Chief Financial Officer

Aspire Public Schools NorCal  — Chief Financial Officer

Job Description 

About Aspire NorCal

Founded in 1998, Aspire Public Schools has served scholars and communities across California for nearly three decades. Following Aspire Los Angeles’s transition into an independent organization, Aspire’s Bay Area and Central Valley regions will come together to form Aspire NorCal.

Aspire NorCal will operate 22 schools serving approximately 10,000 scholars across Northern California, with schools located in Oakland, Richmond, East Palo Alto, Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, and Ceres.

This evolution comes at an important moment for Aspire. Changes in California’s funding, policy, enrollment, and operating environment have created an opportunity to rethink how the organization supports its schools and scholars in its next chapter. The formation of Aspire NorCal creates an opportunity to strengthen support for schools across teams previously organized by geography, improve the consistency and effectiveness of school support, and create clear accountability systems for organizational and scholar outcomes. The new model will require the organization to balance greater coherence across Aspire NorCal with responsiveness to the different communities and contexts of its schools.

Aspire NorCal enters this transition with a long-standing mission focused on post-secondary success and a deep commitment to educational equity, along with decades of institutional knowledge across its schools and teams. Preserving those strengths while building Aspire NorCal as a unified region will be central to the work ahead.

About the role

The Chief Financial Officer builds and runs the budget and multi-year plan the President owns, and leads the finance side of the Aspire Los Angeles separation and the one support office. As Aspire NorCal's senior leader accountable for financial health, stewardship, and long-term sustainability, the CFO reports to the President, serves on the Executive team, and oversees Aspire NorCal's budget of more than $200 million across 22 schools, ensuring the organization has the financial strength to fulfill its mission for scholars today and for years to come.

The CFO leads finance, accounting, payroll, compliance, and real estate and partners with the CEO and the Board's Finance and Audit Committees. This leader translates organizational priorities into sustainable financial plans, makes resource trade-offs visible, and builds financial discipline and understanding across the organization.

As Aspire NorCal navigates enrollment shifts, changing state and federal funding, and significant facilities needs, the CFO will help the organization make sound long-term decisions while maintaining financial discipline, strong controls, and the capacity to invest in schools and scholars.

Competencies

Strategic Financial Leadership

• Lead annual and multi-year budgeting across schools and the one support office, aligning resources with Aspire NorCal's academic and organizational priorities.

• Lead monthly budget-to-actual and variance reviews with school and support office leaders, and maintain position controls that keep staffing and other major costs within budget.

• Build enrollment forecasts and track their financial impact, working with the Chief Schools Officer, who oversees enrollment owned by principals.

• Build multi-year, scenario-based financial models and forecasts that make trade-offs and risks clear to the CEO, President, and Board.

• Provide the CEO, President, executive team, and Board with timely financial and operational dashboards to support informed decisions.

• Maximize and diversify revenue, including LCFF, ELO-P, school meals, federal grants, charter-school start-up funds, and philanthropy, while anticipating the financial impact of enrollment and state and federal policy changes.

• Partner with the President and senior leaders to evaluate the operating model, identify opportunities to improve efficiency, and align resources with Aspire NorCal's highest priorities, including tracking cost per scholar and the capacity released by the President's modernization of the support model.

• Ensure Aspire NorCal maintains a structurally balanced budget, healthy reserves, and the financial capacity to sustain and invest in strong scholar outcomes.

Accounting, controls and compliance

• Oversee accounting, payroll and close to deliver timely, accurate financial statements and clean audits.

• Own payroll accuracy, and lead the payroll and HRIS modernization with the Chief Technology Officer and the people function.

• Lead the finance cutover from Aspire Los Angeles by July 1, 2027, separating books, payroll, banking and audit.

• Own financial and grant compliance, including federal grants under Uniform Guidance (drawdowns, expenditure tracking, time-and-effort reporting and the federal Single Audit) and financial reporting to authorizers; the Chief Schools Officer owns program compliance and the General Counsel owns legal compliance and filings.

• Refine and enforce internal controls, policies and systems that let a lean team operate at scale.

