Director of Finance & Operations

Job description

About EducationSuperHighway EducationSuperHighway is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit that closed the K-12 broadband gap, connecting 99.3% of America's public schools to high-speed internet and helping 5 million low-income households get online. Now, EducationSuperHighway is turning those connections into opportunity — working to close the nation's literacy gap by providing literacy tutoring scholarships to first-grade students reading below grade level. We are a Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) leveraging the new $1,700 federal Educational Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC), effective January 1, 2027, to build the most ambitious literacy funding campaign in the country. The Role The Director of Finance and Operations will build and own the financial infrastructure that underpins EducationSuperHighway's EFTC fundraising program, ensuring that every donation is processed accurately, every tax credit is properly documented and compliant, every donor receives the right acknowledgment, and every scholarship dollar flows correctly from donor to student. This is a critical operational role that sits at the intersection of finance, compliance, and donor operations. As an SGO operating under the federal Educational Freedom Tax Credit, EducationSuperHighway has specific legal, reporting, and documentation requirements that differ materially from standard non-profit donation processing. The Director will be the organizational expert on those requirements, building the systems, processes, and controls needed to operate with full compliance at scale across all three fundraising tracks. This role begins as an individual contributor responsible for standing up the core financial and donation operations infrastructure before the January 1, 2027, giving window opens, and will grow a team as donation volume scales. Key Responsibilities Donation Processing and Operations - Design and build the end-to-end donation processing infrastructure, covering critical fundraising tracks. - Manage and optimize the donation platform stack, ensuring payment processing, pledge management, recurring gift administration, and payroll deduction flows operate reliably and at scale. - Own the operational relationship with payment processors, donation platforms, and payroll giving infrastructure providers. - Build reconciliation processes that ensure donation records, payment receipts, and CRM data are accurate and consistent across all systems. EFTC Compliance and SGO Administration - Become EducationSuperHighway's internal expert on EFTC compliance requirements, understanding the federal regulations governing SGO donation processing, donor eligibility, credit documentation, and scholarship fund deployment. - Build and maintain the documentation, recordkeeping, and reporting systems required to demonstrate compliance with EFTC regulations across all donor types and all 50 states. - Develop donor acknowledgment and tax documentation processes, ensuring every donor receives timely, accurate, and legally compliant gift receipts and EFTC credit documentation. - Coordinate with external legal and tax counsel to ensure all donation operations meet current regulatory requirements and adapt quickly to any regulatory updates. - Manage state-level SGO reporting obligations, ensuring EducationSuperHighway meets all filing, reporting, and compliance deadlines across approved SGO states. Scholarship Fund Management - Own the financial flows from donated funds to scholarship disbursements, building the controls, approval processes, and audit trails required to manage scholarship funds responsibly and in compliance with EFTC regulations - Coordinate with the Director of Program Operations to ensure scholarship funding flows align with provider contracts, student eligibility determinations, and delivery timelines - Build financial reporting on scholarship fund utilization, tracking funds raised, funds committed, funds disbursed, and scholarship outcomes by state and provider Financial Reporting and Controls - Build and maintain financial dashboards providing real-time visibility into donation volume, revenue by track, fund utilization, and compliance status. - Develop the internal controls framework for donation operations, ensuring appropriate segregation of duties, authorization workflows, and audit readiness. - Prepare regular financial reports for senior leadership and the board covering fundraising performance, operational costs, and fund deployment. - Manage the annual audit process for donation operations and scholarship funds in coordination with EducationSuperHighway's external auditors. Systems and Infrastructure - Build integrations between fundraising CRM systems, donation platforms, payroll-giving systems, and financial accounting systems to ensure accurate, automated data flows. - Develop the data architecture and reporting infrastructure that will support financial operations as donation volume grows from launch through national scale. Team Building - Define the Finance and Donation Operations team structure needed to support the program at scale, identifying when and what to hire as donation volume grows. - Recruit, onboard, and manage team members as the function expands. Qualifications Required - 7+ years of experience in non-profit finance, donation operations, financial management, or a related operational finance role. - Demonstrated experience building financial operations, controls, and compliance infrastructure, not just managing existing systems. - Strong understanding of nonprofit accounting, fund accounting, and donor acknowledgment requirements. - Experience with donation processing platforms, payment systems, and financial reconciliation workflows. - Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to accuracy, this role carries significant compliance and legal accountability. - Comfort operating in an early-stage environment where systems, processes, and policies need to be built from scratch. Highly Valued - Direct experience with Scholarship Granting Organization operations, educational tax credit programs, or similar state or federal tax credit giving structures. - Familiarity with payroll giving processes and third-party platforms. - Experience with DAF (Donor Advised Fund) processing and administration. - Knowledge of multi-state charitable solicitation registration and compliance requirements. - Experience managing the financial operations of a launch-phase non-profit or program. - CPA designation or equivalent financial credentials. Compensation & Benefits - Salary: $140,000, commensurate with experience. - Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits. - Generous PTO and flexible remote work. - The chance to build something from nothing and help close the K-12 literacy gap in America. EducationSuperHighway is committed to a work environment that supports, inspires, and respects all individuals and in which personnel processes are merit-based and applied without discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, disability, national or ethnic origin, military service status, citizenship, or other protected characteristic.