Job Description

The Lab School of Washington offers a unique academic program for students with language-based learning differences, empowering them to reach their fullest potential through a multi-sensory, multi-disciplinary, arts- and project-based learning experience that captures students’ imaginations, creates a love of learning, and helps them build personal pathways to success. As Controller, you will be an integral part of the operational structure that makes our mission possible by strengthening and modernizing accounting operations.

Reporting to and working closely with the Chief Financial & Operations Officer (CFOO) and guiding the work of accounting support staff, you will serve as the hands-on accounting leader for a $30MM nonprofit organization with a mixed revenue model, including private-pay tuition, jurisdictional tuition funding, advancement, auxiliary programs, and facility rentals. You will also oversee accounting activity related to The Reservoir Group (TRG), Lab’s clinical services organization. In this position, you will be responsible for streamlining accounting operations, ensuring accurate and timely financial reporting, and leading the annual audit process, while strengthening internal controls and consistency across the function.

In addition to working closely with finance and operations, you will regularly communicate with department heads and program leaders to make financial information easier to understand and use. The right candidate will be energized by our values and philosophy, and by the opportunity to be an active member of a community where belonging is central to learning, and students with language-based learning differences thrive.

This position is ideal for a service-oriented accounting professional who enjoys solving complex problems and using technology and automation, including AI-enabled tools where appropriate, to improve manual workflows and make better use of existing systems.

How You’ll Make an Impact

Success in your first 1-2 years will be demonstrated by:

• Building consistent accounting workflows across inputs currently handled by multiple staff, ensuring daily transactions are tracked correctly and that staff understand the connection between inputs and the broader accounting cycle.
• Bringing discipline to the monthly close process, ensuring reconciliations are complete and timely and issues are identified and resolved quickly.
• Strengthening complex billing and receivables workflows, particularly related to jurisdictional funding and clinical services, which are currently tracked across multiple systems and require significant manual coordination.
• Becoming a trusted financial partner across the school, strengthening communication with department and program leaders to guide financial decisions, and balancing budget goals with academic and extracurricular program needs.

Work Environment, Salary, and Benefits

• This position is full-time, 5 days a week on campus in the Palisades neighborhood of Washington, DC.
• The budgeted salary range for this position is $130K - $160K . The Lab School of Washington offers a comprehensive benefits package that supports health, financial well-being, and work–life balance, including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; retirement contributions through TIAA; and paid parental leave. Employees benefit from a generous paid time off program with 8+ weeks annually (including vacation, PTO, sick leave, and extended school holidays) as well as commuter benefits, professional development support, and additional employee resources.
• The Lab School of Washington is an inclusive and welcoming school that celebrates diversity, including race, color, religion, national and ethnic origin, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, age or any other status protected by applicable law. We welcome candidates representing the diversity of today’s global world.

Responsibilities

Accounting Operations & Financial Reporting

• Oversee accounting operations, including general ledger activity, accounts receivable, accounts payable, cash management, reconciliations, journal entries, and the integration of billing and payroll-related activity into the general ledger.
• Lead the monthly and year-end close process, maintaining clear timelines, reconciliations, and review procedures.
• Prepare accurate financial reports to support CFOO decision-making, including budget-to-actual reporting and ad hoc analysis.
• Support financial reporting for the Finance Committee by preparing materials for the CFOO. Attend Finance Committee meetings every other month.
• Ensure accurate accounting and monitoring of restricted and unrestricted gifts and endowment activity in coordination with Institutional Advancement.
• Oversee financial tracking, budget-to-actual reporting, projections, and reconciliation for TRG, ensuring activity is accurately reflected in the general ledger and financial reports.

Billing, Receivables & Tuition Support

• Oversee accounting, billing, and receivables activities across revenue streams, including private-pay tuition, jurisdictional tuition, clinical services, advancement revenue, summer camp, auxiliary programs, and facility rentals.
• Manage the complexity of jurisdictional billing, including monthly invoicing, receivables tracking, payment allocation, and coordination around student placements and funding changes.
• Oversee monthly TRG clinical services billing, including review of billing inputs, reconciliation to services delivered, and integration of billing activity into receivables and the general ledger.

Audit, Compliance & Internal Controls

• Lead the annual audit process and serve as the main point of contact with external auditors. Ensure GAAP-compliant financial statements and disclosures.
• Establish and strengthen internal controls, documentation standards, segregation of duties, and review procedures to ensure accuracy, consistency, and accountability.
• Support required reporting for the Maryland State Department of Education and other funding jurisdictions.

Systems, Workflow & Process Improvement

• Improve and streamline accounting workflows across the current systems environment, including Blackbaud/Financial Edge, FACTS, Paycom, and Excel.
• Identify and implement process improvements to reduce reliance on manual spreadsheets, improve data flow, and increase efficiency across accounting operations.

Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Provide day-to-day direction to accounting support staff, clarifying priorities, supporting skill development, and reinforcing accountability for accuracy and timeliness.
• Partner with TRG Clinical Directors to provide financial reporting, billing analysis, projections, and budget-to-actual updates for clinical services.
• Serve as a finance resource across the school, strengthening communication and coordination between budget owners and the Business Office.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or a related field required.
• 8+ years of progressive accounting experience in a complex operating environment with multiple revenue streams and significant reporting requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to partner effectively with program leaders across the school community, translating financial information, controls, and accounting practices into clear, practical guidance that supports sound decision-making.
• Strong experience with monthly close, audit preparation and coordination, financial reporting, reconciliations, and internal controls.
• Demonstrated ability to modernize systems, improve processes, reduce manual workflows, and implement automation.

About The Lab School

At The Lab School of Washington, our mission each day is to encourage and guide students in using their differences to their advantage. Whether they are working with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADHD, or some combination, our students come to identify not with a diagnosis, but with what they can do because of it.

Staffing Advisors is committed to reducing bias in every aspect of the hiring process. We have long recommended a competency-driven approach to hiring. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. We encourage you to apply even if your experience is not a 100% match with the position description; we will consider people from a variety of backgrounds and career experiences.