Senior Director, Finance & Operations

Senior Director of Finance & Operations

Georgia Resilience and Opportunity (GRO) Fund

 

Rooted in communities, growing bold ideas for change

 

Title: Senior Director, Finance & Operations

Reports to: Executive Director

Location: Atlanta, GA

Type: Full-Time

 

Position Overview

 

The GRO Fund is seeking a Senior Director of Finance & Operations to serve as a key member of the senior leadership team and steward the financial, operational, and people systems that power GRO’s mission.

 

The salary for this position is $120,000 - $155,000, with eligibility for an annual performance bonus. The GRO Fund also offers a competitive benefits package, including health, dental, vision, and life insurance; paid parental leave; unlimited PTO; a monthly cell phone stipend; and retirement.

 

About the GRO Fund

 

The GRO Fund builds bold, evidence-based, and community-driven solutions to address racial income and wealth divides. We work to transform the economic conditions of impacted communities by bridging policymakers, experts, and impacted community members around ambitious, community-based initiatives. As a growing organization, GRO is committed to collaborating with national and local partners alongside community members to ensure our programs reflect best practices and center community voices.

 

Our flagship project, In Her Hands, provides a monthly, no-strings-attached income supplement to nearly 1,000 women across Georgia. Our work has grown to include Freedom Futures, an accelerated Baby Bonds pilot program that blends monthly income support, financial advising, and an investable sum (i.e. “baby bond") for 50 young adults. We anticipate expanding our program portfolio in the near future to match the ambitions set in an updated 2026 strategy.

 

The GRO Fund has a staff of 10 operates with an annual budget of approximately $3-5 million, reflecting both its organizational operations and its direct cash transfer programming.

 

Role Overview

 

Reporting directly to the Executive Director, the Senior Director of Finance and Operations will own GRO’s financial management, compliance infrastructure, internal operations, and human resources function. This is a builder role — GRO is growing fast, and this leader will design and strengthen the systems that allow the rest of the organization to operate with confidence and accountability. The Senior Director of Finance and Operations will be the partner the executive and program teams rely on to make sound decisions, manage risk, and sustain organizational health.

 

Key Outcomes for This Role

 

• Financial Clarity: The Executive Director and board have timely, accurate financial information and a trusted thought partner for financial decisions.

• Grant and Compliance: All funding streams — including restricted grants and lobbying expenditures — are managed with rigor and reported accurately.

• Operational Infrastructure: GRO’s internal systems, policies, and workflows enable a growing team to execute effectively without unnecessary friction.

• Strong People Systems: HR infrastructure supports staff recruitment, retention, and wellbeing — and reflects GRO’s values and culture.

 

Responsibilities

 

Below is an approximate allocation of responsibilities. Actual percentages may shift based on organizational priorities.

 

1. Financial Management & Strategy (30%)

 

• Own GRO’s annual budget development, multi-year financial forecasting, and cash management

• Produce timely, accurate financial reporting for the Executive Director, board, and funders

• Manage relationships with auditors, accountants, and financial institutions

• Advise the Executive Director and board on financial risk including long-term sustainability

• Ensure sound fund accounting practices across restricted and unrestricted revenue streams

 

2. Grants & Compliance (20%)

 

• Ensure rigorous compliance across all grant funding streams

• Manage the grant aspect of lobbying expenditure tracking and financial reporting; work closely with other key staff and legal team to ensure lobbying tracking practices are in alignment with grant requirements

• Partner with development staff to support funder financial reporting and audit preparation

• Maintain GRO’s legal and regulatory filings, including annual nonprofit reporting requirements

 

3. Human Resources & People Systems (20%)

 

• Own GRO’s HR function, including hiring infrastructure, onboarding, performance management, and offboarding

• Maintain and update employee policies, the staff handbook, and HR documentation to reflect best practices and legal requirements

• Manage compensation benchmarking, benefits administration, and payroll in partnership with relevant vendors

• Support a healthy organizational culture by ensuring people systems reflect GRO’s values, commitments to staff, and commitments to the communities we serve

• Serve as a trusted resource for staff navigating HR questions and processes

• Manage HR consultant

 

4. Operations & Infrastructure (15%)

 

