Chief Financial Officer (Baltimore)

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and consortium of universities that manages and/or operates world-leading astronomical observatories—including the Hubble Space Telescope; James Webb Space Telescope; Vera C. Rubin Observatory; the Gemini Observatory; the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Observatory and many more—on behalf of the scientific community through our Centers: the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI); the NSF National Optical/Infrared Laboratory (NOIRLab), and the NSF National Solar Observatory (NSO). Our mission is to enable transformational research in astrophysics and to share the wonders of the universe with the public. AURA partners with federal agencies, universities, scientific institutions, and industry collaborators around the world to advance exploration, discovery, and education.

Position Summary

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is seeking a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to serve as AURA's senior financial executive, providing strategic leadership and oversight for all financial operations, including accounting, budgeting, treasury, investments, procurement, award administration, contracts, compliance, and financial reporting. In partnership with the President, Center Directors, Corporate Vice Presidents, the AURA Board and its committees, Center Councils, and finance leaders across the organization, the CFO ensures the long-term financial strength, regulatory compliance, operational effectiveness, and responsible stewardship of AURA's resources in support of its scientific mission. This role is eligible for hybrid work and will require 2-3 days of on-site presence in our Baltimore or Washington, DC office.

The business and administrative support functions for AURA’s programmatic centers are provided by two independent divisions, which are coordinated through AURA’s CFO. Central Administrative Services (CAS) serves AURA’s ground-based Centers, funded primarily by cooperative agreements with the National Science Foundation (NSF), and also provides a portion of services to AURA Corporate Headquarters (HQ). CAS delivers accounting, finance, budget, procurement, contracts, proposal and award management, travel/relocation services, and business IT services. Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), funded primarily by contracts with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), receives its services from the Business Resource Center (BRC), which provides similar services to CAS, and is dedicated to the space telescope Center, along with providing certain services to AURA HQ. The AURA CFO also oversees all other AURA HQ financial activities and operations not performed by CAS or BRC.

The CFO will set an ethical, compliance-focused tone to ensure all financial practices, policies, and procedures are properly adhered to by all AURA staff worldwide and that all staff understand their role in ensuring the organization’s financial success. As a member of executive leadership, the CFO will play a key role in strategic planning, risk mitigation, and resource-allocation decisions.

Key Responsibilities

• Financial Strategy and Planning:
  • Lead financial strategy for a federally funded research organization, including long-term financial planning, scenario modeling, funding-continuity planning, and risk mitigation related to federal appropriations, contract and cooperative agreement renewals, award closeouts, and potential changes in agency funding priorities.
  • Translate the strategic plan and directives into an effective and efficient financial structure that safeguards AURA against financial risks.
  • Develop and implement financial strategies that support AURA’s strategic plans and goals, including capital requirements, investments, staffing, long-term budgetary planning, and cost management.
  • Provide financial analysis and guidance on all activities, plans, targets, and business drivers.
  • Maintain a comprehensive understanding of key internal and external stakeholders’ evolving needs and their financial constraints.
  • Financial Management:
    • Manage AURA’s financial operations, including accounting, budgeting, forecasting, treasury, tax compliance, cash management, financial reporting, and financial risk management.
    • Serve as a financial steward, helping center leaders understand the financial implications of any proposed business opportunities or initiatives.
    • Oversee budget creation and monitoring.
    • Ensure timely preparation and submission of financial statements and reports to auditors, funding and regulatory agencies, Board of Directors and internal AURA HQ and Center leadership.
    • Oversee indirect cost strategy, rate development, cost allocation, billability assessments, and timing differences arising under federal awards, including coordination with federal sponsors, where appropriate.
• Awards and Contracts Management:
  • Provide executive oversight of federal and non-federal award financial management, including proposal budgeting, allowable cost compliance, indirect cost recovery, billing, drawdowns, subrecipient monitoring, award closeout, and audit-ready documentation for federal research and development awards, ensuring compliance with all requirements and regulations.
  • Coordinate with research teams to develop budgets and financial reports for award proposals and ongoing projects.
  • Monitor grant and contract expenditures and ensure proper allocation of funds.
  • Oversee financial controls, reporting, and compliance processes related to government-owned property, capital equipment, construction-in-progress, inventory, and other assets acquired or managed under federal agreements, including coordination with property, procurement, contracts, finance, and Center leadership.
• Procurement Management:
  • Provide executive oversight of AURA’s procurement function to ensure purchasing practices support the organization’s mission, financial stewardship responsibilities, and obligations associated with providing services to NSF-funded Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC).
  • Ensure procurement policies, procedures, and internal controls align with applicable federal requirements, award terms and conditions, Uniform Guidance, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) principles as applicable, and AURA’s standards for competition, documentation, cost reasonableness, and allowability.
  • Promote procurement practices that preserve the objectivity, independence, transparency, and public-interest obligations expected of an FFRDC, including appropriate management of organizational conflicts of interest, supplier relationships, and privileged information.
  • Partner with center leadership, awards management, legal, compliance, and research teams to support timely, compliant procurement of goods and services needed for scientific operations, major projects, facilities, and federally funded research activities.
  • Oversee procurement risk management, including supplier performance, contract administration, audit readiness, documentation quality, and continuity of critical supply chains.
  • Use procurement data, spend analysis, and vendor management practices to identify opportunities for cost savings, process improvement, supplier diversity, and consistent procurement practices across AURA centers.
• Financial Systems and Technology:
  • Provide oversight to the operations and maintenance of AURA financial systems, including Deltek Costpoint.
  • Coordinate with AURA’s Corporate IT team on financial systems, cybersecurity-adjacent financial controls, ERP governance, data integrity, reporting, and overall IT strategy.
  • Continue efforts to migrate and integrate separate instances of Deltek Costpoint, to provide a single, well-controlled ERP platform and reporting environment across AURA.
• Financial Risk Management:
  • Evaluate financial risk exposure, develop mitigation strategies, and be accountable for coordinating cross-organizational response.
  • Oversee financial risk management for complex obligations, including postretirement benefits, vacation and postemployment benefit liabilities, contract termination exposures, actuarial assumptions, and related federal award reimbursement or billability considerations.
• Audit and Compliance:
  • Maintain a strong control environment and audit-ready culture that supports timely financial statement audits, Government Auditing Standards reporting, Uniform Guidance single audits, sponsor reviews, internal reviews, and timely remediation of any findings, observations, or process-improvement recommendations.
  • Ensure AURA’s financial practices comply with all federal, state, and local regulatory requirements, including U.S. GAAP, Uniform Guidance, FAR, and agency requirements, as applicable.
• Cash Management:
  • Oversee liquidity, cash-flow forecasting, treasury, banking relationships, investment strategy, and credit facilities to ensure AURA can meet operating, award, payroll, procurement, subaward, lease, and other obligations under cost-reimbursable and pay-as-you-go funding models.
  • Optimize the handling of banking and investment relationships and initiate appropriate strategies to enhance cash positions.
• Leadership and Collaboration:
  • Lead and mentor staff, driving performance and retention by fostering a culture of enablement, respect, growth and development, and continuous improvement.
  • Collaborate with other senior leaders as well as internal and external partners to develop and implement strategic initiatives that ensure AURA activitie]]>