Senior Financial Analyst

Overview

Reporting to the Director FP&A, the financial analyst is responsible for the development of financial reports, models, projections, and analyses for Ascend Learning and its charter schools. The financial analyst will also support with grants management and grants compliance, including grant budget development and reporting.

Ascend Charter Schools

Ascend is a network of K-12 public charter schools serving 4,400 students across ten schools in Central Brooklyn. Our mission is to lead our students on a great intellectual journey, providing them with an exceptional education and placing them firmly on the path to success in college and beyond.

We guide our students to think critically and independently and to enjoy education as an end in itself. We teach a rich and rigorous liberal arts curriculum that nurtures students' natural curiosity about the world. We foster a positive, non-punitive school culture where students feel connected, empowered, and safe to take academic risks. By offering a rich liberal arts education in a supportive environment, we animate children's natural sense of curiosity and prepare students to think on their own, thrive on their own, and engage the world as informed, responsible citizens.

Ascend is known for its distinctive organizational culture that is at once relentlessly focused on excellence and yet collaborative, supportive, and warm. School leaders and teachers work together to achieve a deeply shared mission, and are provided with the curricula, resources, coaching, professional development, recognition, and opportunities for professional advancement to succeed and grow.

Responsibilities

Budgeting and forecasting

• Support the school and network annual budget process, including creation of initial budgets and collaborating with school teams and network leadership to develop budgets
• Own the use and development of Ascend's budgeting and modeling tools, including Adaptive Insights, a robust corporate performance management product
• Maintain and manage long-term financial model and corresponding capital structure analysis
• Work with school operations staff to update monthly projections and ensure accurate forecasts

Reporting and Analysis

• Prepare and analyze school and network financial statements, including Balance Sheets, Income Statements and Cash Flow Statements
• Lead the bi-monthly meetings with school and network budget owners
• Perform analyses on various financial and operational issues such as: evaluation of third-party versus in-house service providers, vendor and contract comparisons, and other ad-hoc reporting; and use these analyses to identify potential cost savings measures

Grants Management

• Collaborate across Ascend departments to develop budgets and projections for all public and private funding
• Prepare grant reports and amendments for submission to funders and agencies

Organizational relationships

The financial analyst reports to Ascend's Director FP&A and will collaborate closely with the chief financial officer and the director of finance, as well as other members of the Ascend network team and School Operations teams.

Qualifications and skills

• Bachelor degree required
• Superb organizational, project management, and self-management skills, and the ability to handle multiple responsibilities effectively and flexibly; effective problem-solving skills
• Highly skilled in the use of Excel
• Excellent communication skills, both orally and in writing, favoring direct, plain, and concise communications
• Excellent work habits, including a willingness to do what is necessary to get the job done, especially when important deadlines cause greater than normal departmental pressures
• Acute attention to detail
• Maturity, humility, strong work ethic, sense of humor, and "roll-up-my-sleeves" attitude
• A hunger for feedback and an openness to engage in a process of self-improvement
• Passion and commitment to urban education and Ascend's mission of closing the achievement gap
• A commitment to transparency in all dealings, exacting ethical standards at all times, and a sensitivity to the level of scrutiny to which Ascend and its schools are subject, as recipients of public funds
• Alignment with the educational philosophy and core beliefs of Ascend
• A professional style that respects all members of Ascend's community

Qualifications

Compensation

The salary range for this position is $70,000-$80,000. Several factors such as candidate's work experience, education/training, job-related skills, internal peer equity, as well as market and business considerations may influence base pay offered. This salary range is reflective of a position based in New York City

Diversity at Ascend

Ascend is committed to building a diverse and inclusive community, both through our hiring practices and our focus on creating a culture and environment where diverse perspectives, ideas, and identities are valued and integrated into our way of working and educating students. Ascend staff represent a wide diversity of racial, socio-economic, gender, religious, and national identities-opening a window to the entire Ascend community on the richness of humanity. We welcome all applicants who share our mission and vision to join us in our deeply consequential work.