Finance Controller

Reports To:  

Director of Finance  

Application Guidelines:

Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis, please apply or share interest promptly.

A cover letter is required for consideration.

This position is currently hybrid.

Who We Are:

Oregon Food Bank (OFB) believes that no one should be hungry. Our mission is to eliminate hunger and its root causes.  We believe that food and health are basic human rights for all. We know that hunger is not just an individual experience; it is also a community-wide symptom of systemic barriers to employment, education, housing and health care such as systemic racism, sexism, and cissexism. That’s why we work systemically to achieve our mission to end hunger: we foster community connections to help people access nutritious food, and we build community power and strengthen networks of support and the safety net to eliminate the root causes of hunger for good.

We build community power to dismantle systems and policies that drive hunger and poverty.

Oregon Food Bank is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and we strongly encourage applications from candidates who can increase the diversity of our organization and strengthen our capacity to eliminate hunger. We believe strongly in the power of lived experience — and we actively seek individuals who have experienced hunger and its root causes to join our team. Our organization is stronger because of the leadership of people who have faced food insecurity in their own lives and/or hail from historically under-represented communities. Learn more about our commitment at oregonfoodbank.org/equity. 

Who You Are:

You care deeply about community, about people experiencing hunger and hold them in the center of all that you do. You are committed to apply equity as a process and an outcome of your work to disrupt systemic social patterns that promote hunger such as racism, sexism, and cissexism.  You have a strong affinity with OFB’s 10 Year Vision and are profoundly excited to achieve this vision for and with our community.

Position Summary:

As the Controller at Oregon Food Bank, you will play a pivotal leadership role within the Finance Department, managing all aspects of accounting and internal/external financial audits to ensure timely, accurate, and compliant financial information. Reporting directly to the Director of Finance,  you will collaborate with leadership and management team members to provide strategic oversight and drive solutions that advance OFB's mission and vision through financial operations and accounting systems. In this role, you will design and implement strategies to optimize processes, tools, and methods supporting key accounting, reporting, investment, audit, and compliance objectives. Additionally, you will develop, lead, inspire, and manage a high-performing, diverse accounting team, and maintain strong partnerships with internal and external stakeholders, including the Finance & Audit Committee and Board of Directors.

Primary Responsibilities (Essential Functions):

• Lead day-to-day accounting and financial reporting operations, applying best practices for non-profit financial management. 

• Oversee the chart of accounts,  general ledger, and all balances in the Sage Intacct system, including assets, liabilities, net assets, revenues, expenses, and other accounts.

• Review and approve all periodic financial statements and required reporting in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Uniform Guidance for Federal Awards. 

• Maintain and strengthen a system of effective internal controls, safeguarding against fraud and ensuring timely, accurate, and complete financial information. 

• Realize opportunities for workflow efficiencies, automation, and transformation, regularly updating documentation of accounting policies and procedures.

• Ensure preparedness for all financial audits and similar reviews  in compliance with federal, state, and grant-specific requirements. 

• Manage the organization’s treasury function, daily cash flows, investment performance, and relationships with financial institutions.  

• Provide supervision, coaching, and guidance for a small team of dedicated accounting professionals to achieve work objectives and support a high-performing finance function.

• In partnership with the Director of Finance, Associate Director of Strategic Finance, other relevant department leaders, build and maintain best practices, policies, procedures, and structures that support an inclusive, collaborative, and effective Finance department.

• Collaborate with the strategic finance and grants teams on planning, budgeting, financial systems, billing, donor restrictions, and other shared priorities. 

• Coordinate with partners across departments to support key organizational functions, such as payroll and human resources, donor relations, partner network oversight, tracking food movement, and information technology. 

• Organizational level responsibilities of exempt employees include:

  • To be an ambassador and a leader for OFB’s vision and mission, a cross-departmental collaborator, and an active contributor to building a movement to end hunger for good by addressing the root causes of hunger: systemic oppressions such as racism, xenophobia, sexism, and cisexism. 

  • In consultation and coordination with the supervisor, actively contribute to:

    • cross-departmental efforts

    • work culture activities and programming

    • advisory and consultative groups such as the compensation committee, affinity groups, Equity Ambassadors, Equity Think Tank meetings, among others

    • plan and engage in professional development activities that strengthen your capacity for your specific role as well as your capacity to contribute and advance organizational goals, OFB’s vision and mission.  

• Identify, share, engage in, and collaboratively adjust and make necessary changes to this description of duties according to the inevitable evolution of the role over time.

Skills and Experience Required:

• A licensed U.S. Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

• A bachelor's, master’s or advanced university degree in accounting, finance, or related field

• 10+ years of demonstrated and relevant success in advanced accounting functions, including at least 5+ years of staff supervision.