• Oversee financial review and approval of contracts and binding agreements, working with General Counsel and other functional leaders on complex matters.

Capital, Cash, Real Estate, and Risk

• Lead capital-markets activity: bond financings, lines of credit, refinancing and cash investment decisions.

• Optimize cash flow, forecasting and liquidity across Aspire NorCal's schools, and manage banking and lender relationships to strengthen cash management.

• Lead financial modeling, sources and uses, and negotiations for facility acquisitions, leases and construction.

• Lead the financial evaluation of growth and strategic opportunities, including new schools, charter expansions or consolidations, and partnerships.

• Oversee the financial strategy and negotiation of major contracts, including insurance and benefits, in partnership with the appropriate functional leaders.

Leadership of a high-performing team

• Lead, coach, and hold accountable roles including Controller, Director of Finance and leaders of compliance and real estate, and a team anticipated to be ~15.

• Deliver the finance, payroll and accounting services Aspire NorCal provides to Aspire Los Angeles after July 1, 2027, as part of the President's services to Aspire Los Angeles, including service agreements, service levels and cost recovery, while keeping Aspire NorCal's finances clearly separate.

• Hold every manager to Aspire's "excellent management" standard: managers set the conditions for success and hold teammates accountable for results. This means documented check-ins at least twice a month (more often for new and junior staff), clear goals, regular feedback, development conversations, prompt course correction, and no surprises if a role changes or terminates.

• Set an annual strategic plan and workplan for the finance function, and build a culture of accuracy, service and continuous improvement.

• Build financial literacy across Aspire NorCal so principals and support office leaders can own their budgets.

Enterprise partnership and judgment

• Contribute to Aspire NorCal's strategy and enterprise resource decisions as a member of the Executive team, bringing a clear focus on financial sustainability and scholar outcomes.

• Serve as the primary financial partner to the Board's Finance and Audit Committees, overseeing agendas, financial reporting, audit processes, and engagement with auditors and other advisors.

• Partner with the Chief Schools Officer on staffing models and school budgets, with the people function on compensation and benefits, with Operations on facilities (the CFO leads real estate transactions; Operations runs the facilities), and with Advancement on philanthropy.

• Partner with the Chief Technology Officer to select, implement, and optimize financial systems (ERP, budgeting and payroll) that support a lean, scalable finance team.

• Make timely, evidence-based decisions and explain them clearly.

• Identify and interrupt inequitable practices in the work they lead and influence.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive finance leadership, including significant experience leading a complex finance function at the executive or senior leadership level. Experience serving as a CFO, VP of Finance, or equivalent senior finance leader is strongly preferred.

• Experience leading finance for a multi-site organization with a budget of $50M+.

• Deep knowledge of nonprofit accounting and public-sector finance; California K-12 or charter school finance strongly preferred.

• Expert knowledge of GAAP and federal Uniform Guidance.

• Capital-markets experience, including bond financing and facilities transactions.

• A track record of presenting to a board and audit committee and leading clean audits.

• Proven experience as a strategic thought partner to a CEO and board, translating strategic priorities into operational and financial plans.

• Expert financial modeling and FP&A skills, and fluency with ERP and accounting systems.

• Experience leading and developing a high-performing finance team and building financial literacy among non-finance leaders.

• Bachelor's degree required; CPA and/or MBA preferred.

Compensation and benefits

The salary range for this role is $235,000–$275,000 annually, commensurate with experience. This full-time, exempt position offers a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Eligible for Aspire health benefits

• Retirement through CalSTRS or CalPERS, depending on the role's credential requirements, with a 403(b) option

• Paid time off and additional teammate benefits to be determined in accordance with updated employee value proposition to be shared prior to offer.  

Location and work arrangement

• Must reside in a county where Aspire NorCal schools are located: San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, or Sacramento. 

• Periodic travel required across schools spanning East Palo Alto to the East Bay Area,  and Sacramento to Modesto, including attendance at Board of Directors meetings in Stockton.

• In person with work-from-home flexibility to be determined with the CEO. 

Equal opportunity

Aspire Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Aspire Public Schools provides reasonable accommodations during the application and interview process.