Director, Financial Strategy

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is hiring a Director, Financial Strategy in Albany, NY (onsite).

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a financial operational excellence strategy aligned to organizational objectives.
• Lead transformation initiatives to improve efficiency, scalability, and finance service delivery.
• Act as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on financial operational improvements and emerging best practices.
• Draft financial presentations, board decks, and briefing memos for the CFO.
• Find opportunities to streamline workflows using Lean, Six Sigma, automation, and process redesign.
• Lead cross-functional improvement projects from planning through implementation.
• Reduce manual work by eliminating inefficiencies through technology and automation.
• Standardize and automate project tracking frameworks across the finance organization.
• Oversee continuous improvement of core financial processes.
• Partner with IT to build and optimize ERP and other financial systems.
• Evaluate and implement automation tools, workflow technologies, dashboards, and reporting solutions.
• Ensure data integrity and strengthen financial reporting capabilities.
• Partner with Information Security to support risk mitigation in financial workflows and compliance with best practices.
• Partner with internal controls and financial governance functions.
• Ensure compliance with applicable accounting standards, regulatory requirements, and organizational policies.
• Support internal and external audits and implement corrective actions as needed.
• Establish standardized operating procedures to mitigate risk and improve efficiency.
• Work with business units to improve reporting, monitoring, and capture of financial data for data-driven decision-making and program execution.
• Monitor progress against company-wide financial goals and ensure appropriate accountability across departments.
• Develop and monitor operational KPIs and financial performance metrics.
• Collaborate with the Business Performance Management team to gather insights from financial performance metrics.
• Drive accountability through performance measurement and continuous improvement.
• Build and lead a high-performing team focused on continuous improvement.
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, customer service, and continuous learning.
• Build organizational capability in process improvement methodologies.
• Perform all managerial and supervisory responsibilities with respect, fairness, consistency, and inclusion.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field (required).
• 10 years of progressively responsible experience in finance, accounting, financial operations, or operational excellence, including 5 years in a supervisory role managing direct reports.
• Experience leading enterprise-wide process improvement and organizational change.
• Strong knowledge of financial systems, ERP platforms, budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting.
• Experience implementing automation and process optimization initiatives.
• Intellectual curiosity and interest in improving business processes to support the authority mission.
• Ability to build relationships and collaborate across departments to implement transformational changes.

Technologies

• ERP
• Power BI
• Tableau
• Lean
• Six Sigma

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field (required with 8 years progressively responsible experience and 5 years supervisory experience managing direct reports).
• Experience leading finance transformation initiatives.
• Knowledge of shared services and finance operating models.
• Experience with ERP implementations or major system upgrades.
• Public sector, nonprofit, or highly regulated industry experience (plus).
• Experience using data analytics and visualization tools such as Power BI or Tableau.

Job Overview

• Leads special corporate projects under the CFO’s purview, including system implementations and cross-cutting initiatives.
• Provides strategic leadership for financial operations through continuous improvement, operational efficiency, process standardization, and financial governance.
• Partners with the CFO organization and internal functions including Contracts Management, IT, Information Security, Internal Controls and Internal Audit, Legal, Operational Excellence, and business leaders.
• Reports directly to the Chief Financial Officer and leads initiatives to improve financial performance, enhance compliance, reduce operational risk, and ensure efficient delivery of finance services.

Compensation

• USD 163,811 - 206,043 per year

Application

• Submit your resume; cover letters are welcome but not required.
• Full consideration deadline: 10/24/2026.
• During application, you may be prompted to opt-in to Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) scoring in the ADP system; this request is automatic and not used in NYSERDA’s recruiting and hiring process, and it has no impact on your application.