Controller

Seattle Chamber Music Society is seeking a Controller to lead and strengthen our accounting and financial operations at a pivotal moment of organizational growth. This role will oversee day-to-day accounting and financial management while helping build the systems, clarity and operational structure needed to support a dynamic and evolving organization.

SCMS operates at the intersection of artistic excellence and community impact, with programming that spans festivals, year-round concerts, education initiatives, digital broadcasting, a record label, and community engagement throughout the region and beyond. We are looking for someone who is equally comfortable ensuring the numbers are right and asking how the systems behind them could work better.

This is an opportunity for a finance professional who wants meaningful ownership, cross-functional partnership, and the chance to help shape how a growing arts organization manages and uses its resources. The ideal candidate enjoys building systems, solving operational problems, and creating organizational clarity in a fast-moving environment.

The Controller reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and supervises the organization’s part-time bookkeeper.

What You’ll Do

Financial Operations and Reporting

• • Oversee day-to-day accounting operations, including AP, AR, payroll coordination, contractor payments, and monthly close
  • Prepare timely and accurate financial statements, dashboards, and internal reporting
  • Manage cash flow and ensure financial visibility across the organization
  • Lead annual budgeting, forecasting, and scenario planning processes
  • Support audit preparation and serve as the primary point of contact for auditors
  • Coordinate preparation of Form 990 and related tax filings
  • Oversee regulatory, tax, compliance, and reporting requirements, ensuring filings and financial obligations are completed accurately and on time
  • Lead management of restricted funds, grants, annual fund and campaign fund financial tracking, and project-based reporting
  • Partner closely with development staff to help structure clear, viable gift agreements and ensure donor intent can be effectively tracked, managed, and reported on financially
  • Oversee financial planning and control of capital projects, including budgets, project cash flow, and financing

Systems and Process Improvement

• • Evaluate and improve financial workflows, controls, and documentation
  • Partner across departments to streamline processes and improve operational clarity
  • Help implement scalable systems that reduce manual work and increase accuracy
  • Identify opportunities to better leverage technology across financial operations and reporting
  • Support integration and optimization of systems including Accounting Software, PatronManager, payroll platforms, and related operational tools

Organizational Partnership

• • Work closely with the CEO and Senior Director of Business Operations to support planning and organizational decision-making
  • Support preparation of financial materials for board and finance committee meetings, ensuring clarity, accuracy, and alignment with organizational priorities
  • Translate financial data into clear, actionable insights for leadership and the board
  • Help bring structure, consistency, and accountability to financial processes across departments
  • Support long-range planning as SCMS continues to expand its artistic, digital, and institutional initiatives

Team Leadership and Vendor Coordination

• • Serve as the organization’s lead internal finance professional, with full responsibility for accounting and financial reporting integrity
  • Supervise and support the organization’s part-time bookkeeper
  • Coordinate external accounting, audit, tax, payroll, and compliance partners as needed
  • Establish and maintain clear roles, workflows, and controls across all finance-related functions

What We’re Looking For

Required

• • Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration, or a related field
  • Strong understanding of GAAP and experience managing full-cycle accounting operations
  • Experience preparing financial statements, budgets, forecasts and cash flow analyses
  • Ability to communicate financial information clearly to colleagues, leadership and board members
  • Demonstrated success improving systems, processes and internal controls
  • High level of ownership, judgment, accountability and follow-through

Preferred

• CPA certification
• Nonprofit accounting experience, including fund accounting, restricted funds, grant reporting and donor-restricted gifts
  • Seven or more years of progressively responsible accounting and finance experience.
• Experience with capital campaigns, endowments, grants and project-based reporting
• Experience supervising staff and coordinating external accounting, payroll, tax and compliance partners
  • Experience coordinating audits and working with external auditors
• Familiarity with QuickBooks, Patron Manager and related operational systems.

Why This Role Is Different

In this role, you will have meaningful ownership over how finance operates at SCMS, with the opportunity to shape systems, clarify processes, and build a scalable operational foundation for the organization’s future.

SCMS is entering a significant period of growth, including expanded national initiatives, increased digital and recording activity, a major campaign, and the development of a new Center for Chamber Music. The finance function plays an essential role in supporting that growth thoughtfully and sustainably.

You’ll be stepping into an environment where:

• • Leadership values clear thinking, accountability, and strong operations
  • There is genuine appetite for improving systems and workflows
  • Your work will directly impact how effectively the organization operates and grows
  • Mission, artistic excellence, and community impact are deeply connected to operational excellence

SCMS believes chamber music can be a central cultural force in modern life. We are building an organization defined by artistic excellence, operational rigor, hospitality, innovation, and meaningful community impact.

Compensation and Benefits

Salary range: $90,000-115,000, depending on experience

This is a full-time, exempt position. SCMS offers a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Medical, dental and vision insurance
• Employer-sponsored retirement plan with matching contributions
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, sick leave and holidays
• Hybrid work flexibility, with a majority in-person presence in downtown Seattle
• Complimentary tickets to SCMS concerts and events

To Apply:

• Email a cover letter and CV/Resume to View email address on click.appcast.io
• Applications are reviewed as they are received. The deadline to apply is August 1, 2026.