Senior Controller / Deputy Director

Finance Department Senior Principal Position

The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) seeks a highly motivated, forward-thinking Accounting and Finance professional to join its Finance team in a senior leadership-track role. This position offers a unique opportunity to work closely with PERF’s current Chief Financial Officer and gain deep exposure to all aspects of the organization’s financial operations.

This role is designed for a high-performing professional who is ready to take an active role in modernizing financial systems, strengthening reporting and controls, and shaping the organization’s financial strategy. The ideal candidate will bring both strong technical expertise and a willingness to challenge existing processes, identify efficiencies, and implement improvements.

This position is being structured as a growth opportunity, with the expectation that the successful candidate will assume progressively greater responsibility within the Finance function based on demonstrated performance and initiative.

This position is expected to assume lead responsibility for internal project reporting. Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Preparing and synthesizing foundation reports to support program staff and helping advise them during their review of financial data
• Tracking foundation-related financial activity to ensure alignment with grant and program requirements
• Monitoring project spending, backlog, variances, and proactively flagging risks or anomalies
• Reviewing project-level reporting for budgetary compliance and accuracy
• Identifying projects with significantly slow or accelerated burn rates
• Developing and delivering ad hoc and strategic financial reports as needed

The Senior Principal’ll also partner across the organization to support and strengthen financial operations, including collaboration with senior leadership on key initiatives such as financial oversight, special projects, federal awards, risk management, and forecasting. Areas of contribution include:

• Providing financial analysis and actionable decision support to leadership
• Overseeing budgeting processes, including monitoring indirect cost allocations
• Leading forecasting and financial projections
• Supporting oversight of banking, investments, and corporate credit cards
• Advising on financial systems and technology infrastructure impacting finance operations
• Supporting administration of retirement plans and related compliance requirements
• Reviewing financial components of contracts, budgets, and proposals
• Contributing to office management

This position may be called on to support or backfill critical finance functions as needed, including responsibilities typically associated with the Deputy Director of Finance. These may include:

• Cash receipts
• Payroll
• Insurance
• Office administration
• Employee benefits
• Fringe, leave and indirect cost rates
• Special financial reports and report building
• Month‑end reconciliation and close

The ideal candidate will be prepared to take on special projects as needed. Currently, special projects include:

• Completing the implementation of Concur
• Completing the implementation of Euna Budget
• Implementing a payment system incorporating Financial Edge and Papersave
• Implementing a new timesheet system
• Planning for moving the PERF office to a new location
• Implementing cloud‑based solutions

All members of the financial and administrative staff are expected to prepare a daily report of their work, which is provided to the Executive Director. The staffing of PERF’s Financial and Administrative team may also necessitate that the Senior Principal periodically assumes the work of other department members during vacations or other extended absences. All members of the finance and administrative team are expected to work in the office on a daily basis.

The ideal candidate will have 10 years of nonprofit organization and federal award/grants/cooperative agreement experience. CPA and/or CPA firm experience preferred. Applicant must be a problem‑solver, meticulous, initiative‑taking, able to multi‑task and quickly assimilate added information, work well individually and in a team setting, and have strong computer skills. Experience with Financial Edge and Euna Budget is a plus.

The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), a leading police think tank and research organization based in Washington, DC, seeks candidates to fill a senior principal position within PERF’s Accounting and Finance division. PERF focuses on critical and emerging issues in policing, such as the use of body‑worn cameras, police use‑of‑force, countering violent extremism, officer safety and wellness, technology issues and cybercrime, sexual assault, gun crime reduction strategies, evaluation of promising practices, performance measurement, and community policing. PERF has earned a national reputation for identifying emerging trends and developing promising practices for police practitioners. PERF has an excellent relationship and history of collaborating with police agencies across the nation and abroad. These relationships provide PERF researchers with a unique level of access to conduct high‑profile law enforcement projects and are instrumental to PERF’s consistent record of high participation rates.