Senior Financial Systems Analyst

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the third-largest school district in the United States, serving over 330,000 students in 600+ schools and employing nearly 36,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments - student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

The Office of the Controller is responsible for the financial operations of Chicago Public Schools, including Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, Internal Accounts, and Corporate Accounting. As part of this work, the Accounting Department is made up of Financial Analysts, Accountants, and Financial Systems Analysts who are responsible for providing timely and accurate financial reporting as well as developing and utilizing efficient financial systems.

Job Summary:

Reporting to the Business Process Manager in the Accounting Department, a Senior Financial Systems Analyst is responsible for analyzing and evaluating business requirements, cross-department collaboration, and identifying areas for the development of technical solutions to automate and/or improve business processes for CPS. Additionally, a Senior Financial Systems Analyst will be part of the team that manages systems integration projects, including requirements gathering, systems design, data transformation, data migration, and related business planning as well as providing internal IT advisory and advocate for process improvement and good application design.

The Senior Financial Systems Analyst will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Lead the analyses and development of a system of business requirements documents necessary for the District to achieve further systems integrations; this role will include requirements gathering, documentation, planning and reporting on Finance impacted projects and initiatives.
• Triage all technical issues relating to financial systems; escalating to appropriate parties as needed.
• Provide internal IT advisory and advocate for process improvement and good application design.
  • Develop trainings, User Performance Kits (UPKs), test scripts, and other technical support documentation to assist with the use, knowledge base, and functionality of Oracle financial modules (Payables, iSupplier, iProcurement, General Ledger (GL), iExpense, etc.), custom CPS modules (Internal Accounting Management System (IAMS), Property Tax, Payments to Contract & Charter Schools (PCCS), Student Transportation, etc.) and other software and systems utilized by the Finance Department.
• Provides recommendations on new or enhanced systems, software, upgrades and modifications and advocates for process changes that align with business practices.
• Lead business process analyses and business requirements documentation efforts necessary to ensure continuous improvement.
• Assist with the implementation and maintenance of financial system processes and procedures related to Oracle financial modules, custom CPS modules (IAMS, Property Tax, PCCS, etc.), Smartsheet, and other software and systems utilized by the Finance Department.
• Work with various approved vendors for temporary staffing by assisting various departments with interviewing candidates, on-boarding new team members, and managing the payment approvals and agreements with the staffing agency.
• Responsible for updating and maintaining the contents of the Office of the Controller's webpage.
• Additional special projects as assigned by the Office of the Controller which may range from small to larger inter-departmental projects working as a lead or team member.

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Senior Financial Systems Analyst must possess the following qualifications:

Type of Education Required:

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Management, Finance, Management and Information Systems (MIS) or related field.
• Project Management Professional (PMP)/Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) is preferred

Type of Experience Required:

• Minimum of five (5) years in a business systems analyst or governmental technology role.
• Previous experience in process improvement initiatives and analysis is highly preferred

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft (or similar) Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Projects, etc. is required
• Advanced knowledge of project management tools preferred
• Oracle Financial (or similar ERP) software experience is preferred.
• Knowledge of Google Docs Editor web-based productivity office suite
• Knowledge of project management tools, S/FTP integrations, various Excel-based add-ins
• Knowledge of operations, budget/finance, management and organizational development
• Ability to build collaborative relationships with a variety of constituent groups, including external partners, to ensure the entire system operates in the most effective manner possible to support schools
• Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.
• Be Fully Vaccinated or Submit to Weekly COVID-19 Testing - Employees are required to be fully vaccinated within 30 days of their hire date. Full vaccination is defined as at least two weeks after your second shot of a two-shot vaccination course, or at least two weeks after a one-shot vaccination course. Unvaccinated staff must submit to weekly testing.

CPS Non-Union Job Grade: S08

Estimated Annual Salary Range: $74,000-95,000

Final salary offers are dependent upon candidate qualifications.