• Maintain and improve as needed systems for contracting, vendor management, IT, and internal workflows

• Identify and close operational gaps as GRO scales, with particular focus on internal workflows and SOPs, technology systems, and financial infrastructure

• Supervise finance and operations staff; build team capacity over time

 

5. Leadership and Management (15%)

 

• Serve as a senior leadership team member, contributing to organization-wide strategy and culture and leading with integrity, enthusiasm, positivity, curiosity

• Consistently demonstrates GRO’s values of community, rigor, boldness, curiosity and equity

• Act as a culture leader creating a culture of high expectations and high support, leading with ambition, positivity, and desire to solve problems

• Supervise finance and operations staff; build team capacity over time

 

Direct Reports

 

The Senior Director of Finance and Operations will directly supervise the following roles:

 

• Finance & Operations Senior Manager: The Finance & Operations Senior Manager supports the day-to-day execution of GRO’s financial and operational functions. This 3 includes bookkeeping and financial record-keeping, vendor and contract administration, grant tracking and compliance support, and coordination of internal operational systems. The Senior Manager is a key implementation partner to the Senior Director, translating financial strategy into accurate, timely, and well-documented processes.

• Special Projects Manager (or equivalent role): The Special Projects Manager provides cross-functional support across the organization, with a focus on executive support, development administration, and project coordination. Reporting to the Senior Director of Finance and Operations, this role ensures that organizational priorities move forward with consistency and follow-through from donor data management and grant reporting support to special project coordination and hiring logistics. As GRO grows, this role may evolve into a more specialized operations or program function.

• Other Direct Reports: HR Consultant, Bookkeepers, Auditors

 

Additional direct reports may be added as the organization grows.

 

Qualifications

 

We are seeking candidates who have:

 

• 7+ years of progressive finance and/or operations experience, with at least 3 years in a leadership role and managing direct reports

• Nonprofit finance experience required, strong familiarity with fund accounting, restricted revenue management, and grant compliance

• Familiarity with grant tracking and grant management, grant tracking norms and practices

• Experience owning or significantly contributing to an HR function, including policy management, hiring infrastructure, and benefits administration

• Experience managing lobbying expenditure compliance, or demonstrated ability to build that expertise quickly

• Strong proficiency with financial software (QuickBooks or equivalent)

• Excellent excel skills including use of advanced formulas, complex multisheet work books, building dashboards, pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, financial modeling, scenario modeling, data visualization

• Track record of building operational systems and processes in a growing organization Exceptional communication and relationship skills; ability to translate financial information for non-finance audiences

• Comfort and agility to act as both a leader and an individual contributor who can roll up sleeves to get work done in a timely fashion and with attention to detail and excellence

• Experience with Google Suite, Slack, Asana and CRM systems

 

Preferred (but not required):

 

• CPA or equivalent credential

• Experience implementing or upgrading financial systems

 

Other desired skills and experience:

 

• A demonstrated commitment to economic, racial, and/or gender justice

• Previous experience in financial capability, asset building, or community development

• Willingness to speak up, suggest new ideas, receive feedback, and adjust plans to ensure successful completion of goals

 

Location

 

This role is based in Atlanta, GA. Remote work is permitted but candidates must live in Georgia and be available to work in the metro-Atlanta area. We currently have an office co-working space for staff in Atlanta where our team meets regularly.

 

The candidate may be expected to travel (up to 15% of time) for key events and meetings.

 

To Apply

 

Interested candidates should email their resumes and a brief cover letter as attachments to Crystal Reardon at crystal@thegrofund.org and copy admin@thegrofund.org. with the subject “Application for SD of Finance and Operations” by 5:00pm EST on 5/22.

 

Please write a short cover letter using authentic responses rather than AI-generated content. Cover letters should answer three questions:

 

• Why do you want to work for the GRO Fund?

• What experience do you bring to the role?

• What is not on your resume that we should consider?

 

The target start date is in late July. Flexibility will be given for the candidate with the best fit. References will be requested from finalists.

 

The GRO Fund is an equal-opportunity employer that centers racial justice in its work internally and externally. We are committed to equity and diversity and to the recruitment and retention of people from backgrounds traditionally excluded from philanthropy, including Black, Indigenous and people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities.