HG Finance Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Heritage Growers Finance Manager

Title: Heritage Growers Finance Manager

FLSA Status: Exempt

Reports to: Director of Finance

Location: Sacramento (Remote Hybrid) 

Pay Scale: Annual $88,000-$117,000

Who We Are

River Partners was formed in 1998 to bring life back to California rivers. We advance an innovative model of conservation that harnesses the power of restored riverways to create a thriving future for the states' environment and communities. We revive and reconnect entire river landscapes, critical wildlife corridors, and vast ecological regions across California. We achieve this bold pace and scale of restoration by blending modern farming practices, cutting-edge science, and diverse alliances. Each year, we plant hundreds of thousands of native trees and vegetation across thousands of acres along California's most imperiled rivers. 

Why We Do It

Healthy rivers are essential for a vibrant California. They provide fresh water for growing our food, economy, communities, and wildlife found nowhere else. Rivers support more species and in greater numbers than any other ecosystem in California – making our state a worldwide biodiversity hotspot. Yet just 5% of our native riverside habitat remains. What’s left needs reviving. The actions we take during this decade will decide California's future. With their exponential benefits for wildlife, natural resources, and communities, healthy rivers are critical for a flourishing Golden State for generations to come.

Why Our Work Matters

Our work supports a range of wins for wildlife, flood safety, climate resiliency, water conservation, healthy communities, and local economies statewide. This includes supporting the recovery of dozens of imperiled species, boosting flood safety for communities in flood-prone regions, and growing California’s climate resilience by planting more than 2.5 million trees that capture 1 million tons of greenhouse gases each year. We've led hundreds of major projects in more than 20 watersheds across 20,000 acres throughout California. River Partners has restored more habitat along impaired California rivers than anyone else in the West.

Heritage Growers

Heritage Growers is a native seed and plant supply venture that is a distinct program of River Partners. Heritage Growers was formed in 2021 to improve:

• Availability of source-identified native seed for restoration
• Diversity of seed types available at scales suitable for restoration
• Pricing and retail availability for specialized native seed
• Capacity of local groups to collect and amplify native seed types for restoration
• Access to locally-appropriate source-identified native seed for River Partners’ projects

To accomplish these goals, Heritage Growers has established a native seed farm in Colusa County on land leased from local growers that owns equipment and employs farmers to amplify large quantities of native seed, a cleaning mill facility that cleans and processes farmed seed into retail products, a demonstration garden that tests growth of small wild harvests for research and development, and a robust wildland seed collection program that scouts and harvests native wild seed from across California to conserve and amplify special collections of source-identified native seed for restoration. These functions are supported by public grants and contracts, retail seed and nursery sales, internal seed and nursery sales (i.e. to River Partners), and charitable lending. River Partners provides financial and administrative functions for HG, relying on its growing Finance and Administration team, with the goal of separating the accounting and financial operations of HG from RP in the near future. River Partners’ Board of Directors has a specific HG Committee dedicated to oversight and support for the HG venture which meets quarterly to review its financial, operational, and organizational health.

Position Description:

The Heritage Growers (HG) Finance Manager reports to the River Partners Director of Finance with co-supervision provided by the Heritage Growers General Manager. Additionally, they work closely with River Partners’ CFO, all HG staff, and most of River Partners’ Finance and Administration team on a variety of business management functions. 

The Accounting Manager is responsible for leading all:

• financial and accounting functions of the Heritage Growers organization, 
• timely and accurate financial reporting to inform management and growth, 
• invoicing and retail sales operations including collections, 
• tracking of current inventories, and 
• effective stewardship of resources (financial, equipment, staff, vendors, clients, and intellectual property). 

This position partners directly with HG General Manager and shares responsibilities for the financial results. This position will develop budgets, review grants, monitor farm-related costs, develop invoices, and supports strategic decision-making. This is a key support position to help grow the Heritage Growers business through the establishment and execution of day-to-day processes and transactions. This position supervises one Project Analyst.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

Financial Management & Reporting

• Oversee all accounting functions, including general ledger, accounts payable/receivable, and bank reconciliations.
• Prepare accurate monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements and budget-to-actual comparisons.
• Ensure compliance with GAAP and nonprofit accounting standards (FASB 958).
• Manage financial reporting for restricted and unrestricted funds, grants, internal and external product sales and capital equipment
• Comply with ASC 606 and 842 regulations
• Integrate financial data from multiple systems (VantagePoint and Strinos)
• Maintain internal controls to safeguard assets and ensure integrity of financial systems.

  Budgeting & Forecasting

• Lead the annual budgeting process in collaboration with HG staff.
• Monitor actual performance against budget and provide variance analyses.
• Support cash flow forecasting and short-term liquidity management.

Grant & Compliance Management

• Track restricted grants and program-specific funding; ensure expenditures align with donor intent.
• Support grant proposal budgets and required financial reporting.
• Oversee compliance with IRS, USDA, and other applicable regulations affecting nonprofit and agricultural operations.
• Oversee preparation of invoices and COGS calculations

Farm & Program Accounting

• Maintain cost accounting for seed and plant sales and operations.
• Track and report on inventory inputs, WIP and finished goods, equipment depreciation, and farm-related capital improvements.
• Implement and serve as the inventory systems administrator (Strinos).
• Coordinate with HG General Manager and Farm Manager on earned revenue streams and community market operations.
• Review contracts, grants and sales orders for compliance, obligations and credit terms.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Supervise accounting operations and develop processes and procedures for daily, monthly and annual accounting operations.
• Work closely with the President, CFO, Director of Finance, HG General Manager, Heritage Growers Board Committee, and external auditors.
• Provide Financial Reporting, including KPI data to River Partners’ Leadership on a regular basis.
• Recommend and implement process improvements and financial software enhancements.

   General Administrative

• Assist farming staff with costing products, contracting and financing for supplies, equipment, purchases and maintenance charges.
• Gain a complete understanding of the process steps for planting, growing, harvesting, cleaning, mixing and bagging native seed.
• Support team in storing and organizing documents and records for audit reviews.
• Other administrative tasks as needed

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or other equivalent field (CPA preferred).
• 5+ years of progressive accounting experience; nonprofit experience required.
• Proficiency in accounting software (e.g., QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, or similar) and Excel.
• Strong understanding of GAAP and financial reporting principles.
• Power user of Microsoft Excel and other Office applications, experience with Deltek Vantagepoint, MS SharePoint, and Power BI and is a plus.
• Previous experience at a product-based business.

Additional Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

An accomplished and motivated self-starter and independent thinker with a focus on meeting organizational goals & departmental objectives and outcomes

• Skilled at working cross functionally and collaboratively with like-minded professionals while demonstrating a team and action-oriented attitude.
• Strong systems orientation, with a track record of improving and enhancing existing ERP systems and implementing new systems and processes.
• Able to thrive in an evolving organization and culture, creating and adopting new processes, workflows and procedures.
• A good understanding of Federal or State granting processes, invoicing and related financial and compliance regulations, e.g. GASB.
• Trusted to identify and handle confidential information.