Description

Aspire Public Schools NorCal — Senior Director, Finance

Job Description 

About Aspire NorCal 

Founded in 1998, Aspire Public Schools has served scholars and communities across California for nearly three decades. With Aspire Los Angeles transitioning into an independent organization, the Bay Area and Central Valley regions are coming together to form Aspire NorCal, operating 22 schools serving approximately 10,000 scholars across Northern California (Oakland, Richmond, East Palo Alto, Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, and Ceres). 

This evolution comes at an important moment for Aspire. Changes in California’s funding, policy, enrollment, and operating environment have created an opportunity to rethink how the organization supports its schools and scholars in its next chapter. The formation of Aspire NorCal creates an opportunity to strengthen support for schools across teams previously organized by geography, improve the consistency and effectiveness of school support, and create clear accountability systems for organizational and scholar outcomes. The new model will require the organization to balance greater coherence across Aspire NorCal with responsiveness to the different communities and contexts of its schools. 

Aspire NorCal enters this transition with a long-standing mission focused on post-secondary success and a deep commitment to educational equity, along with decades of institutional knowledge across its schools and teams. Preserving those strengths while building Aspire NorCal as a unified region will be central to the work ahead. 

About the role 

Partnering directly with the Chief Financial Officer, the Senior Director, Finance drives financial strategy, management, and long-term sustainability across the NorCal organization. This key leadership role delivers strategic insights and actionable recommendations to ensure financial operational success and fiscal sustainability.

The successful candidate has a proven track record of innovative work and has designed and implemented best-practice processes in multiple industries. A commitment to continuous improvement and the ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment are a must.

Key Responsibilities

• Prepare annual budget and forecast updates for assigned Aspire school and regional sites, and facilitate regular budget and forecast update meetings.

• Facilitate regular school and regional site budget and forecast update meetings for assigned Aspire sites

• Work with School Leaders, Instructional Leaders, and Finance and Accounting team members on monthly and quarterly close and reporting, interim and year-end financial reports, and monthly forecasts (P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow) with variance analysis; make recommendations that drive financial sustainability and support school programming.

• Manage 2-3 Finance-related direct reports.

• Serve as a liaison between the Finance and Accounting teams, including collaborating with the AR Manager and Controller on revenue and AR reconciliations, cash receipt coding, and expense coding.

• Collaborate with the CFO to guide strategic financial management of the NorCal organization, including preparing and presenting consolidated and regional financial reporting for internal and external stakeholders, including but not limited to the Aspire Wide Leadership Team, bondholders, and financial ratings agencies

• Collaborate with the CFO, HR, and Instructional leaders on annual total compensation benchmarking analysis across all roles, including making employee value proposition recommendations

• Develop financial reporting tools that provide regional and consolidated information in a meaningful and timely manner.

• Prepare budget projections for new sites, including scenario analysis to guide organizational decision-making, and ensure maximization of restricted funding for each school.

• Provide guidance and oversight on the use of budgeting and forecasting systems.

• Work closely with the Accounting team to ensure integration of data from the transactional level to the consolidated level.

• Identify and implement process improvements, using technology to eliminate inefficiencies while maintaining extremely high accuracy.

• Build relationships with chartering districts, county offices of education, the California Department of Education, and other outside agencies, and comply with local, state, and federal reporting deadlines.

• Prepare school sites for year-end audit, and perform ad hoc financial analyses requested by the CFO, Instructional Leaders, and School Leaders.

• Demonstrate knowledge of, and support, the Aspire Public Schools mission, vision, and values, including antiracism, and uphold confidentiality standards and the code of ethical behavior.

• Perform other related duties as required and assigned.

• Support the new Service Level Agreement (SLA) under which Aspire NorCal will provide finance, accounting, and payroll services to Aspire LA.

Qualifications 

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance; MBA preferred.

Experience

• 7+ years of experience in financial analysis.

• 5+ years of management experience

• 5+ years of experience in school finance preferred.

• Experience in not-for-profit accounting and public sector finance.

Skills and competencies

• Knowledge of the finance function within a large, geographically dispersed organization, and in-depth experience overseeing daily financial operations.

• Knowledge of federal and state accounting regulations.

• Excellent financial, organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

• Solid communication, influencing, and negotiating skills; ability to inspire others to achieve excellence.

• Experience continuously improving controls and procedures; proven experience in process improvement and redesign.

• High degree of initiative and independent judgment.

• Fluency with accounting software packages; proficiency with MS Office and advanced Excel.

• Ability to thrive in a hands-on, fast-paced, growth-oriented, entrepreneurial environment.

Compensation and benefits

The salary range for this role is $168,050 to $215,728 annually in accordance with our salary schedule policy, commensurate with experience. This full-time, exempt position offers a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Eligible for Aspire health benefits

• Retirement through CalSTRS or CalPERS, depending on the role's credential requirements, with a 403(b) option

• Paid time off and additional teammate benefits to be determined in accordance with updated employee value proposition to be shared prior to offer.  

Aspire NorCal is conducting a comprehensive study of our employee value proposition, which could lead to material changes in July 2027.

Location and work arrangement

• Work location and in-person expectations for this role are being finalized as part of our broader NorCal planning. We will share clarity with candidates in the coming weeks

Aspire NorCal expects to provide Finance, Accounting, Payroll, and Retirement services to Aspire LA under a multi-year service agreement, and part of this department’s budget is expected to depend on that agreement.  If the agreement is not finalized, is not renewed, or ends early, Aspire NorCal may reduce the department’s size accordingly, and any position in the departments listed above may be impacted.  Employment with Aspire is at-will

Application Deadline: November 20, 2026.

Equal opportunity 

Aspire Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Aspire Public Schools provides reasonable accommodations during the application and interview process.

Disclaimer

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.