Budget Director

Democracy Fund; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Flexible spending accounts

Retirement plan

Professional development

Remote work support

Job summary

EpicWorks seeks a Budget Director to partner with senior leaders across Working Families Party and Working Families Power, and manage a portfolio of Participating Organizations. You will lead budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning, translate complex data into actionable guidance, and supervise finance staff to ensure timely, accurate reporting.

You will work closely with the CFO and Director of Management & Budget, build dashboards, manage cash flow and fundraising projections, and drive

Qualifications

• 7–10 years nonprofit finance leadership experience with supervisory responsibility.
• Budgeting, forecasting, cash flow management and management reporting expertise.
• Strategic financial partner to executives and department heads.
• Experience in complex multi-entity nonprofit environments (501(c)(3)/(c)(4)).
• Strong GAAP knowledge, internal controls, and nonprofit financial management.
• Ability to translate complex financial data into practical guidance and guidance for non-finance leaders.
• Experience with NetSuite or similar financial systems; grant-funded projects preferred.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a financial partner to department heads and senior leaders at multiple organizations.
• Lead budgeting and forecasting for annual cycles and regular forecasting across the portfolio.
• Review budgets, actuals, forecasts, and assumptions with leaders regularly.
• Translate financial information into clear, actionable insights for non-finance audiences.
• Develop dashboards and reporting tools; supervise finance staff and foster accountability.
• Support onboarding of new Participating Organizations and cross-team collaboration.

Skills

Nonprofit leadership

Budgeting & forecasting

Financial analysis

Cash flow mgmt

Management reporting

Strategic finance partner

GAAP

Internal controls

NetSuite

Grant management

Multi-entity nonprofits

Communication

Tools

NetSuite

Job description

About EpicWorks

EpicWorks provides movement organizations with the values-aligned infrastructure and services they need to fulfill their missions with confidence. We help strengthen the core of their operations by providing essential, dependable services related to people practices, financial management, legal compliance and organizational health. EpicWorks sets up organizations to achieve greater impact.

EpicWorks team members specialize in finance, human resources, compliance, legal services, organizational culture and labor relations. Each team member brings years—often decades—of experience supporting organizations fighting for justice.

This role will work directly for EpicWorks and will not be employed by Working Families Party or Working Families Power.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, the Budget Director is responsible for helping EpicWorks Participating Organization leaders understand their financial position, plan effectively, and make sound financial decisions. The ability to translate financial data into clear choice points and implications for leaders is essential to success in this role.

The Budget Director will support the CFO at an enterprise level across all Participating Organizations. A significant focus of this role will be providing extensive support to department heads at Working Families Party and Working Families Power (our largest and most complex Participating Organizations). The leaders of our Participating Organizations require support developing and managing budgets, identifying risks, evaluating tradeoffs, and monitoring spending, cash reserves, and forecasts in order to make informed decisions about their resources. The Budget Director will work in close partnership with the Working Families Party and Working Families Power Director of Management & Budget, who owns the budget process, strategy and decision process for those organizations. The Budget Director will lead the technical financial work necessary to complete those processes.

The Budget Director will also provide financial guidance to a portfolio of EpicWorks Participating Organizations. The role requires an ability to translate complex financial information into clear, practical guidance and build trusted relationships with leaders with varying levels of financial expertise. The Budget Director will work in close partnership with the Director of Participating Organization Services who is responsible for the overall experience of these additional leaders.

The Budget Director will supervise finance staff and balance strategic leadership and relationship management with hands‑on financial analysis and problem‑solving.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Financial Partnership & Budget Management

• Serve as a financial partner to department heads and senior leaders at Working Families Party and Working Families Power.
• Lead the technical financial work needed for annual budgeting and regular forecasting to support department leaders and budget managers.
• Review budgets, actual spending, forecasts, staffing assumptions, and financial commitments with leaders on a regular basis.
• Identify significant variances, emerging risks, and financial trends and help leaders understand their possible implications.
• Model financial scenarios and help leaders evaluate staffing, programmatic, and operational decisions.
• Translate financial information into clear, actionable information for non-finance audiences.
• Provide hands‑on support to departments of particular priority as identified by the CFO and Director of Management and Budget.
• Develop a strong understanding of the accounting system and the revenue and expenses underlying budget-versus-actual reports, including fundraising revenue projections and actual results.
• Support the development of financial dashboards tailored to the reporting and decision‑making needs of Working Families' department and division directors.

Participating Organization Support

• Provide financial guidance to our portfolio of Participating Organizations and fiscally sponsored projects, including budgeting, forecasting, cash flow, reporting, and financial planning.
• Meet regularly with organizational leaders to review financial performance, identify risks, and support sound decision‑making.
• Develop training, tools, dashboards, templates, and written guidance that strengthen financial management across organizations.
• Support the financial onboarding of new Participating Organizations, including workflows, expectations, and financial systems.
• Collaborate with other EpicWorks teams to provide coordinated and responsive support.

Financial Planning, Systems & Team Leadership

• Develop and continuously improve budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting tools and methods, and enterprise level financial planning processes.
• Partner with the Controller and accounting staff to ensure management reporting is timely, accurate, and grounded in sound accounting practices.
• Support improvements to NetSuite and other financial systems and identify opportunities to streamline or automate reporting and analysis.
• Supervise and develop finance staff, setting clear priorities and expectations and fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and excellent service.
• Step into detailed financial analysis and operational work when needed.

SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

• 7–10 years of progressive nonprofit finance experience, including leadership or supervisory experience.
• Significant experience with budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis, cash flow management, and management reporting.
• Experience serving as a strategic financial partner to executives, department heads, or other organizational leaders.
• Experience working in complex, multi‑entity nonprofit environments, including 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations.
• Strong understanding of GAAP, internal controls, and nonprofit financial management.
• Exceptional ability to translate complex financial information into practical guidance for non‑finance leaders.
• Strong relationship‑building and service orientation, with excellent communication and follow‑through.
• Commitment to EpicWorks values of Accountability, Justice, Resilience and Collective Responsibility.
• Experience improving financial processes, reporting tools, dashboards, and systems.
• Experience supervising and developing finance staff.
• Experience with NetSuite or similar financial management systems.
• Experience with fiscally sponsored projects and grant‑funded organizations strongly preferred.
• Experience in political, advocacy, movement, or other mission‑driven organizations preferred.

Applicants must be currently authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor, or take over sponsorship of, employment visas at this time.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

EpicWorks is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to economic and social justice. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and members of other historically disenfranchised populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Any applicant who requires an accommodation in order to apply for or perform the essential functions of the job should contact us at [e-mail] with the subject line "Application Accommodation" to request such an accommodation.

This role will work directly for EpicWorks and will not be employed by Working Families Party or Working Families Power.

99800 - 132000 USD a year

Salary & Compensation: The final salary will be determined based on an internal equitable scale that takes into consideration years of experience, geographic location, and final job description. The upper end of the salary range is reserved for individuals who significantly exceed the minimum qualifications and years of experience.

We also offer a robust benefit package for full time employees including paid time off; health, dental, vision, and life insurance; flexible spending accounts; retirement plan options; professional development funding; and remote work support.

Managerial Positions: EpicWorks is a unionized workplace. This role is a managerial role and excluded from the bargaining unit. EpicWorks' union employees are represented by Workers United affiliated with SEIU and the affiliated Local 1115, Workers United.

Location: This role requires in person work a few days per week in the Brooklyn, NY office.