Financial Operations Manager

Financial Operations Manager

Art State Arizona
Based in Tucson, Arizona
$28–$30 per hour | 30–40 hours per week | Flexible Schedule

About Art State Arizona

Art State Arizona is a statewide nonprofit arts and cultural organization dedicated to making the arts essential to everyday life. We produce more than 100 festivals, exhibitions, concerts, culinary events, public art initiatives, creative workforce programs, and cross-sector collaborations annually. We support over 2,000 artists and creative businesses and generate opportunities for thousands to engage in arts and culture each year.

In a state without permanent public arts funding, we build partnerships across business, healthcare, government, and education to ensure arts and culture drive economic growth, community identity, equity, and well-being.

Our Tucson headquarters includes the 14,000-square-foot Catalyst Creative Collective, a creative hub housing tenants, exhibitions, residencies, workshops, and performances.

We are entrepreneurial, mission-driven, and systems-oriented. We expect precision, initiative, and forward-thinking leadership.

Position Overview

The Financial Operations Manager serves as the financial and administrative backbone of the organization.

This is both:

• A hands-on bookkeeper role
• A systems and operational leadership role

The position manages accrual accounting, event revenue systems, automation workflows, office operations, contract administration, and financial reporting for a $1.7M nonprofit organization with 10 employees and multiple earned and contributed revenue streams.

This role works directly with executive leadership, the Internal Affairs Committee, our external CPA, and our payroll/HR provider. The position is expected to work onsite at least 75% of the time, with up to 25% of work hours eligible for remote completion.

The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, tech-forward, intuitive, and forward-thinking — someone who anticipates challenges before they arise, flags issues early, and proactively suggests improvements.

Role Breakdown (Estimated Allocation of Time)

• 60% — Bookkeeping & Financial Management
• 10% — Fundraising Event Ticketing & Revenue Operations
• 15% — Systems, Automation & Reporting
• 10% — Office Management & Administrative Operations
• 5% — CPA, Vendor & Payroll Coordination

Allocation may flex seasonally based on event cycles and fiscal year milestones.

Core Responsibilities

1. Bookkeeping & Financial Management (60%)

This role serves as the organization’s primary bookkeeper and financial manager.

Responsibilities include:

• Full-cycle accrual accounting in QuickBooks Online Nonprofit
• Monthly close and preparation of financial statements
• Bank, credit card, Stripe, and merchant reconciliations
• Accounts payable and weekly check writing
• Reviewing and processing incoming mail and payments
• Accounts receivable tracking and rental invoicing
• Managing sponsorship and grant income tracking
• Monitoring restricted and unrestricted funds
• Managing facility expenditures and operational costs
• Tracking subscriptions and recurring charges
• Maintaining organized financial records (digital and physical)
• Producing monthly financial dashboards for leadership
• Preparing post-event P&Ls
• Budget-to-actual tracking and reporting
• Identifying financial risks before they become problems
• Flagging anomalies or trends requiring leadership attention

This role owns the integrity, accuracy, and timeliness of the organization’s books.

2. Fundraising Event Ticketing & Revenue Operations (10%)

Art State Arizona produces multiple large-scale fundraising and ticketed events annually. This role leads financial oversight of event revenue systems.

Responsibilities include:

• Managing ThunderTix ticketing systems
• Monitoring ticket revenue and Stripe deposits
• Overseeing ticket reconciliation and reporting
• Managing raffle tracking systems and reconciliation
• Supporting onsite ticketing troubleshooting during events
• Ensuring secure cash handling protocols
• Overseeing revenue tracking during live events
• Producing comprehensive post-event financial reports within 2–3 weeks
• Preparing detailed event-specific P&Ls
• Evaluating ticketing and revenue system efficiencies
• Improving event financial workflows year over year

This role is expected to be present onsite during major fundraising events to oversee revenue accuracy.

3. Systems, Automation & Reporting (15%)

This role leads the financial systems infrastructure of the organization.

Responsibilities include:

• Managing integrations across Stripe, Zapier, Formstack, ThunderTix, Intellistack, and QuickBooks
• Streamlining financial intake and reporting workflows
• Building dashboards for leadership and Internal Affairs Committee
• Reducing manual entry through automation improvements
• Designing online financial forms and internal systems
• Evaluating operational inefficiencies
• Recommending and implementing workflow improvements
• Maintaining industry best practices in nonprofit financial systems

Continuous improvement is expected.

4. Office Management & Administrative Operations (10%)

This role supports operational management for the Tucson office and Catalyst Creative Collective.

Responsibilities include:

• Managing office supply purchasing and inventory
• Overseeing facility-related expenditures and vendor coordination
• Managing tenant billing, invoicing, and lease tracking
• Maintaining contract documentation for artists, vendors, contractors, and tenants
• Ensuring organized digital and physical filing systems
• Maintaining compliance and document retention standards
• Coordinating service providers (internet, utilities, copier, etc.)
• Tracking insurance certificates and compliance documentation
• Supporting onboarding/offboarding documentation with HR partner

This is operational infrastructure leadership — not clerical support.

5. CPA, Vendor & Payroll Coordination (5%)

This role serves as financial liaison with external partners.

Responsibilities include:

• Preparing documentation for CPA annual review
• Supporting Form 990 preparation
• Coordinating accrual adjustments with CPA
• Submitting employee hours to external payroll company
• Reviewing payroll summaries for accuracy
• Managing vendor payment schedules
• Ensuring timely and accurate financial communication with outside professionals

Strategic & Forward-Thinking Expectations
This role is not purely transactional.

We expect this individual to:

• Anticipate cash flow issues before they arise
• Provide annual budget forecasting recommendations
• Work with leadership to develop the annual organizational budget
• Analyze trends across earned and contributed revenue
• Recommend cost-saving strategies
• Identify system inefficiencies proactively
• Strengthen financial controls and documentation standards
• Think long-term about scalability

This role works directly with the leadership team to build and refine the annual operating budget.

Qualifications

Required:

• Strong experience with accrual accounting
• Proficiency in QuickBooks Online
• Advanced attention to detail
• Comfort managing multiple revenue streams
• Experience with Stripe and financial reconciliation
• Strong spreadsheet and reporting skills
• Excellent organizational skills
• Ability to shift between detailed work and strategic thinking

Preferred:

• Nonprofit accounting experience
• Experience with event-based revenue tracking
• Experience with workflow automation tools (Zapier, Formstack)
• Grant reporting experience
• Interest in long-term growth in nonprofit financial leadership
• Passion for arts and cultural advancement

Compensation & Benefits

• $28–$30 per hour, depending on experience
• 30–40 hours per week (75% of work time in office)
• Flexible scheduling (Monday–Friday or 4-day workweek option)
• Based in Tucson
• 75% of employee medical premium covered
• 30% of dependent medical premium covered
• Dental and vision included
• Paid holidays and flexible PTO
• Growth pathway toward senior financial leadership as the organization scales

Why This Role Matters

Art State Arizona is building a statewide arts infrastructure in one of the most undercapitalized arts funding states in the nation. Our financial systems must be as strong as our creative ambition.

This role sits at the center of that work.

For someone passionate about arts administration, nonprofit finance, automation systems, and operational excellence, this is an opportunity to build, refine, and scale a modern arts organization from the inside out.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $28.00 - $30.00 per hour

Expected hours: 30 – 40 per week

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Paid parental leave
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Professional development assistance
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person