Finance Project Manager

Description

Northwest Center is seeking a Finance Project Manager to join our Accounting and Finance team.

Reporting to the Corporate Controller, this role leads strategic finance initiatives, system implementations, process improvement efforts, and operational transformation projects that strengthen accounting operations and financial reporting. The Finance Project Manager partners closely with Accounting, Finance, and operational leaders across the organization to deliver sustainable solutions that improve efficiency, accuracy, internal controls, and scalability.

This role is intended for accounting and finance professionals who have experience leading projects, process improvements, or system implementations. Candidates should possess a strong accounting foundation, project management skills, and experience supporting financial systems, financial reporting, accounting operations, and finance transformation initiatives. The ideal candidate has experience in leading or playing a key role in ERP and financial system implementations, including requirements gathering, testing, financial validation, reconciliation activities, and go-live support.

While focused primarily on strategic projects and finance transformation, this role maintains a strong connection to accounting operations to ensure solutions are financially accurate, auditable, supported by effective internal control and appropriate segregation of duties.

Join our team and help drive meaningful improvements that support Northwest Center's mission and long-term growth.

Salary Range: $95,000 - $102,500 per year

Schedule: Full-time, Monday - Friday

Location: Seattle, WA (Hybrid - 1 day in office)

What We Can Offer

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, Vision, Disability, and Life Insurance, effective the month after 30 days of employment
• 17 Accrued Paid Time Off Days Annually
• 7 Paid Holidays + 1 Day of Floating Holiday; 3 Floating Holiday days annually after one year
• Parental Leave & Paid Compassion Leave
• Retirement 401(K) with a company match
• Employment Assistance Program (EAP) via Spring Health
• Mental Wellness Program including six free therapy sessions per year
• Company-Provided Orca Pass with Unlimited Use OR Transportation Benefit of $50 per month
• Opportunity to become a mentor or mentee through NWC's Mentorship Match program
• Wellness Reimbursement Program - $25/month
• Student Loan Contribution Program - $50/month
• Pet Insurance Discount Program

Check out the entire list of benefits Northwest Center has to offer here: https://nwcbenefits.hrbenefits.net/

What You'll Do

Strategic Projects & Transformation

• Lead finance-related projects from planning through implementation, ensuring deliverables are completed on time, within scope, and aligned with organizational priorities
• Develop project plans, timelines, milestones, and risk mitigation strategies while proactively addressing dependencies and barriers to success
• Partner with Finance, Accounting, Operations, IT, and other stakeholders to define requirements, priorities, responsibilities, and desired outcomes
• Facilitate cross-functional meetings and working sessions, ensuring decisions, action items, and next steps are clearly documented and communicated
• Prepare and present project updates, financial analyses, recommendations, and key performance indicators to Finance leadership and key stakeholders
• Review financial data, system configurations, testing results, documentation, and implementation deliverables to ensure accuracy, completeness, and alignment with project objectives

Financial Systems & Process Improvement

• Lead financial system implementations and transitions from planning through go-live, including system setup, testing, validation, issue resolution, and post-implementation stabilization
• Coordinate user acceptance testing (UAT), financial validation, reconciliation activities, and implementation readiness efforts
• Identify opportunities to improve and automate finance and accounting processes while maintaining appropriate controls and compliance requirements
• Establish project governance, documentation standards, and performance metrics that support accountability, transparency, and effective decision-making
• Partner closely with end users to understand business needs, support testing and validation, troubleshoot issues, facilitate adoption, and ensure successful implementation outcomes

Financial Operations & Governance

• Ensure projects, systems, and financial processes align with organizational policies, internal controls, accounting standards, and U.S. GAAP
• Support month-end close activities, journal entries, account reconciliations, audit preparation, technical accounting projects, Form 990 preparation, and other accounting initiatives as needed
• Ensure new systems and processes include appropriate financial controls, segregation of duties, and compliance requirements
• Support measurement of project outcomes and business value realization through financial and operational performance metrics
• Build strong cross-functional relationships and serve as a key point of contact for finance projects, system implementations, and transformation initiatives across the organization
• Establish and maintain data and reporting standards that support consistency, accuracy, appropriate access, and a reliable single source of truth

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience
• 5+ years of progressive accounting experience, including general ledger accounting, account reconciliations, and financial close activities
• 3+ years of experience leading or playing a key role in ERP and subsidiary system implementations (such as AP automation, billing, sales tax, or payroll platforms that integrate with the general ledger), including requirements gathering, system testing and UAT, data conversion, financial validation, and go-live support
• Experience preparing or reviewing journal entries and balance sheet reconciliations
• Experience supporting annual financial statement audits
• Advanced Excel skills and experience working with ERP or financial systems
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills
• Ability to build effective partnerships across Finance, Accounting, Operations, and IT teams
• Experience working in a multi-entity, multi-division, or similarly complex organization preferred
• Familiarity with nonprofit accounting and Form 990 preparation preferred
• CPA, CPA candidate, CMA, PMP, or similar professional certification preferred

About Northwest Center

Northwest Center is an ambitious, mission-driven social enterprise organization advancing opportunities for people with disabilities through inclusive employment. Since 1965, we have built and operated a portfolio of businesses that fuel our mission, create employment opportunities, and drive societal change.

As a social enterprise organization, Northwest Center proves to the world every day that employing people of all abilities can be a powerful competitive advantage. Northwest Center's businesses generate over $5 million annually that Northwest Center reinvests into human services while covering 100% of the overhead expense of the organization and building cash reserves for future sustainability.

We are focused on our collective North: a world where all children have equitable access to education and people with disabilities experience employment parity. Through our social enterprises, we deliver high-quality services while creating workplaces where people of all abilities can learn and work together.

Northwest Center is committed to offering reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact us at [email protected].

At Northwest Center, we do not just accept diversity and inclusion - we celebrate it, support it, live it, and flourish in it to benefit our employees, the community, and our clientele. We believe that our strength lies within our diversity and the forward motion towards a day when people of all abilities can learn and work together.

We believe that curiosity and critical thinking are essential to dialogue and improving decision-making, planning, resource allocation, and how we treat others. Our goal is to create and implement more equitable practices, policies, and culture. To be equitable means to value and respect individuals from all cultural backgrounds, genders, races, identities, and abilities.

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