Financial Planning & Accounting Manager

Financial Planning and Accounting Manager

Starting May 1, 2026

Financial Planning and Accounting Manager

The Nueva School is seeking a mission-aligned financial leader who thrives at the intersection of strategy, stewardship, and service. The Financial Planning and Accounting Manager plays a vital role in ensuring Nueva’s financial systems not only run with precision and integrity but also actively support the school’s innovative programming and long-term sustainability. This position blends thoughtful financial analysis with meaningful partnerships across campus, offering the opportunity to contribute to a collaborative community dedicated to educational excellence.

A Day in the Life

In a typical day, you might start by reviewing budget-to-actual reports and identifying trends or variances that will inform conversations with department leaders. You could spend part of your morning meeting with a program director to help plan the budget for an upcoming student trip or new initiative, translating financial details into clear guidance they can use. Midday might be focused on core accounting work—preparing journal entries, reconciling accounts, or reviewing employee expenses in Ramp to ensure accuracy and compliance.

You may also collaborate with the Development team to reconcile recent gifts or update endowment tracking, ensuring funds are properly recorded and aligned with donor intent. Throughout the day, you’ll respond to questions from colleagues across campus, offering friendly, solutions-oriented support on purchasing, budgeting, and financial processes. As deadlines approach, you’ll contribute to the monthly close, reporting, or audit preparation alongside the Controller. Every day blends analytical work with meaningful collaboration, giving you the chance to support both Nueva's financial strength and its educational mission.

Position Summary

The Nueva School is seeking a collaborative, detail-oriented Financial Planning and Accounting Manager to play a key role in stewarding the school’s financial health and supporting its mission-driven work with gifted learners. In this role, you will partner closely with the Controller, Business Office team, and department leaders across campus to lead budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis that directly supports Nueva’s innovative academic programming. You will manage and refine the school’s annual budget and forecast model, facilitate budget conversations with program leaders, and help translate financial data into clear, actionable insights for decision-makers.

You will also contribute to the monthly close process by preparing journal entries, reconciliations, and variance analysis, ensuring the school’s financial reporting is timely, accurate, and aligned with nonprofit accounting standards. As a key partner to the Development team, you will track and reconcile donations and endowment activity, helping ensure transparency and strong stewardship of philanthropic support. This role also oversees the school’s credit card purchasing program (Ramp), ensuring smooth workflows, clear policies, and accurate expense reporting across the organization.

In addition, you will support audit and tax preparation, partner with faculty and staff to build and manage budgets for student trips and programs, and take on special projects that strengthen financial operations and systems. This position is ideal for someone who enjoys both detailed accounting work and collaborative, cross-functional partnership in a mission-driven environment. If you are energized by using financial expertise to support students, educators, and a vibrant school community, this role offers an opportunity to make a meaningful impact at an organization known for innovation, inclusion, and excellence.

Primary Responsibilities

• Manage budget/forecasting process, including timeline, budget meetings, and reporting; an in-depth understanding of school programming and business flows is key for this position
• Assist with monthly close, including journal entries, accruals, balance sheet, and revenue reconciliations
• Liaison between the Business Office and Development, tracking donations from receipt to recording to reconciliation
• Understand and track Endowment gifts, balances, gains/losses, and accounting entries.
• Prepare monthly budget vs. actual expense variance analysis reports for budget/department owners to discuss significant variances
• Manage the credit card purchasing system (Ramp), the authorization process, the related entry posting, and the expense account reconciliation
• Responsible for the financial audit and tax return preparation portions under this purview.
• Manage the budget and forecast model and upload to the financial system
• Support school employees who lead curricular and other trips with budgets and cash management
• Other special projects and analysis

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in finance or the accounting field with a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience
• Excellent analytical skills, ability to consistently exercise sound judgment
• Must demonstrate accuracy and attention to detail, and be highly organized
• Exceptional time management and prioritization skills; ability to work with minimum supervision and to set priorities
• Strong knowledge of accounting concepts, GAAP, and financial analysis required
• Advanced Excel, database, and computer skills (Ramp, Financial Edge)

Preferred Qualifications

• Resourceful, flexible to wear many hats, high level of initiative, and strong work ethic
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and interpersonal skills are essential in this collaborative work environment
• Ability to maintain professionalism and exercise strict confidentiality
• Strong customer service and communication skills, both written and oral
• Independent school or non-profit experience is a plus

Encouragement to Apply

Nueva encourages anyone to apply, even if they do not meet all the preferred qualifications. If you are excited about supporting gifted students, committed to equity and inclusion, and eager to grow your skills within a collaborative community, we would welcome your application.

We are seeking applicants who represent the full diversity of our community in the Bay Area. Our ideal candidate will possess a deep appreciation for the diverse socioeconomic, racial, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, academic, and ethnic backgrounds present in our community. In joining our team at Nueva, you will become part of an inclusive, iterative, and equity-minded community that recognizes equity and social justice as a lens through which we examine all aspects of our school community to ensure an educational experience where all students and colleagues can thrive.

In deciding whether to apply for a position at Nueva, you are strongly encouraged to consider whether your values align with Nueva’s Mission, Vision, and Values.

Compensation and Benefits

The full-time equivalent salary range for this position is $110,000-$130,000. The starting salary is based on, but not limited to, several factors, including type and years of experience, education level, and expertise in key areas.

We offer a full benefits package that includes fully paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees, employer contributions toward dependent insurance premiums, a generous match on our 403(b) retirement plan, long-term disability insurance, flexible spending accounts, and free lunch. Eligibility rules must be met. You may learn more about Nueva’s benefits here.

To Apply

Please send your application information (cover letter, resume, and the names and contact information of three references) to the Nueva Employment Website. To address specific questions, please email Brett Dyer at bdyer@nuevaschool.org

The Nueva School is an Equal Opportunity Employer – we do not discriminate against any employee or job applicant on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability or sex. We welcome applications from people of color and those with experience outside the education field.

About The Nueva School

The Nueva School, an internationally recognized, nonprofit, independent day school, has served gifted and talented students since 1967. Today, Nueva serves nearly 1000 students PK-12. Nueva is located in the neighboring towns of Hillsborough and San Mateo, equidistant between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, serving six different counties throughout the Bay Area of Northern California.

A constructivist school, Nueva is known for its distinctive inquiry-based interdisciplinary studies, project-based learning, and pioneering work in social-emotional learning and design thinking. The Nueva community instills a passion for lifelong learning, fosters social and emotional acuity, and develops the imaginative mind. Our school has received the US Department of Education National Blue Ribbon Award, the US Department of Education National Green Ribbon Award, and the American Institute of Architects Award for School Design and Sustainability; has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished Program and appointed an Ashoka Changemaker School; co-founded the Common Ground Speaker Series; hosts the biennial Innovative Learning Conference, and was highlighted by the Pulitzer Prize–winning and New York Times best-selling author Thomas Friedman in his book That Used to Be Us in the chapter “Average Is Over.”

For more information about The Nueva School, visit our website: www.nuevaschool.org