Finance Director - Operations

The Finance Director - Operations will be responsible for supporting initiatives across Finance and Accounting in the Tax & Accounting Division. This position reports directly to Division CFO and works closely with executive leadership across cross-functional teams to support the strategic plan, financial goals, and operational objectives of the business. The Division is approximately $1.6B in revenue with an operating expense budget of approximately $1B. The Finance Operations Manager is responsible for driving improvements in efficiency, accuracy and cost across finance and accounting processes and activities around the division. Direct responsibilities include contributing to the annual business planning calendar & process for TAA Finance, monthly business reporting and forecasting, and reporting on and driving critical strategic, operational and efficiency initiatives. This role is directly accountable for improving and adding structure to financial operations.The ideal candidate will have strong accounting and finance experience and a proven track record in delivering results in operational excellence, cost savings initiatives, process design & re-engineering, back office improvement and transformation initiatives as well as best practices in measuring, monitoring and evaluating effective execution across the business. This individual must be able to work effectively with global finance and accounting leaders within TAA as well as senior business leaders and teams in the companies shared services organizations. This successful individual has demonstrated experience with business transformation, delivering on large and small operational efficiency projects, and successfully managing relationships and initiatives at both the local and enterprise level. This is a role for a highly articulate Operations leader who can work across an organization to drive operational efficiency and readiness.Essential Duties and responsibilities:Works with the Divisional finance leadership team to support and improve the accounting and financial reporting processes, structure, and programs

Serves as a key liaison to critical shared services functions, including but not limited to, accounts receivable, billing & collections (part of TAA/GBS), sales operations, Service Excellence (matrixed to TAA NA), GBS (Global Business Services), and key groups and functions within TAA as it relates to shared platforms, resources and products

Serves as an operational leader with internal partners supporting cross functional initiatives (finance, accounting, the business GMs)

Responsible for identifying and leading key initiatives that drive efficiencies, savings, and process reliability within the finance and accounting functions

Responsible for developing and working with the business to ensure reporting of meaningful operating KPIs that can be analyzed in order to identify issues and lead to creation of actionable plans to improve the business

Responsible for supporting and improving key finance system change initiatives, including SAP and CPM, bringing to bear past experience/learnings from previous initiatives similar in nature

Responsible for recommending and monitoring governance processes, including annual business planning calendar & process, balanced scorecard and monthly business reporting, etc.

Works with business units and accounting organizations to support compliance with new accounting standards and regulations

Works cross-segment and cross-business unit to develop inter-business governance, resource allocation, and execution processes to ensure alignment between Small Firm priorities/plans and those of mid-large, GBS, TAA SVE, and NA Engineering.

Supports the finance integration programs for any acquisitions, working with the acquiring business unit

Other Duties:Performs other duties as assigned by supervisor.Job Qualifications:Education: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance. CPA/CMA or MBA is a plus.

Minimum of 7 years of financial and/or accounting management experience and strong background in accounting and financial modeling and business analysis

Finance, and/or accounting and/or program management leadership experience in a global capacity

Proven skills in building successful executive relationships with peers, colleagues, and partners

Proven record of building and improving finance and accounting teams

Proven excellence in execution - delivering against business goals and objectives

Orientation toward data-driven decision making, and the ability to analyze data and make informed decisions driving operational efficiencies

Preferred Qualifications:Experience in a Financial Operations role a plus

Familiarity with SAP a plus

Familiarity with Salesforce.com a plus

CPQ/Billing experience a plus

Process Design experience a plus

Other Knowledge, Skills, Abilities or Certifications:Orientation toward data-driven decision making, and the ability to analyze data and make informed decisions driving operational efficiencies

Ability to identify, diagnose, and remediate operational breakdowns across processes

Ability to effectively lead change and transformation initiatives for the organization

Ability to gain buy-in and alignment across sales, product, marketing, tech, and executive stakeholders

Strong interpersonal, presentation, and communication skills (verbal and written)

Strong collaboration skills – within function and across peer stakeholders.

Travel requirements:This position is based in Riverwoods, IL. or NYC but location could be flexible. Domestic and global travel expected up to 25-30%Physical Demands:Normal office environment.The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by most people assigned to this job. They’re not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities and requirements.EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITYWolters Kluwer U. S. Corporation and all of its subsidiaries, divisions and customer/business units is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.