Finance Systems & Process Lead

ITHAKA’s mission is to expand access to knowledge and education around the world. Our services — JSTOR, Portico, and Ithaka S+R — enable people everywhere to learn, to grow, and to overcome barriers to education. In carrying out our mission, as employees we feel a deep responsibility to members of our community and to each other, and we are committed to building and sustaining a culture where everyone can thrive.

The Role

ITHAKA is looking for a Finance Systems & Process Lead to drive the integrity, improvement, and strategic evolution of ITHAKA’s core financial platforms, including Acumatica (ERP), Ramp (accounts payable management), Adaptive Insights (planning & forecasting), and Vertex (tax compliance).

This role is for someone who enjoys solving complex business problems by combining technology, process improvement, and strong business partnership. You will own the evolution of Finance systems and processes, ensuring they not only operate reliably but continuously become more efficient, scalable, and valuable to the organization.

You are a proactive leader who identifies opportunities for improvement, develops compelling business cases that clearly articulate benefits, trade-offs, resource requirements, and expected outcomes, and partners across the organization to turn those ideas into reality. Success in this role comes from combining analytical thinking, practical execution, and the ability to influence stakeholders through evidence and collaboration.

This is not a support function. It is an opportunity to shape how Finance operates by modernizing systems, simplifying processes, and helping the organization make better, faster decisions enabled by technology and thoughtful process design.

Responsibilities

Systems Ownership

• Own configuration, user access, master data, integrations, and operational health across Acumatica, Ramp, Adaptive Insights, Vertex and other Finance-owned technologies, including future finance systems.
• Proactively monitor and resolve sync errors, data mismatches, and workflow failures.
• Maintain system documentation, change logs, and productive vendor relationships; coordinate upgrades and new feature rollouts.
• Provide expert-level support to Finance and Operations staff; triage issues quickly and correct their root causes.

Process Leadership & Improvement

• Continuously evaluate Finance and cross-functional processes for improvement opportunities to reduce manual effort and error risk—take action to initiate improvements.
• Partner with Finance and business stakeholders to evaluate current approaches, using evidence to develop alternatives and clear recommendations to improve outcomes.
• Ensure improvement recommendations are supported with business justification to build alignment and appropriate prioritization of all opportunities.
• Drive continuous improvement by navigating competing priorities, gaining support for recommended priorities and maintaining focus on delivering meaningful business outcomes.
• Design and implement automation to eliminate manual effort; create high-level workflow solutions and engage the right technical or functional partners to finalize and build them.

Governance & Controls

• Ensure financial systems support audit readiness, internal controls, and data governance standards.
• Maintain documentation for integrations, configurations, and key workflows; support annual audits and ad-hoc reviews.
• Partner with Finance leadership on system-level controls for expense management, AP/AR, and tax compliance.

Project Execution

• Develop business cases that articulate expected value, resource requirements, implementation approach, and success measures to support prioritization and investment decisions.
• Drive finance systems projects from problem definition through implementation and adoption—with clear owners, execution needs, and expected timelines at every stage.
• Identify and engage the right stakeholders at the right time; neither building in isolation nor over-socializing every decision.
• Exercise sound judgment about when to work through an issue independently and when to escalate.
• Communicate project status, risks, and trade-offs clearly to Finance leadership, engaging leadership early enough in the process to effect change.

Experience and Skills

• 5+ years of hands-on experience with ERP, spend management, bill pay, and financial planning systems in an operational or ownership capacity.
• Direct experience with at least two of: Acumatica, Ramp, Adaptive Insights, Vertex, or comparable platforms. Salesforce experience is a plus.
• Demonstrated track record of initiating and completing process improvements—not just documenting or recommending them.
• Demonstrated ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders and lead organizational change without direct authority.
• Evidence of pushing back on stakeholders productively: successfully advocating for a better approach even when it was initially unwelcome.
• Strong analytical and communication skills; able to build a case, present trade-offs, and influence decisions across levels.
• Self-directed: comfortable owning work end-to-end with limited oversight, while keeping leadership appropriately informed.
• Experience in a nonprofit, SaaS, or dual-model organization preferred.
• Familiarity with API integrations, workflow automation, or low-code tools (e.g., Power Automate, Zapier, or native ERP automation).
• Accounting or finance background sufficient to understand how system configurations affect financial reporting.
• Experience supporting systems implementation or migration projects in a Finance context.

Work Authorization and Sponsorship

ITHAKA is not currently considering candidates who require any type of immigration sponsorship (additional work authorization or permanent work authorization) to work in the United States.

Compensation and Benefits

At ITHAKA we believe in openness and fair pay. Part of living those values is our commitment to clarity about salary ranges, so candidates know what to expect. The starting salary for this position ranges from $104,000 – $130,000 per year. Starting pay may vary with job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. At present, our total compensation package for benefits-eligible employees includes medical, dental, and vision plans, an employer-paid 10% retirement contribution, paid parental and caregiver leave, 22 days of paid time off, 11 paid holidays, up to 12 sick days, wellness benefits, and more. Please note that ITHAKA, at its discretion, may make changes to its benefits programs from time to time.

Work for ITHAKA 

We are committed to our organizational values of belonging, evidence, speed, teamwork, and trust. We take seriously the need for everyone to feel welcome. Belonging is one of our core values, and it shows in our vibrant culture. People from a wide range of backgrounds work at ITHAKA, and we believe that unique perspectives help us realize new insights and build better solutions.

We want to work with people who are passionate about ideas like these and who wish to contribute their perspectives and talents to ITHAKA’s mission. We enthusiastically welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and credentials. We want to hear your story and include your perspective in the transformative work we aim to do.

Learn more about Working at ITHAKA.

Apply Now

Although ITHAKA has physical offices in New York and Ann Arbor, Michigan, our employees are distributed across the continental United States. At this time, we’re not considering candidates who are unable to work and reside in the continental U.S.

Candidates may apply by submitting an application online through our career site, if you have any questions about your application, please contact us at [email protected].  ITHAKA is committed to providing reasonable accommodations, if there’s anything we can do to accommodate any portion of the application or hiring process, please contact us at [email protected].

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to identity or other status protected by law. We invite you to read our Equal Employment Opportunity Statement. ITHAKA cares about your privacy, learn more about our Applicant Privacy Notice.