• Prior experience working for an accounting firm and for a non-profit organization, including application of relevant audit procedures, compliance requirements, and financial controls.

• Full understanding and demonstrated knowledge of GAAP, Uniform Guidance for Federal Awards, Internal Control COSO Framework, Federal, State, Local, and Other Compliance Regulations. 

• Experience in both conducting audits and being audited, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and organizational policies.

• Experience performing research in financial regulations, accounting standards, and government grant requirements, as well as preparing, analyzing, explaining, and presenting financial rules.

• Experience with Excel, complex databases, process automation, and artificial intelligence.

• Proficiency with accounting software and the ability to learn new technologies and applications quickly.

• Strong interpersonal, supervisory, and customer service skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and concisely to different audiences and suggest actionable solutions.

• Positive management style with a solutions-oriented mindset, attitude, and communication approach.

• Ability to handle confidential information and sensitive situations with professionalism and discretion.

• Proactive, self-directed approach in a fast-moving and evolving environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Senior leadership experience and/or experience managing multiple teams.

• Experience in building up an accounting team, through both recruitment and professional development.  

• Experience in developing financial ERP systems, implementing software integrations, and creating accounting infrastructure, particularly with Sage Intacct.

• Experience with accounting for affiliated 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 organizations. 

• Deep passion for eliminating hunger and its root causes.

• Professional, volunteer, or personal experience within food banking, hunger relief programming, and/or community food systems work, or any type of non-profit or social services work. 

• Speaks another language and/or is multilingual and multicultural; can relate to the equity constituents of Oregon Food Bank, including people of color and/or immigrants/refugees.

• Organizational level preferred qualifications of exempt employees include:

  • Multilingual skills at a minimum professional level of proficiency or greater in English and any additional language/s, defined as being able to speak the languages with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical and professional topics.  

  • Multicultural skills of adaptation and integration are strongly preferred.  

    • Adaptation is defined as the capacity to communicate and interact  with people of multiple cultures, backgrounds, and styles by incorporating and adapting to the world view and perspectives of others.

    • Integration is defined as being able to “code-switch” or move in and out of one's worldview and help others understand different cultures, backgrounds, and styles to promote diversity and inclusion.

  • Commitment to continued professional development to strengthen capacity to work through an equity lens for equity and racial justice.

  • Strong capacity to consider multiple perspectives, to pivot to respond to emerging needs and lead through organizational changes.

  • Years of successful cultural immersion either working with and/or living within one or more of OFB’s Equity Constituencies at the time of hire.  An additional step for at least 10 years above minimum required of successful cultural immersion working with and/or living within one or more of OFB’s Equity Constituencies at the time of hire.

    • Cultural Immersion defined as: Actively integrated in one or more communities, interacting with individuals and groups, and seeking to understand the diversities within and between communities by being there and engaging in daily life activities.

The Fine Print:

Work environment:

Work is performed in an office environment while sitting in meetings or at a computer screen for extended periods inside and outside of Oregon Food Bank and will use computers and phones extensively. 

May work outside of general working hours of 8:00 – 5:00 p.m., such as evenings and weekends, and occasional travel out of town may occur. 

This role requires travel/personal vehicle use /work outside normal hours. 

Work may require to lift, move and carry objects from 20 to 40 pounds, such as boxes containing office and other supplies. Crouching, bending, kneeling and reaching when filing. Accommodations may be available upon request.

Background Check:

This position does require a criminal background check.  Criminal background checks may be required for the following reasons:

• Insurance requirement Y

• Third party contractual requirement/s Y

• Job duties requirements include unsupervised administration of cash or other liquid assets. Y 

A criminal record unrelated to theft, assault, or sexual violence may not make you ineligible to work at Oregon Food Bank. We actively support all our staff in developing relevant skills and capacities to improve job retention and advancement.

Inclement Weather, Service Disruptions and Disaster Response expectations:

OFB is part of the regional disaster response network and, as part of our commitment to our community, we all are expected to report to work as soon as it’s safe to do so and to respond to the disaster, emergency, inclement weather or extended service disruption as needed and as possible.  Work and paid designations are described in OFB’s Inclement Weather Guidelines.  At all times staff is supported to prioritize their safety and those of their dependants, families and loved ones while in communication and coordination with supervisors.

1. Exempt classification refers to employees who earn a salary rather than an hourly rate for the work they do instead of the number of hours they take to complete the task. Exempt employees are not eligible for overtime pay or minimum wage. They; 1) Supervise two or more full-time employees or four part-time employees regularly; 2) Are responsible for managing at least part of a business; 3) Play an important role in the job status of other employees, including hiring and delegating tasks; or 1) Perform office or non-manual work directly related to the business operations or management of an organization and its customers; and 2) Exercise independent judgment and discretion over important business decisions.