Finance and Governance Project Manager (26-27)

Finance & Governance Project Manager – IPS

Position Overview

The Finance & Governance Project Manager – IPS is a hybrid operational role designed to strengthen execution and operational excellence across finance, governance, and procurement functions at IPS. Reporting to the Director of Business Operations and working closely with the IPS Chief of Staff and Strategic Initiatives on governance work, this role provides structured project leadership, governance logistics management, and operational design to ensure key initiatives and compliance requirements are executed efficiently and on time. The Project Manager infuses their work with data visibility and analysis and strengthens organizational capacity via thoughtful design and iteration of clear, scalable processes.

The Finance & Governance Project Manager – IPS is responsible for driving operational excellence across governance, procurement, contracts, and other internal systems. This role goes beyond coordination to include strategic process design, iterative refinement, SOP development, and knowledge management, ensuring scalable, compliant, and high-functioning operations across the IPS national team.

This individual partners cross-functionally to shape processes, improve systems, and ensure disciplined execution aligned to organizational priorities and fiduciary responsibilities. Cross functional partners include but are not limited to IPS National Team (including Executive Team, Finance Team, and Human Resources), IDEA network partners, and IPS regional staff.

While this role includes travel logistics and administrative support for members of the IPS national team, its primary focus is managing projects, driving deliverables, leading and refining board governance processes, and executing procurement workflows. This position is ideal for a highly organized, detail-oriented professional who enjoys bringing insightful structure to complex work and ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This role has no direct supervisory responsibilities but will coordinate tasks across internal stakeholders to ensure project timelines and compliance deadlines are met.

Location

Full-time position with preference for being based in Florida, Ohio, or Texas, with limited travel as needed.

1. Governance & Board Operations

In partnership with the Chief of Staff and Strategic Initiatives:

• Coordinate governance operations, ensuring compliance with statutory and organizational requirements.
• Conduct board logistics work for IPS, IDEA Florida, and IDEA Greater Cincinnati boards including quorum checks for meetings, agenda posting, and minutes.
• Own the compilation, quality control, and distribution of board packets and materials
• Maintain governance calendars and proactively manage critical deadlines .
• Track, manage, and drive closure of action items from board and committee meetings
• Design and continuously improve governance workflows to increase efficiency, transparency, and compliance including implementation of new board management platform.
• Maintain organized and audit-ready governance records, signatures, and documentation.

This role ensures governance integrity while building scalable, repeatable systems that strengthen board operations.

In partnership with the Business Operations team:

• Oversee procurement projects, ensuring compliance, timeliness, and alignment to internal controls.
• Participate in and support tiered expense approval processes with a focus on consistency and risk mitigation.
• Build and facilitate processes and systems for procurement compliance document gathering and storage, including standard operating procedures and training users.
• Partner with stakeholders to improve vendor onboarding and purchasing workflows.
• Identify process gaps and lead iterative improvements to procurement systems and controls.
• Identify systemic risk patterns through data analysis.
• Manage escalations and drive resolution of procurement-related challenges.

In partnership with the Business Operations team:

• Design and refine contract management processes to enhance transparency, compliance, and efficiency.
• Own the contracts lifecycle from request through execution, tracking, renewal, and archival.
• Maintain audit-ready procurement and contract documentation with strong data integrity practices.
• Coordinate contract execution, ensuring timely collection of approvals and signatures
• Prepare and manage contract materials for board review in alignment with governance timelines.
• Lead monthly contract audits to proactively identify renewals, risks, and required actions.
• Manage enterprise-wide contract renewals to understand organizational needs, ensure continuity of services, and secure favorable terms.
• Maintain and continuously improve the IPS contracts tracker as a reliable source of truth.
• Design and refine contract management processes to enhance transparency, compliance, and efficiency.

• Design and implement scalable knowledge management systems for IPS finance and governance, including structured repositories and query-able resources.
• Establish clear taxonomy and organizational standards to ensure accessibility and long-term usability of information.
• Develop, document, and maintain SOPs, playbooks, and process documentation across functions.
• Lead training and adoption of documentation standards and knowledge management tools.
• Influence, design, and analyze data related to work streams to inform processes, trainings, and recommendations for management.
• Continuously refine knowledge systems through stakeholder feedback and usage insights.
• Ensure critical institutional knowledge is captured, maintained, and easily transferable.
• Facilitate audit, due diligence, public records, and other documentation requests to ensure accurate and timely response.

• Oversee coordination of travel logistics for IPS national team members, including flights, lodging, and transportation.
• Ensure accurate and timely processing of travel reimbursements and supporting documentation.
• Maintain organized and audit-ready expense tracking records.
• Support scheduling and administrative coordination for finance leadership as needed.
• Identify opportunities to streamline travel and expense processes.

• Lead the design, documentation, and implementation of scalable operational processes across finance and governance.
• Develop and maintain SOPs with a focus on clarity, usability, and compliance.
• Apply an iterative improvement approach to refine workflows based on data, feedback, and evolving needs.
• Identify and implement system and process enhancements that increase efficiency and reduce risk.
• Maintain structured, accessible digital filing systems aligned to knowledge management standards.
• Partner with leadership to shape and operationalize strategic initiatives

Performance Expectations

Success in this role will be demonstrated by:

• Board agendas and materials posted accurately and on time.
• Zero missed governance compliance deadlines.
• Procurement documentation maintained in audit-ready condition.
• Finance travel and reimbursements processed accurately and promptly.
• Clear, organized tracking systems maintained for ongoing initiatives.
• Initiative and effectiveness in designing and executing emergent IPS finance and governance projects.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 3–5 years of experience in project coordination, operations support, governance support, or executive-level administrative roles, 1+ years of experience in project management role preferred.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• High attention to detail and discretion with confidential information.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (especially Excel and PowerPoint).
• Experience using project management or task-tracking tools (Monday, Asana, Wrike, etc.).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in nonprofit, public education, or charter school environments.
• Familiarity with public board governance requirements.

• Experience supporting finance, procurement, or compliance functions.
• Experience using project management or task-tracking tools (Monday, Asana, Wrike, etc.).

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate:

• Is exceptionally organized and detail-oriented.
• Enjoys creating structure and clarity in complex environments.
• Is proactive and anticipates needs before being asked.
• Communicates clearly and follows through reliably.
• Is comfortable working behind the scenes to enable executive-level work to move smoothly.

What We Offer:

Compensation & Benefits:

Salaries for this role fall between $89,694 and $105,391 commensurate with relevant experience and qualifications. This role is also eligible for a performance bonus based on individual and organizational performance and goal attainment.

Additionally, we offer medical, dental, vision, and supplemental benefits as well as retirement plans and a generous vacation package. You can find more information about our benefits at https://ideapublicschools.org/careers/benefits/.

* IDEA may offer a relocation stipend to defray the cost of moving for this role, if applicable.

Learn more about IDEA

At IDEA the Staff Culture and Belonging Team uses our Core Values to promote human connection and a culture of integrity, respect, and belonging for all Team and Family members. Learn more about our Commitment to Core Values here: https://ideapublicschools.org/our-story/#core-values