Finance Operations Manager

Finance Operations Manager

The Finance Operations Manager owns the day-to-day health of PEAK6's finance shared services function— Accounts Payable, Travel & Expense (T&E), accounting support, and systems administration. The role maintains core platforms (Ramp, Net Suite), manages a small AP/T&E team, and drives process standardization across entities. The ideal candidate pairs strong process discipline and people leadership with a bias toward automation and AI-driven improvement.

Responsibilities:

• Systems & Platform Ownership
• Administer Ramp (T&E and P2P): user access, workflow configuration, and issue triage.
• Partner with IT and vendors to resolve system issues and manage platform upgrades.
• Own system documentation (SOPs and user guides) for finance platforms.
• Travel & Expense (T&E) Management
• Own the end-to-end T&E process: expense review, policy compliance, and timely reimbursement.
• Maintain T&E policy with the Senior Finance Director and communicate changes to employees.
• Monitor T&E spend and flag anomalies, out-of-policy spend, or misuse.
• Be the primary contact for employee questions on expenses and card usage.
• Coordinate with HR/Payroll on T&E items requiring payroll processing (e.g., imputed income).
• Accounts Payable Operations
• Oversee multi-entity AP: timely, accurate invoice processing, approvals, and payments.
• Monitor approval chains, escalate bottlenecks, and streamline multi-entity routing.
• Support AP-related month-end close, including accruals and reconciliations.
• Accounting Support
• Assist with month- and year-end close: journal entries, reconciliations, and accrual reviews.
• Ensure accurate GL coding of AP transactions and resolve discrepancies with Accounting.
• Support balance sheet reconciliations for AP accounts (e.g., accrued liabilities, prepayments).
• Help maintain accounting policies for payables and system-generated transactions.
• Controls & Compliance
• Maintain and strengthen internal controls over payment processing and system access.
• Support internal and external audit requests related to AP and systems.
• Monitor compliance with company policy and regulatory requirements across entities.
• Track and remediate control gaps identified through audits or process reviews.
• Reporting & Analytics
• Produce and distribute recurring finance ops reporting (AP aging, T&E spend, cycle time, exception rates) to the Senior Finance Director and stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain dashboards and KPIs for operational performance, service levels, and spend across entities.
• Deliver ad hoc analysis to support decisions and respond to leadership requests.
• Ensure accurate, consistent, timely reporting from Ramp, Net Suite, and adjacent systems.
• Establish reporting cadences and standards and automate reports to reduce manual effort.
• Process Improvement & Automation
• Identify manual, repetitive tasks across AP and systems and design automated solutions.
• Partner with the Senior Finance Director on the finance team's broader AI and automation roadmap.
• Lead or support system implementations (e.g., Ramp go-live): testing, training, and change management.
• AI Projects & Initiatives
• Own AI-driven automation projects across AP and systems, from use case through implementation.
• Evaluate and pilot AI tools (e.g., invoice extraction, exception detection, workflow assistants) to cut manual processing.
• Build AI-assisted reporting and reconciliation tools to speed month-end close.
• Document AI project outcomes and ROI and present recommendations to the Senior Finance Director.
• Train the team on new AI tools and workflows and champion AI adoption within finance ops.
• Team Management
• Manage a team of AP/T&E analysts and coordinators: hiring, onboarding, and performance management.
• Set priorities, assign workload across entities, and monitor turnaround and quality.
• Hold regular 1:1s and team meetings and coach direct reports.
• Complete performance reviews and support career development planning for the team.
• Foster a culture of accountability, process discipline, and continuous improvement.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Serve as liaison between finance operations and business stakeholders across PEAK6 entities.
• Coordinate with FP&A and Accounting on data accuracy and reporting needs.
• Communicate system changes, deadlines, and process updates clearly to affected teams.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business, or related field.
• 5+ years in finance operations, accounts payable, or accounting, ideally multi-entity.
• Prior experience managing a team, including performance management and coaching.
• Working knowledge of accounting fundamentals: journal entries, reconciliations, and month-end close.
• Hands-on experience administering finance/T&E platforms (Ramp, Net Suite, or comparable) strongly preferred.
• Experience improving or automating financial processes, including AI-enabled tools.
• Strong analytical skills with advanced proficiency in Excel.
• Excellent communication skills; able to explain technical topics to non-technical audiences.
• High attention to detail and comfort…