Senior Finance Manager, Washington National Opera

About the Washington National Opera

Founded in 1956 as a modest but intrepid ensemble known as the Opera Society of Washington, Washington National Opera (WNO) is today one of America’s largest opera companies. Under the leadership of General Director Timothy O’Leary and Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, WNO draws inspiration from a rich legacy built on the values of artistic excellence, engagement with a broad community, and a thriving future for opera and its audiences. As an artistic affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, WNO performs fall and spring seasons in the 2,200-seat Kennedy Center Opera House. WNO also offers performances on Millennium Stage and at other venues at the Center and throughout the city, and offers training, educational, and social impact programs year-round.

WNO Mission Statement: Washington National Opera, as a leader in opera and a flagship of the Kennedy Center, seeks to inspire, connect, and enrich our community, shape the future of opera, and illuminate the American and human experience. We tell timeless stories with programming that excites, entertains, engages, and educates. We are committed to diversity and balance – presenting classic, contemporary, and American works – to broad local, national, and international audiences.

WNO Core Values: Integrity, Excellence, Inclusivity, Innovation, Joy

At the Kennedy Center, we strive to foster belonging and empowerment at work. We are able to advance our mission because of our committed and passionate employees. We are fortunate to be able to leverage their diverse perspectives, life experiences and skills to inform how our workplace can be a safe, transparent, and replenishing community. The Kennedy Center is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant based on race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, or any other basis protected by law. 

Why Join Us

We offer a comprehensive range of benefits to all full-time employees including: 

• Staff offers for discount tickets
• Retirement plan with organization matching (after 1 year of employment)
• Qualifying employer for the Public Student Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)
• Commuter programs including pre-tax options for discounted parking and SmartBenefits (WMATA)
• Annual Leave, Sick Leave, and Personal Days available immediately upon hire
• 11 paid holidays per year 
• Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits with FSA and HSA options, and paid FMLA
• Flexible work arrangements
• We like to have fun! Check out the Kennedy Center National Dance Day 2022 staff video!

Job Description

The WNO Senior Manager for Finance reports to the WNO General Director and serves as a senior leader on the WNO Management Team.  This position is responsible for assessing WNO’s financial needs, and identifying opportunities, potential innovations, and risks at both the macro- and micro- levels of the organization.  Through this work, the Senior Manager for Finance prioritizes and directs funds appropriately to ensure WNO’s mission and strategic objectives, while achieving financial stability for WNO, improved net performance, and balanced annual budgets in a financial planning environment involving a high degree of complexity for a $25 million annual budget.

The position is responsible for guiding the efforts of WNO’s budget managers in financial planning and decision-making, and for preparing and interpreting detailed financial information for WNO’s senior leadership and Board of Trustees.  The Senior Manager for Finance is expected to work independently to manage WNO’s financial outcomes, anticipate needs, pursue opportunities, and make strategic recommendations.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Leads the process of planning both annual and long-term budgets.  Directs the work of WNO’s budget managers and performs data analysis to forecast WNO’s short-, medium-, and long-term financial needs and performance, based on WNO’s ~$25 million expense budget.
• Serves as WNO’s financial representative to the WNO Board of Trustees, and takes responsibility for preparing, interpreting, and annotating detailed financial statements for WNO’s Finance Committee, Executive Committee, and Board of Trustees.  This contributor must work with WNO’s staff leadership and Trustee officers on providing input and recommendations as well as facilitating recommended financial changes.
• Develops WNO financial strategic planning tools, including WNO’s detailed 10-year financial model, and runs financial scenario-planning exercises to allow WNO’s leadership to envision the financial outcomes of long-term repertory planning, season design choices, and strategic decisions such as organizational structure, capital campaign structure, strategic initiatives, and social impact programming planning.
• Conceives and implements methods for overseeing WNO’s funding, while identifying opportunities for significantly improved net performance. Doing so enables WNO to accomplish strategic objectives while achieving improved financial performance.  Assessing WNO’s financial needs, proposes innovations to WNO’s business model and annual programming mix, identifying opportunities and risks, prioritizing and directing funds appropriately.
• Through proactive financial management, ensures optimal achievement of WNO’s mission while outperforming financial targets through strategic prioritization and expense management.  By monitoring expense and revenue trends, creates consistently updated forecasts and recommends strategic actions to ensure balanced budgets for WNO.
• Independently identifies, pursues, negotiates, and executes major expense restructuring opportunities, such as WNO’s $1.9 million annual cost in combined lease obligations, negotiating outcomes for financial optimization and effective management in meeting WNO’s needs for offices, rehearsal studio, and production storage.
• Serves as a key member of WNO’s labor relations negotiating committees, compiling and evaluating data and recommending strategies for labor negotiations for collective bargaining agreements representing more than $10 million in annual costs.  Identifies opportunities to restructure WNO labor costs to enable financial improvements.
• Other duties as assigned.

Key Qualifications

• Degree in Business studies preferred
• 5 years experience in financial administration or related field; arts experience preferred.
• Advanced knowledge of Excel and financial management software.
• Familiarity with accounting/financial systems and practices preferable.
• Must be detail-oriented and have strong analytical skills.
• Knowledge of statistical/quantitative analysis methods a plus.
• Candidate must be local or willing to relocate to the DMV area.