial systems transformation and process development to support business maturation.
• Work closely with the CEO and COO to establish clear P&L accountability across multiple business lines, including statewide operations, events and local newsrooms.
• Oversee all financial and accounting operations and develop medium and long-term financial planning for core and emerging business lines.
• Develop and manage the Tribune's risk management program with the CEO, legal counsel, and Finance Committee, serving as management liaison to the Finance & Audit Committee and Investment Sub-committee.

Financial planning and analysis:

• Lead and oversee the preparation of the Tribune's annual and long-range operating and capital budgets and support the executive team with timely rolling financial forecasts.
• Develop the Tribune's multi-year planning process for our core businesses and local news growth.
• Prepare budgets for private grant requests and reports for philanthropic grant awards. The Tribune does not seek or accept government grants or contracts.
• Monitor the expense budget and work with managers to make any adjustments necessary for expenses to remain within budget.
• Maintain rolling financial forecasts to manage cash flow and support real-time decision-making and resource allocation.
• Develop key performance indicators to enable the Board and executive leadership's understanding of financial health, operational performance, risks, and opportunities.
• Analyze operations to identify areas needing investment, reorganization, downsizing, or elimination.

Fiscal oversight:

• Lead all accounting and treasury activities including monthly close and G/L account reconciliations, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, cash management, revenue and expense accounting and reporting.
• Work with key stakeholders to develop a suite of financial reports produced on a defined regular basis. Configures and maintains an account structure in QuickBooks Online to support the timely and accurate generation of these reports.
• Ensure rigorous grant compliance and reporting accuracy across multiple foundation funders, maintaining strong relationships and meeting all contractual obligations.
• Lead annual external financial audit and the Internal Revenue Service filings Form 990 and Form 990T.
• Along with the HR Director, manage the Tribune's payroll and benefits provider relationship and oversee semi-monthly payroll.
• Work with the Investment sub-committee of the Tribune's Board of Directors to manage relationships with third-party investment management firms, ensuring compliance with investment policies and target returns.

Organizational Systems & Change Management

• Lead financial systems transformation, including adoption of mature expense oversight, accrual accounting practices, and P+L management across the organization.
• Build organizational buy-in for process improvements and new financial tools.
• Partner with the CEO and the executive team to embed operational excellence practices
• Develop training and communication strategies to ensure staff understanding and adoption of financial systems and procedures
• Review the fiscal planning process and implement improvements to current tools and approaches.

Risk Management:

• Ensure regulatory and legal compliance with state and federal entities, especially in a time when news organizations are under specific scrutiny.
• Monitor developments in the legal, regulatory and journalism communities to identify evolving risks and mitigation strategies for the Tribune.
• Advise the board and CEO on recommended business structure changes, including potential changes in business line management or legal structures.
• Manage the Tribune's banking relationships, investment advisors, auditors, health and business insurance brokers and carriers, payroll provider, benefits administrators, key technology partners, and other agencies and control bodies regarding fiscal matters.
• Evaluate and strengthen, where necessary, systems of policies, internal controls, standards and procedures.
• Establish practices and implement systems to support high performance, efficiency and accountability.

Departmental Management

• The Finance Department currently oversees finance, accounting, accounts payable and receivable, facilities, human resources and general operations.
• Currently, the CFO leads a team consisting of the Senior Accountant, Staff Accountant, HR Director, and People Operations Specialist. There is a potential to expand as needed and as resources allow.
• Key member of the senior executive team.
• Provide constructive and timely performance evaluations, and handle discipline of Finance employees in accordance with company policy and collective bargaining agreement obligations.

Required Skills/Abilities:

• Proven change management and organizational development skills, with ability to build buy-in across teams
• Strong focus on operational excellence and process improvement
• Ability to translate complex financial concepts for non-finance audiences
• Excellent management and supervisory skills
• Strong working knowledge of modern ERP and accounting applications; experience working in Salesforce is preferred

Education and Experience:

• Experience managing the finances of a growing and changing organization and an evolving board and leadership team
• Eight to 10 years of experience in financial management required
• Master's degree in Business Administration, Accounting, or Finance, or equivalent experience, required
• Certified Public Accountant designation preferred

We know some great candidates won't check all of the boxes, and we also know you might bring important skills that we haven't considered. If that's you, don't hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

Location

This is an in-person position at our downtown Austin office, steps away from the Texas Capitol.

Benefits

This job is full-time and has the following benefits:

• Medical, vision and dental insurance
• A cellphone stipend
• 20 days of paid time off each year
• Up to 16 weeks of paid family leave, plus four weeks of additional job protection
• 401(k) matching
• Support for professional training and attending industry conferences
• Remote work flexibility

How to Apply

Submit your application with a résumé and cover letter summarizing your previous experience and why you want to work at our award-winning news organization. We will review applications as they are submitted, and we will continue to consider candidates through at least January 16.

The Texas Tribune is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

We can't wait to hear from you

About The Texas Tribune

Here's what you should know about the Tribune. From day one, we've had disruption, innovation and risk-taking in our DNA. We're ambitious as all get out but still have the punch-above-your-weight mentality of a scrappy start-up. We believe we can meet the demands of our audience and our own expectations for excellence without breaking the bank - or our staff. We understand not everything is a story for us - we have to make choices - but we're always looking to expand our boundaries.

We're nonprofit because the challenging economic reality for media these days obligates us to find a different way, reliable and sustainable, to fund serious journalism. We're nonpartisan because we live in the United States of Confirmation Bias - and we don't need to be part of the problem. We don't need to be yet another source of information affirming the voices and perspectives that are already in people's heads. At the same time, nonpartisan is not non-thinking. We call B.S. when B.S. needs to be called.

The Texas Tribune seeks to ensure that its newsroom and its news coverage reflect Texas by including a wide range of perspectives from people of different backgrounds, ideologies and experiences.

Learn more about The Texas Tribune here .

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