Vice President, Finance

Location: Bridgeport, Connecticut. (Hybrid 1-2 days onsite per week)

Reports to: Chief Operating Officer

Salary: $160-180k

Position Overview:

The Housing Collective is seeking a Vice President of Finance to join its team. Reporting to the CEO, this position is responsible for owning the organization’s financial operating model, ensuring all financial activity, from grant management to monthly close, function as a coordinated, reliable, and audit-ready operation.

Grant management sits at the center of all financial operations. As both a federally funded grant recipient and a grant maker, The Housing Collective manages funding across a broad network, resulting in a level of financial complexity that exceeds its size.

The VP of Finance oversees the external Managed Service Provider (MSP) and ensures effective coordination across all financial workflows. They are responsible for designing and enforcing processes that keep financial systems and reporting grant-driven—enabling accurate reimbursement, compliance, and decision-making within a complex, collective impact environment. This role requires strong attention to detail, process discipline, and the ability to translate financial data into operational insight across a network of partners.

The ideal candidate is comfortable operating in ambiguity and able to assess what is working, identify gaps, and strengthen processes over time.

Success will be measured by:

• Timely and accurate financial reporting
• Strong audit and compliance outcomes
• Reliable financial operations across a multi-partner system
• Clear financial insights that support system-level impact on housing and homelessness
• Collective impact and partnership, ensuring visibility and growth.

Responsibilities:

1. Ownership of Financial Operating Model & Handoffs

• Serve as the liaison to the Finance and Audit Committee, regularly presenting financial results, participating in monthly financial reviews, and supporting Board-level financial oversight.
• Designs, documents, and owns the end-to-end financial operating model, defining and enforcing key finance handoffs (i.e., program and grant inputs, allocations, MSP execution, and reporting) to ensure coordinated, accurate, and timely financial operations.
• Establishes clear ownership, timelines, and accountability across all processes, proactively identifying and resolving workflow breakdowns before they impact reporting or compliance.

2. MSP Oversight, Accounting & Monthly Close

• Owns accounting outcomes and the monthly close process end‑to‑end in a hybrid model where execution is performed by an external MSP.
• Oversees accounts payable and receivable, cash processing, expense and credit card administration, reconciliations, and monthly financial reporting.
• Develops and enforces a disciplined close calendar with clear upstream deadlines, ensures grant inputs, accruals, and allocations are complete and accurate, reviews and approves financial statements and balance sheet reconciliations, and maintains an audit‑ready close process.

3. Grant Financial Management

• Owns financial management across the full grants’ portfolio (federal, state, municipal, and private), ensuring compliance with Uniform Guidance (2 CFR Part 200) and all funder requirements.
• Aligns grant budgets, spending, reimbursement mechanics, and revenue recognition, monitoring burn rates, allowable costs, and deferred revenue.
• Ensures financial systems and reporting are grant‑driven, supporting accurate reimbursement, compliance, and decision‑making.

4. Grant Making & Subrecipient Financial Oversight

• Oversees financial operations for pass‑through funding and subrecipients, ensuring alignment between award terms, disbursements, and financial and performance reporting.
• Supports and enforces subrecipient monitoring frameworks in partnership with program and compliance teams.
• Ensures financial accountability across the provider network, surfacing risks and issues early.

6. Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

• Leads the annual budgeting process in partnership with program leadership.
• Produces budget‑to‑actual analysis with clear variance explanations, supporting reforecasting and scenario modeling.
• Translates financial data into clear, actionable insight for leadership and the Board to support resource allocation decisions.

7. Financial Reporting, Audit & Compliance

• Owns financial reporting for leadership and the Board, ensuring clarity, accuracy, and timeliness.
• Leads the annual financial statement audit and Single Audit, serving as primary liaison with auditors and ensuring MSP‑prepared schedules are accurate and complete.
• Maintains strong internal controls across both internal and outsourced processes.
• Oversees required regulatory filings, including Form 990.

8. Systems & Data Integration

• Owns the integrity of financial data across systems, ensuring accurate reconciliation and reliable reporting.
• Designs and improves financial data structures to support grant tracking, analysis, and reimbursement.
• Partners with the MSP and internal teams to ensure systems effectively support finance and program needs.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
• 12-15 years of progressive experience in nonprofit finance or accounting
• Experience managing a large Federal grants portfolio; specifically cost-reimbursement funding and complex allocations
• Demonstrated expertise in federal grant accounting and compliance (Uniform Guidance)
• Experience with subrecipient monitoring / pass-through funding models
• Strong understanding of process design, internal controls, and workflow management
• Proven ability to be agile and operate effectively in high-complexity, high-accountability environments

Preferred:

• Experience supporting or leading financial audits, including interaction with auditors
• Familiarity with Sage Intacct (General Ledger), Bill.com (Expense Management), and/or Martus (Budget)
• Experience working with or managing outsourced accounting providers or MSPs as part of a hybrid staffing model
• Experience in human services, housing, or related sector

About The Housing Collective

The Housing Collective is a Connecticut-based nonprofit that strengthens housing and homelessness systems by aligning communities, public agencies, and service providers around coordinated, regional housing solutions.

For over 20 years, we have served as a backbone organization, supporting more than 200 partners across Western and Eastern Connecticut to reduce homelessness, expand access to affordable housing, and build systems that promote long-term housing stability. We operate using a collective impact framework, aligning funding, data, best practices, and lived experience to achieve shared outcomes.

The organization functions as both:

• A grant recipient (primarily federally funded, including state pass-through), and
• A grant maker, stewarding and distributing funds across a broad network of community-based providers

This dual role creates financial and compliance complexity comparable to organizations many times its size.

Gallagher's HR & Organizational effectiveness team provides expert guidance and hands-on support in HR, Recruiting, and Payroll to help organizations stay focused on achieving their strategic business goals.