Finance Team Lead - 1008 RD #7

Finance Team Lead

Location: Alberta, Canada
Job Type: Contract / Temporary
Experience: 7+ Years of Progressive Financial Experience
Professional Designation: CPA or CPA-in-Progress

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Finance Team Lead to provide hands-on financial accounting, reporting, and functional leadership within a large and complex organization.

This is a hands-on leadership role, not a pure people-management position. The successful candidate will be directly involved in complex accounting and financial reporting activities while coordinating financial professionals and leading high-priority workstreams.

The Finance Team Lead will support areas such as financial reporting, external audit, revenue and grant reporting, general accounting, reconciliations, and financial analysis. The role requires someone who can independently manage complex deliverables, review the work of others, identify financial risks, and ensure assignments are completed accurately and on time.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead complex financial reporting and accounting assignments.
• Coordinate financial analysts and other resources supporting assigned financial deliverables.
• Review financial statements, schedules, notes, reconciliations, and supporting documentation.
• Lead month-end, quarter-end, and year-end financial activities.
• Lead and support internal and external audit requirements.
• Coordinate responses to audit requests and ensure supporting documentation is complete and accurate.
• Review accounting research and provide guidance on complex accounting issues.
• Lead investigations into financial statement variances and reporting discrepancies.
• Oversee complex General Ledger and restricted-fund reconciliations.
• Coordinate grant and revenue reporting activities.
• Review journal entries, accounting adjustments, and supporting documentation.
• Lead preparation and review of year-end schedules, worksheets, and financial statement notes.
• Coordinate time-sensitive financial reporting and regulatory deliverables.
• Support and review financial reporting worksheets and related processes.
• Ensure financial deliverables comply with applicable accounting standards, organizational policies, and established deadlines.
• Coordinate with Finance, Operations, funding recipients, and other stakeholders to resolve accounting and reporting issues.
• Provide technical guidance, coaching, and support to financial team members.
• Escalate significant accounting, financial reporting, control, and compliance risks.
• Maintain quality control over assigned financial deliverables.
• Identify process improvements and opportunities to improve financial reporting efficiency and accuracy.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Minimum 7 years of progressive responsibility in financial reporting, accounting, or equivalent finance functions.
• CPA designation or actively pursuing CPA designation.
• Significant hands-on experience in financial accounting and reporting.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating or leading financial workstreams and deliverables.
• Strong financial statement preparation and review experience.
• Extensive General Ledger accounting experience.
• Experience with complex reconciliations.
• Strong variance analysis and financial investigation skills.
• Hands-on month-end and year-end close experience.
• Experience supporting or coordinating audits.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills.
• Experience with enterprise financial systems and databases.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Ability to work independently with limited supervision.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities and meet aggressive deadlines.
• Excellent written, verbal, communication, and presentation skills.

Highly Preferred Qualifications

• Completed CPA designation.
• Knowledge of Public Sector Accounting Standards (PSAS).
• Experience in Canadian public-sector finance.
• Experience in healthcare finance or accounting.
• Experience working within a large, complex enterprise.
• Experience coordinating external audits.
• Grant and restricted-fund accounting experience.
• Experience with government or public-sector financial reporting processes.
• Knowledge of internal controls over financial reporting.
• Experience with financial workstream or team leadership.
• Accounting policy research and technical accounting experience.
• Knowledge of ASPE, IFRS, and GAAP.

Leadership & Core Competencies

The successful candidate should demonstrate:

• Hands-on financial leadership.
• Ability to delegate, review, and provide constructive feedback on work.
• Coaching and mentoring capabilities.
• Strong quality orientation and attention to detail.
• Accountability for financial deliverables and outcomes.
• Strong stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to resolve conflicts and facilitate agreement among stakeholders.
• Sound professional judgment.
• Strong decision-making under tight deadlines.
• Ability to prioritize multiple urgent and competing deliverables.
• Clear and professional communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to lead workstreams effectively without constant supervision.
• Ability to identify risks, escalate issues appropriately, and recommend practical solutions.